In a pickle? or jars of lovely quickles ...

I don't know why, but it wasn't until AFTER my daughter was born that I started really enjoying pickled foods.   With the weekly bounty of vegetables arriving from the CSA each week, plus my fondness for visiting farmers market in high summer, I've had plenty of fresh produce recently ... sometimes a bit too much.   So I started looking into pickling.   But as a full time working mom, spending 8 precious hours with my hot water canner was a no-go.    But then I started coming across the phrase "refrigerator pickle" and "quickle".   

As I read more recipes, many seemed to have a basic theme:  2 cups vinegar, 2 cups water, 1/4 cup kosher or pickling salt, brought to boil and poured over a jar of prepared veggies and spices (peppercorns, whole allspice, garlic cloves, cloves, hot peppers, etc).     We later discovered that any that don't have a distinct garlic bite needed more sugar, so I added a sugar syrup the next day to the beets and the tupperware container full of mixed veggies that didn't fit in the jars.    

Here's my results: 

Beets, with some freeze dried ginger, allspice, cloves, sugar, peppercorns in jar:

Greens beans, carrots with minced freeze dried garlic, peppercorns, allspice, mustard seeds, little sugar, onion:

cucumber slices with significant garlic, peppercorns, mustard seeds:

Everything on the grill

One of my goals in the summer is to have yummy meals without heating up the kitchen, so I grill just about everything, especially the wonderful produce coming from my CSA.   I facilitated this by buying some sturdy metal pans - two 8" bread pans, and a quarter sheet pan ... both WITHOUT non-stick, so I didn't have to worry about the high temperatures on the grill:

Cauliflower and/or broccoli:   wash, chop into bite size pieces, put in bread pan, shave a bit of butter on top, cover with foil, cook on top rack of grill.

Beets:  remove stems and leaves, wash well but GENTLY so as not to remove skin.    Place in bread pan, add about an inch of water, cover with foil, cook on top rack.     Take off, allow to cool, use fingers to rub off the skin, then slice and keep in fridge for salads the next day.   Beets are naturally sweet but need a touch of salt or a little salad dressing in a salad  ... or serve warm, sprinkled with some chevre and toasted almonds ... or make a beet and green bean salad with a bit of Italian vinaigrette ....

Green Beans:  butter/bread pan as above

Potatoes and spring onions:   same idea as this, but chop the potatoes small, and the onions thin.    Mix with some butter or oil, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme and paprika.   Cook with the sheet pan directly on the grill (closer to the heat), and stir frequently.

Squash:  Slice zucchini or other summer squash thin, mix with one thinly sliced onion and one red bell pepper.   Drizzle with olive oil, salt and black pepper.   Cover tightly with foil and cook on the top rack until the onion is completely cooked.  

Dessert:   wash, (pit if cherries, cut if strawberries or rhubarb), toss in a bread pan with just a little sugar, break 1/2 a frozen pie crust over the top in small pieces, bake uncovered on top grill rack!  I've now made them with multiple combinations of sour cherries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and rhubarb ... every one turned out great!     I lean towards under sweetening.   You can always serve with some vanilla ice cream.

A few links I thought I would share ...

I want to try this:
Pickled Beets


pdf of local Chester County Food resources


I'm really enjoying the variety and challenge of a CSA again: 
The marvelous Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA - they're still accepting applications