Bifurcated Carrots

Lisa, from northern Quebec, Canada, who has made several comments already on this blog, recently sent me this recipe for making pickled cucumbers. She inherited it from her mother, and it’s a favorite of everyone who has ever tried them. I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but it looks great!

Lisa says the amount of cucumbers needed depends on how small you cut them up, smaller pieces will fit more densely into the jars. With a little practice, you should be able to estimate the number of cucumbers needed. Lisa also says she usually triples this recipe to make 6 1-quart jars.

The kind of canning jars used in this recipe are the ones with screw top metal lids.

Garlic and Dill Pickles

• 2 1-quart (1 liter) canning jars
• 1 cup vinegar
• 4 Tablespoons pickling salt
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• a few cloves of garlic and a few sprigs of dill for each jar

The pickles need to be processed in bath of boiling water, and now is a good time to put this on and start the water boiling. The amount of water needed can be determined by placing the empty jars in the kettle and filling the water to just below the neck of the jars.

Carefully wash the cucumbers. You can do this by soaking in cold water, and changing the water 2 or 3 times to make sure all the dirt is rinsed away. Soaking the cucumbers in cold water is also the secret to crunchy pickles.

Prepare the jars and lids by washing in hot soapy water, rinse, dry and sterilize in the oven for 15 minutes at 220F (100C).

Make the brine by combining vinegar, salt and 4 cups (1 liter) of water. Boil this for 5 minutes, and ensure it is boiling hot before use below.

Take the jars out of the oven, one at a time, place 1 teaspoon sugar, dill and half the garlic into each jar. Hold the jars in place with oven mitts, and be careful not to burn yourself.

Fill each jar with cucumbers using a wooden spoon. Pack as tightly as possible. Place the remaining garlic in the jars, and fill with boiling hot brine to 1/4 to 1/2 inch (about 1cm) from the top of each jar. Wipe the tops of the jars, to ensure nothing remains that can prevent a good seal. Loosely screw hot lids onto jars. Don’t tighten the lids all the way yet.

Place jars into the water bath, and boil for about 5 minutes or until the color of the pickles changes. When the pickles are finished processing, screw the lids on tightly. Place the jars upside-down on their lids for a few minutes, then turn upright and put somewhere they will not be disturbed for 12 hours. At some point you will hear the lids pop, as they complete their seal. They then need to sit for 2 weeks before they can be eaten.

This is adapted from a recipe found in Madhur Jaffrey’s World of the East Vegetarian Cooking cookbook. Madhur Jaffrey by the way, is one of my favorite cookbook authors.

I like this recipe because while I don’t usually have everything growing in my garden all at the same time, I grow most of the ingredients myself. I make a big batch of this every year for the freezer, as it freezes well.

• 2 cups (1/2 liter) dry white beans (navy, cannellini or similar)
• 1 celeriac peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
• 8 medium sized tomatoes or 2 small cans, chopped
• 2 onions, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 tsp each rosemary and thyme
• 2 tsp salt
• pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice or white vinegar
• 4 tablespoons olive oil

Pick over the beans, clean and rinse. Soak overnight covered in water. Drain, rinse and put in a large pot together with 8 cups (2 liters) of water. Bring to a boil and simmer 45 minutes. Add celeriac, tomatoes, onion, garlic, parsley, rosemary and thyme. Return to a boil, and simmer for 20 more minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook uncovered for about 15 more minutes, while mashing some of the soup against the side of the pan with the stirring spoon. Add more water, as necessary.

One of the joys of going on vacation is to plunder the supermarket. You never know what’s to be found: honey filled candy in Italy, coop olive oil in Spain, beautiful broccoli in Belgium, premium vodka in Estonia. Cheddar is what we usually bring back from the UK, along with a smattering of crisps, boiled sweets and bourbon creams. This time we found a shocker. This bottle of beer took us more than 5000 miles and a decade and a half back home. I am getting all nostalgic just looking at the familiar green label.

What was this bottle doing in a Tescos? And more importantly, had it travelled well and was it going to taste any good (YES, YES!!)?

We have a long personal history with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. In the ’80’s we both went to university at CSU Chico, in Chico, California, where Sierra Nevada brews it’s beers. The first time I ran across it, it was some unknown local stuff, and I had turned my nose up at it without ever trying it. On most likely our first common beer run Patrick insisted we get some. I was hooked.

Patrick opened the first bottle from Tesco and carefully poured it into a glass. He had a sip and offered me one. And I sat there and sniffed it. Suddenly I was sitting on a hot summer day in a booth at Woodstock’s pizza with a pitcher between us. I was twenty-something. Patrick looks at me and wonders, is she going to take a sip and give me my beer back already? Finally, I have some, and as always I am smacked in the face with the hops. Yes, this is good.

Back when we lived in Chico, Patrick looked them up in the phone book, called them up and made an appointment, and a few days later we got to have a look around the brewery. Back then it was in some warehouse space out on the edge of town. It wasn’t much to look at, really not much more than an overgrown garage, but I remember green boxes and boxes and a keg we were invited to sample from to our heart’s content (and we remember this fondly over these many years).

In Chico, it was our beer of choice. In 1990, when we left, you could find it most places in California. On successive trips back to the States, we’d find it further and further afield, and of course now it is big, well known and loved, and has been for a while. It’s easy to say now that it was only a matter of time before we found it in Europe

Vertical Drinks is going to distribute it in Europe. Tesco has just started carrying it, which accounts for the freshness of the bottles they had. I am keeping my eyes out for it now in Amsterdam.