A Good Dish

making food simpler

You Don’t Have To Pick A Peck To Pickle Jalapeño Peppers

Sliced pickled jalapeños
Porcelain dish by Charity Davis-Woodard

Hot peppers are having a moment. Among the overflowing bins at the farmers markets, you can find ripe Poblano, Cayenne, Serrano, Banana, Habanero and Jalapeno peppers. All these varieties may be used fresh, chopped into salsa or added to cooking foods for varying degrees of heat. Hot peppers will keep for some weeks refrigerated but to use them through the winter months, they need to be preserved. Small red chilis may be dried and crumbled or ground but Jalapeños, in my opinion, are best pickled.

Fresh Jalapeños at the Columbia Greenmarket

Pickling peppers is about the easiest type of cooking I know. You simply place the washed Jalapeños in clean glass jars, along with some carrot, onion, garlic and spices, pour a cold brine over them, close them tightly, and store in the fridge for a few months until pickled. You can slice and cook the peppers in a brine (also known as escabeche) and then jar them but since the cold brine, in essence, cooks the peppers for you, why bother? The only reason I can think of is if you need to eat the peppers right away. When you put them up in cold brine, you can taste them after a couple of months and see when you think they suit you. There are terrific canned Jalapeño pickles (La Morena is a brand I use when I don’t have any of my own put up) but they are so simple to make – give them a try.

I first found this recipe in Padma Lakshmi’s wrenching memoir with recipes, Love, Loss and What We Ate: A Memoir and adapted it only slightly by adding sliced raw garlic and cumin seeds and adjusting amounts of seasoning to satify my palette. Vary the flavors based on your own preferences. If you hate coriander and cumin, use dill seeds and black pepper, for example. You don’t need special canning jars – any clean glass jar with a clean lid will do. I like to use jars of varying sizes both to accommodate the size of the peppers (small jars for small peppers, etc.) and to have some smaller jars to squeeze into the gaps in my already full refrigerator. 

Jars stuffed and awaiting brine

I didn’t grow up eating spicy food but, living in New York, I have learned to enjoy it. If something savory tastes good, my husband and son think it will taste even better with hot sauce so I try to find ways to add heat. Jalapeños are on the milder side of hot on the Scoville scale, the standard measurement of capsaicin or spiciness. Pickling them adds complexity and allows us to use them all through the winter months. Pickled Jalapeños are delicious added to grain salads, omelets or frittatas or served alongside meat, fish and poultry. Some little slivers can really zip up a deviled egg, tuna salad or taco and the liquid can be used in a salad dressing or marinade to perk it up. If you make a few extra jars, you’ll be able to give them as gifts just when the weather gets colder and friends need a little pick-me-up.

Pickled Peppers ready to refrigerate

PICKLED JALAPEÑOS 

For the brine dissolve 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in 2 1/4 cups of white vinegar.

In a mixing bowl, toss together:

  • 12-14 fresh Jalapeños, washed
  • 1 medium carrot, sliced on an angle
  • 1 tsp. coriander seeds
  • 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
  • 2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
  • 1/2 small onion, sliced in thin crescents

Place peppers, along with the carrots, onions, garlic and seasoning in 2-3 jars (depending on the size of the peppers and the jars. 2 pint sized jars of 1 pint and 2 smaller jars usually works well

 

To Buy Or Not To Buy Organic? – A Little Help With That Perpetual Question

Asparagus is on the Clean 15 list
Mug by Bandana Pottery

Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer and with it comes the fresh fruit and vegetable season – finally! For those who have been scouring the markets for something green and fresh, local spring asparagus and strawberries are cause for celebration. I was at our farmer’s market on Friday and there were fresh herbs, lettuces, Asian greens and green garlic alongside said asparagus and berries and much of it was organic.

Fresh Pac Choy at the 97th St Greenmarket

Buying organic vegetables is one easy action we can take toward healthier eating. There are reasons beyond health to buy organic. Every time you buy organic produce, especially local, you help keep family farms thriving, protect workers and water and keep deadly pesticides away from land, animals and people. Organic is more widely available than even a few years ago and, in many cases, not so expensive as it once was. Our neighborhood market carries organic produce at reasonable prices to say nothing of Costco and Amazon. But does all the produce we buy need to be organic? The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization acting to protect the environment and human health, publishes an online “Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce” which includes the “Dirty Dozen” and the “Clean 15” lists of the most and the least pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables. I rely on their research to know what I must buy organic and what I don’t have to and you can, too.

Spring garlic from J&A Farm

The EWG’s lists are a big help toward understanding where we can be flexible in our shopping choices. According to them, we must choose organic strawberries, spinach and peaches but not necessarily avocados, onions or pineapple. Go to their website (I’ve linked to them above), print them out and put them near where you make your grocery list. Their recommendations will make your fruit and vegetable shopping much easier.

Lilacs blooming in Central Park – warm days are here!

What to Cook in Spring When Local Still Means Root Vegetables

Golden beets with dill vinaigrette
Plate by Mary Barringer

Local asparagus is coming. So are ramps, fiddleheads and green garlic. But until they get here, we still need vegetables to eat. I am cleaning out my fridge and freezer this spring, trying to use up the jarred, frozen and preserved fruits and vegetables I stocked it with last fall. And then there are the roots.

Carrots (and beets) are available in several colors

Beets, watermelon radishes, carrots, parsnips, rutabagas and celery root are still available at our local markets as are potatoes and sweet potatoes. While the weather is still cool enough, and before the local greens arrive, I will continue to roast, steam, mash and sauté them, as suitable, and add them to soups. Root vegetables are quite nutritious, if grown in good soil, and usually quite inexpensive. If you browse social media, shots of root vegetable roasts seem to be trending. Perhaps roots are the new kale. Don’t forget horseradish is a root, is available right now and preparing it couldn’t be much easier (see recipe). Remember that roots also make wonderful salads which even improve after sitting in the refrigerator overnight.

Horseradish roots

I have linked below to several past posts that included root recipes. I keep linking to them in the hope that they will help you use up the contents of your crisper or give you some inspiration when you go to the market. Local greens will be here soon. But until then, don’t forget your roots!

 

Plate by Margaret Bohls

Cooked Carrots

 

Oval bowl by Emily Schroeder Willis

Carrot Salad

 

(top) – oval bowl by Robbie Lobell
(below) – Shino glazed bowl by Malcolm Davis

Beet Salad Two Ways

 

Glazed Porcelain Dish by Andrew Martin

Roasted Parsnips

 

Squared Bowl by Silvie Granatelli

Sautéed Watermelon Radish

Don’t Hold Your Nose! Cabbage Can Be Your Go To For An Early Spring Salad

Purple Cabbage Salad with Umeboshi Dressing
Wood Fired Bowl by Perry Haas

Cabbage may not be the first thing you think of when planning a meal but it is your friend when it comes to making a winter salad. Especially at this time of year, when you are tired of shredded beets or carrots or kale but you still want some crunch, reach for cabbage instead. Cabbages last remarkably well in cold storage through the winter, providing vitamins C and K and a good amount of fiber when other green (or purple vegetables) are wilted and well past use.

Cabbage is delicious sautéed and fermented but can also make a remarkably fresh salad in these early spring months. Cole Slaw is a typical use but shredded cabbage with a vinaigrette is preferable, in my opinion, since it eliminates the use of mayonnaise. There are wonderful recipes for Indian and Thai cabbage salads with coconut and spices but my perennial favorite is made with orange juice and umeboshi paste, mashed pickled plums found at markets that carry Japanese products.

This salad is the decendant of a recipe I learned in one of the first cooking classes I ever took. It was created by Minx Boren, who taught at the Natural Gourmet Cookery School in it’s early years and is now a life coach in Palm Beach. Natural Gourmet is a cooking school with a chef-training program focused on healthy eating. It is where I learned basic knife skills, a focus on nutritional balance and how to prepare global specialties from tamales to nori rolls to dosas. When learning to cook, I thought umeboshi paste and avocado oil were such exotic ingredients and, at that time, you really did have to search them out. Now even Costco sells avocado oil and Whole Foods and Fairway carry Umeboshi plums. If you really don’t like cabbage or don’t want to use it for some reason, this salad would also be good made with kale (massage it first) or shaved brussel sprouts, fennel or even blanched broccoli, carrots and cauliflower.

I have adjusted the original recipe only slightly in proportions, deleted and added a few ingredients. You can adjust it to suit your tastes. If you don’t want to add parley or cilantro, don’t. If you prefer cucumbers or red peppers to carrots, please use them. If you want to add some toasted sesame seeds instead of pumpkin, go ahead. Combining some purple cabbage with the green, or going all purple, will make the salad even more appealing. One of the beauties of this salad is that it tastes even better the second day, after the flavors have melded in the refrigerator, and it holds up well in a lunch box. If you find your cabbage tasting too strong or a little sharp or wilted after a winter in the fridge, just soak the shredded cabbage in cold water (before dressing) and it will sweeten and plump up.

Green Cabbage Salad with shredded carrots and toasted pumpkin seeds
Whiskey cups by Perry Haas

CABBAGE SALAD with UMEBOSHI DRESSING

Toss together in a large bowl:

  • 1 head cabbage, shredded
  • 2 carrots, shredded
  • 1 cup parsley or cilantro, chopped
  • 1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (add when serving)

     Optional alternatives or add-ins: red or green pepper pieces, sliced red radish, orange segments (cara cara or blood oranges look great), chopped apple, chopped cucumber, toasted sesame seeds, walnuts, thinly sliced celery 

Dressing:

  • 1 TBs minced red onion
  • 2 TBs umeboshi plum paste
  • 2 TBs Dijon mustard
  • 2 TBs avocado oil
  • 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Toss vegetables with dressing and let marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours or overnight. Top with seeds before serving.

Purple Cabbage with Cara Cara orange segments, parsley and walnuts

Helping Along Your New Year’s Intentions by Having Vegetables at the Ready

A heaping portion of salad a day…
Triangular bowl by Tom Jaszczak

Eat healthier is always at the top of my list of New Year’s resolutions. For me that means eating less flour and sugar, drinking plenty of water and eating lots more vegetables. Sound familiar? Every January I start off full of good intentions and every year I do a little bit better. When I think about how I eat now compared with years past, there is no contest. There are so many more organic and local options that eating healthy is easier now. Always making sure we have celery, carrots, lettuce and other salad fixings in the refrigerator, leftover greens and some bags of vegetables in the freezer is a sure way to insure I should have no excuses.

Having fresh greens, like watercress, in the fridge and making a big salad makes eating better easier
Bagged kale salad from Costco puts a salad on your table in minutes

Jicama, watermelon radishes and cabbage are easy to find in January and add crunch and volume to cold weather salads. Seaweeds like arame and hiziki can be tossed with julienned carrots and onions and topped with a sesame vinaigrette. Thinly cut and massaged kale or a bag of arugula is an easy way to add a green salad to your diet any time of year or simply sauté that same kale, arugula, cabbage, watermelon radish or watercress with garlic or onions for a warm dish. Costco sells a prepared bagged kale salad ready to eat. All you have to do is dress it. The classic winter salad, the Waldorf (apples, celery, walnuts), is usually made with mayo and too creamy for my taste. Same thing with celery root remoulade but substituting a combination of yogurt and mustard for the mayo or using a vinaigrette solves that problem in both cases.

Root vegetables (beets, carrots, parsnips, squash and rutabagas) last a long time (most in the fridge, squash on the counter) and are easy to roast. Leftovers make a great base for salads or poached eggs or can be added to healthy up or substitute for your breakfast potatoes. I often make extra when roasting sweet potatoes for supper so I have some left over for breakfast or lunch that week. Making extra veggies, whatever way you are preparing them, will provide you the means for making healthy meals for a couple of days ahead.

Another way to up your winter vitamins and minerals is to get in a green smoothie. Just toss some greens in your blender alongside an avocado, some frozen fruit and/or yogurt, kefir or nut milk, perhaps upping the protein with nuts or seeds, and you can have a nutritious liquid meal in minutes.

Eating better can be the easy part of our New Year plans. Keeping your refrigerator and freezer stocked with vegetables can help that happen.

A green smoothie is an easy way to get in more veggies
Tumbler by Tom Jaszczak