Brandied Peaches, Tucked Away for Winter

If you recall, the weekend before last was my frenzied weekend of canning, cooking, baking and general stickiness.  I think this year was a stellar year for peaches.  It saddens me to think that they will soon be gone.  I picked up a few pounds of peaches that weekend to tuck away for a dreary winter's day.  Peaches go great with booze, as you may already know.  I posted a simple recipe for Peachy Boozy Turnovers a few weeks ago. The turnovers were spiked with bourbon.  I decided to preserve my peaches with the addition of brandy this time.  After all, it was still sitting on the counter having just finished making my fig jam.


To be honest, I have not made brandied peaches in years.  I believe fruit is best eaten fresh.  I never, ever, ever buy canned fruit.  We only eat fruit in season or occasionally use frozen fruit to make a smoothie.  I just couldn't bear the thought of the end of peach season.  A few jars tucked away will be a welcome treat in the midst of winter.  Canning the peaches in an a light syrup spiked with brandy is not a substitute for fresh fruit.  I like to think of brandied peaches as an ingredient for something bigger, like a peach shortcake or a crepe stuffed with peaches and vanilla ice cream.  How about serving them on Christmas morning with your French toast?  Use your imagination!

Italian Prune Plum Jam and Some Reflection

SOME REFLECTION
     I really did not intend to write anything about the 10th Anniversary of 9-11 in this post.  What could I possibly say that hasn't already been said?  On the other hand, how could I ignore it?  It was a day that changed our world forever.  It was a day that touched the lives of my family, friends and neighbors.  It was a day that changed our country and maybe for the first time, made us feel vulnerable as a nation.
     After hearing the news, I left work and after what seemed to be an endless commute home, I turned on the TV and watched in utter disbelief.  I kept thinking to myself... this could not really be happening.  I would walk out my front door and look to the sky.  It was eerily silent.  No planes coming or going from nearby JFK.  Occasionally I would hear the scream of a military jet, an unfamiliar sound around these parts.  The sky was a different color and the smoke obscured the western sky for days.  I remember going down the beach with Melissa and seeing U.S. Naval ships sitting off the coast of Long Beach.  I remember telling her that they were there to protect us and that everything would be OK.   I think I was trying to convince myself.  This really was happening, and it was too real.
     The weeks and months that followed were filled with sadness and fear.  What I came to realize in the following days, is that I should never take anything for granted.  All these years, I would say goodbye to Paul and my kids as they left the house in the morning, but never really bothered to be truly thankful upon their returned.  They were supposed to return.  It was expected that they would return.  It was something that I just took for granted.  On September 11, 2001,  too many people who were expected to return,  never returned home to their loved ones.
     Every year, the world becomes a more complicated place.  I was thinking about that a lot when I started this post a few days ago.  Sometimes I wish we could just go back to that safe and secure feeling that we had as children.  Perhaps we were really no safer, we just didn't know any better.

THE RECIPE
     When I was growing up, my best friend's father had a beautiful vegetable garden.  He also had a few plum trees in the backyard.  One tree produced beautiful, juicy red plums.  The other tree produced small dark plums with green insides.  Those small dark plums with the green insides were also very tart and just didn't compare with the taste of the red juicy plums.  The red plums were the prize plums.  The little dark plums were usually left on the tree, feeling sad and dejected, until they fell to the ground and turned to mush.  We called those plums "ockies".  I have no idea why, but that became their name for all time.

Drunken Fig Jam

So much to do, so little time.  That's how I feel lately.  This weekend has been a whirlwind of canning, cooking and baking and feeling somewhat pressured.  This pressure was all brought on by myself.  I have an obligation (I hate that word) to not waste the gazillion sweet millions tomatoes and bumper crop of eggplant in my garden.  I have herbs that need to be dried, frozen or turned into something else.  Oh, and prolific jalapenos need pickling, add that to my to do list.  Before I get into the eggplant and tomato mess,  I found myself running to the market on Friday to pick up a baguette and some garlic.  I decided to cruise through the produce section since I was there anyway.  I noticed the new crop of early apples creeping in and it suddenly dawned on me, summer is fading away and will soon be just a memory.  I walked straight past the peaches and quickly did an about face and decided to pick up just a few more pounds.  Then I zoomed in on some Italian prune plums, and thought to myself, isn't there something I wanted to make with those?  Oh, I'll pick up just a few pounds of those too.  And then there were figs, beautiful plump fresh figs.  Now how much longer are these babies going to be around?  Yes, I talk to myself mostly because I like my answers.  There were so many fig recipes I had planned to try.  A few pounds of figs magically jumped into my basket.


I soon returned home with my figs, plums, peaches and yes, my baguette and garlic. They all joined the  eggplant, tomatoes, jalapenos, herbs and I forget to mention, the over-ripened bananas that I promised to magically turn into muffins for Paul.  Like I said, so much to do, so little time.


It is now Monday morning.  My frenzy is over, at least for now.  My kitchen is sort of sticky and is crying out for a good cleaning.  I have lots of blogging material and tons of pictures to sort through.  But this weekend was not all work.  We got to go out one night for a nice osso bucco dinner and last night we went to Jones Beach to see Stevie Nicks in concert. (yea Groupon!)  Yup, its Labor Day.  The unofficial end of summer.  Today I may just take the day off, because tomorrow at 8:30AM my quiet summer is over, but that's another story.  I won't go there.  I don't even want think about it.  I do want to tell you about this drunken fig jam.

When Life Hands You Cucumbers, Make Pickles

Summer is in full swing and so is my garden.  The past few weeks have been full of broccoli, zucchini, green beans and finally...tomatoes and cucumbers.  I've been training my cucumber vines to grow up a trellis that was the former home of my spring sweet peas.  I don't recall the exact variety of cucumber I planted, but I do know they were in the Kirby family.  Before I had a garden, I would seek Kirby cukes out at the produce market.  Sadly, they were not always available.  I love their crisp crunch, their fresh flavor and their thin, edible skin.  Kirby cucumbers are pickle cucumbers.

When I planted my cukes, I had pickles in mind.  I've never made pickles before and when I got to thinking about actually making pickles, I came to the realization that I am very picky about pickles.  I like pickles from "The Pickle Guy" at the farmer's market.  I used to love pickles from a pickle barrel at good deli, but stopped buying them because the thought of other people fishing around in the pickle barrel sort of grosses me out.  I like pickles that are in the refrigerator section of the grocery store and generally avoid the sad looking pickles on the shelves.  It's early in the season so I'm not yet knee deep in cucumbers.  I wanted to experiment with small batch refrigerator pickles before the bumper crop starts happening.  After doing some research and experimentation I turned to a recipe that was posted by Marisa from Food In Jars.  It looked looked like a great starting point for this pickle novice.

The greener the pickle the better.  The ones with the white on the ends are beginning to bloat
and are not the best for making pickles.

How I love these pickles!  They are everything a dill pickle should be.  I feel like kicking myself for never having made pickles before.  This was absolutely the simplest recipe to make.  I think the key to a good pickle is to start off with good, fresh cucumber.  The other secret of success is to have a balanced brine.  I added some mustard seed to the brine since I noticed one of my favorite commercial brands listed mustard seed in its ingredients.  I'm also partial to a garlicky pickle, but be careful!  Garlic is a powerful thing when it sits in pickle brine.  I lightly smashed my garlic to give my pickles some extra punch...perfection!  

Small Batch Refrigerator Dill Pickles

Recipe slightly adapted from Food In Jars, Urban Preserving Refrigerator Dill Pickles
Yields 2 pints of pickles

• 1 1/2 pounds of Kirby cucumbers - I used 6 cukes
• 3/4 cup cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup spring or filtered water
• 2 teaspoons of pickling salt or sea salt (do not use table salt)
• 2 teaspoons dill seed
• 2 teaspoons mustard seed
• 4 cloves of garlic, lightly smashed (or leave whole for less punch)
• 1 shallot cut in half and thinly sliced, about 2 tablespoons (or use a small mild onion) 

Have 2 pint size jars with lids, clean and ready.  Since these are refrigerator pickles and have a limited shelf life - about a month- you do not have to sterilize the jars.  Running them through the dishwasher or washing them with hot, soapy water should do.

Heat vinegar, water and salt in a non-reactive saucepan. Bring just to a boil.

While vinegar mixture is heating, scrub your cucumbers.  Cut off both ends of the cucumbers and cut each cucumber into quarters (spears).  Ideally, they should be the same length. 

Add 1 teaspoon of dill seed, 1 teaspoon of mustard seed, and 2 smashed cloves of garlic to each jar.  Add the sliced shallot divided between the 2 jars. 

Pack the cucumber spears into the jars so they are a snug fit.

When the vinegar mixture reaches a boil, remove from heat and carefully pour mixture into the jars of pickles, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace in each jar.

Screw on lids, and pop them into the refrigerator and allow to cure for at least 24 hours...48 is even better!   Remember, these are not processed so the must go in the fridge, they are not shelf stable.

That's it!  Why didn't I do this sooner?  I may turn into a pickling fool this summer....I have some cauliflower that's calling my name.

Strawberry Jam... Forever

Strawberry season is in full swing on Long Island.  Last week when the gang was here, we went picking.  I'm not sure if the harsh winter took its toll on the strawberry plants, or the heavy rain and extreme heat this spring was just too much, but the berries just didn't pack the same punch as they had  in  previous years.  Nevertheless, we picked.  We picked about 10 quarts in all and needless to say, we ate a lot of strawberries.  I wanted to make a small batch of jam, but we were just too busy, and it got so darn hot, and quite frankly, the berries weren't that great.  I felt sort of bad...I've always made jam after a day of picking.

My picking team:  Mike, Melissa, Matt, Lauren and Paul in the back row

Lauren, the Strawberry Princess

So now it's a week later.  The Sunday morning Rockville Centre Farmer's Market opened last week and it was on my list of "things to do" this weekend.  Heaven knows I don't need any spring vegetables since I have a bounty of my own growing in my backyard.  I wanted to see Casey the fish man.  Yes, we have fish at our farmer's market...a benefit of living on an island.  I got in my car at 8:00AM and turned the radio on....Strawberry Fields Forever.....   Suddenly, I had jam on my mind (and the Beatles).  It's cool I thought, only 58 degrees.  Perfect weather for standing over a pot of boiling jam.   I thought of this photo that I love.  Melissa took it few weeks ago while riding her bike through Central Park in Strawberry Fields...

The song, the photograph, Sunday morning with the Beatles, cool weather....its a sign.   I must make some jam.  Although I didn't pick them, I found some beautiful, delicious berries.

Last year I made Strawberry Balsamic Jam, but Paul found it objectionable.  When he saw me taking out my canning gear...he pleaded  that I not add any "stuff" to the jam.  He's a purest at heart.  So, I made some plain, old fashioned jam.  Since the berries were ever so slightly under ripe and I was adding lemon,  I  did not use pectin.  I used a bit more sugar than usual because the berries were a bit tart. You can adjust sugar to taste.   It turned out great and just I hope I don't regret only making a small batch.  Please see my previous post to learn more about the ins and outs of canning.  Now a days I like to make jam in 1/2  pint jars.  When my kids were little and I made a lot of PB and J's, I used pint or even quart jars.  You can double the recipe, but you will need a HUGE pot.  You have to allow it to boil hard and believe me, you do not want this to boil over!  Once you've made this simple jam, I swear you will never buy strawberry jam in a grocery store again.

Apple Sauce, Plain and Simple

Apples have arrived... fresh, crisp, juicy apples.  I've been getting some early crop apples at the farmer's market since the end of August.  A few days ago those giant wooden bins, straight from the orchard, arrived at my local supermarket.  They were brimming with Macintosh, Jonamacs, Gala, Rome and Golden Delicious apples.  The season is just getting started.  I am looking forward to Empire and my favorite of all apples,  Macouns.

Apples make me feel nostalgic.  I have one of those warm and fuzzy early childhood memories of flannel shirts, seeing my breath in the morning, and feeling the warm sunshine on the side of my face through the car window as my dad and I took a drive upstate in search of apple orchards.  I have no idea where we went, but I remember feeling rebellious eating apples off the tree without washing them.

I went to college upstate New York.  I was surrounded by apple orchards.  I became the apple pie queen of my dorm.  There was a huge kitchen in the basement of the dorm with 3ovens.  Our guy friends would sneak into the orchards at night with empty pillow cases, filling them with apples, that is until one of them got shot in the butt with buckshot!  Yes, they were stealing, but we justified it because we were poor college students and heck...it was the 70's!  My roomie and I  rolled out pie crusts by the dozen.  Occasionally, I'd throw in a dutch crumb.

When my kids were young, we created more apple memories.  Our family took annual apple picking trips with friends from my son's cub scout pack that continued even after the boys lost interest in scouting.  The kids ran wild in the orchards, picked way too many apples, took hayrides, drank cider, and ate apple donuts.  The day always ended with a picnic and a cut throat game of soccer.  Yes, apples make me feel nostalgic.

I thought I would kick off the season by putting up some jars of applesauce.  If you have not done any canning you can refer to one of my earlier posts for the specifics.

Start by sterilizing  your jars.  This big pot takes awhile to get boiling...even with 2 burners.

Millions of Peaches...Peaches for Me! Peach Chutney

Peaches, peaches and more peaches!  I thought this year I would make some peach preserves.  I've changed my mind however, since I made plenty of blueberry and strawberry jam earlier this summer, and I'm planning on making a truckload of apple butter this fall. I decided to change things up a bit and make some peach chutney instead.  Peach chutney?  Why peach chutney you ask?  Because I like peach chutney! It can turn a plain piece of chicken or pork chop into something special.  Sometimes I'll grill a spice rubbed pork tenderloin, slice and serve with chutney for a quick mid-week dinner. I LOVE peach chutney on a turkey burger.  As a matter of fact, I substitute my peach chutney for Major Grey's chutney when I make these http://www.oprah.com/food/Mar-a-Lago-Turkey-Burger.  Yes, you can buy chutney in the gourmet section of the grocery store, but you will pay dearly for it.  Trader Joe's has a decent chutney, but for some reason they don't always have it in stock. Homemade is so much better. It's one of those things that you don't think you need, but if you have it on hand, an interesting meal is just minutes away. I made a smallish batch, and it should last me the year. If you haven't done any canning, you can refer to my entry http://kitchencatharsis.blogspot.com/2010/08/jam-session.html.
So let's get down to business and make some chutney.

Blueberry Jam Session

Blueberries are still showing up at the farmer's market.  If you love blueberries, you should consider putting up some blueberry jam.  I did.  Now I have little jars of summer sitting in my pantry, ready to open on a bleak winter's day.  But you had better hurry....blueberries won't be around much longer.

                                            

                                   

If you haven't done any canning, you should do a little reading first.  This is a good site, loaded with information http://www.pickyourown.org/water_bath_canning_directions.php . Don't let canning frighten you.  Generally speaking, be sure you read through your recipe and plan to do your canning on a day when you do not feel rushed and you can give it your full attention. There are no safe shortcuts when it comes to canning.  Blueberry jam is a great place to start.  It is practically foolproof.  The addition of lime to this jam makes it something special.