Ontario Quick Refrigerator Pickles

"I don't want a pickle, just want to ride my motorsickle." Arlo Guthrie

 

Hiya followers! If you live anywhere close to Georgetown, Ontario, make sure to check out my website and sign up to one of my cooking demonstrations! You can either come out to The Carter Farm Market located in Norval, Ontario, or I will come out to your house for a private demo!
www.sarahsculinaryadventure.com

 



 

Well, I'm back again with a simple and tasty recipe for quick refrigerator pickles. I never even knew such a thing existed until this time last year. Quick pickles are pickles that are made in a bowl or jar and kept in the fridge. No need for sterilizing, canning or fussing! This is the easiest method to make pickles and they are ready to taste in one day (although I feel they are better at one week old) and keep in the fridge for up to six weeks. As I mentioned earlier, I did try to make these last year, but I failed miserably! Ha! At the time I figured hey, the more garlic the better, right?! Wrong! My pickles were SO strong in flavor, I had to toss them. So, today I got out that old recipe and refined it and now I know we have a winner! Let's do this...

 

Simple and Tasty Recipe:

 

Ontario Quick Refrigerator Pickles

(makes 20 to 24 pickles)

 

5 to 6 Kirby cucmbers (the small pickling ones), sliced lengthwise into quarters 

2 to 3 sprigs of fresh dill

1/4 tsp each mustard seed, fennel seed and coriander seed

10 to 12 whole peppercorns (any colour, I used red and black)

1 bay leaf

1 3/4 cups white vinegar

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

4 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 salt, Kosher, sea or pickling

 

Wash and dry a medium sized non reaction bowl or jar (the one I used was a 900 ml jar). In the bowl or jar, place the dill sprigs, the spices and bay leaf and the cucumber slices.

In a non reactive sauce pot, combine the vinegar, garlic slices, sugar and salt, stirring until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Heat on high and bring to a boil and turn off.

Pour over the heated vinegar mixture over the cucumbers, making sure they are covered (you may need to heat and pour over a little more vinegar to do this).

Set aside, uncovered, until the liquid is cooled, cover and refrigerate for up to 6 weeks, enjoy!

 

See?! I told you it was easy! Now, my taste is most likely not the same as yours, but use this as a base and get creative! You can add more salt (a little at a time), more sugar, more garlic (one clove at a time!), dill or spices. Try using tarragon instead of dill, adding chili flakes or heck, you can even change up the veggies...

 

As you can see, for this jar of quick pickles, I threw caution to the wind and added Ontario cauliflower and carrots, using the exact same herbs, spices and liquid as the cucumber pickles. For this, I measured 2 generous cups of the sliced veggies and continued as above. Yum!

Bye for now and I'll be back very soon with a great Thanksgiving side dish!

 

 

 



Ontario Crab Apple Jelly

"Crab apples have a high natural pectin content, making it unnecessary to add any additional pectin while making crab apple jelly. " Me!

Hiya followers! If you live anywhere close to Georgetown, Ontario, make sure to check out my website and sign up to one of my cooking demonstrations! You can either come out to The Carter Farm Market located in Norval, Ontario, or I will come out to your house for a private demo!

www.sarahsculinaryadventure.com

 

Well, this week I have gone completely out of my comfort zone and have made crab apple jelly for the first time ever. Not only was it my first time making crab apple jelly, but I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've made any type of jelly or jam! Although I was completely intimidated, I found making this jelly really quite simple! Mind you, I decided to go the easy route and not sterilize the jar that my jelly went into. Rather, I simply put the jelly into a clean glass jar and am going to refrigerated it. It will last for up to 3 months. That being said, if you familiar with canning and do not feel that you will give yourself or others botulism (as I am terrified of doing!!!) then by all means, go ahead and preserve your jelly. By sealing the jelly a sterilized jar, your crab apple jelly with last for years, not just a few months like mine!
 

Simple and Tasty Recipe:
 

Ontario Crab Apple Jelly

(makes about 500ml)

 

4 cups of crab apples
3 cups cold water

2/3 cup white sugar

* Orange peel (optional)

 

With a paring knife or kitchen shears, trim off the stems and blossom ends of the crab apples.

Cut the apples in half (look out, they're rather tough little things!), place into a large bowl and give them a good soak in cold water.

Transfer the washed crab apples into a pot and add the water. Bring to a boil, reduce to low and simmer for about 15 to 20 mins until the apples have softened, change colour and the liquid has become a pale pink in colour.

Next, lay a couple of layers of cheese cloth over a fine  mesh sieve, on top of a medium bowl and pass the fruit and liquid through. Either keep the sieve over the bowl, or tie up the ends around the cooked fruit and suspend the bundle above the bowl to allow the juice to drip through. Allow the juice to collect for anywhere from 1 hour to overnight.
Pour all  of the juices back into the pot, bring to a boil, turn down to low and simmer for about 10 mins. Skim any foamy scum if it appears.

Meanwhile, place a small ceramic plate in the freezer...
Stir in the sugar until dissolved, add in the orange peels and simmer for 10 mins more. At this point, take the plate out of the freezer and pour a little bit of the hot liquid onto the plate and see how thick it is. If still too runny and not jelly like, put the plate back into the freezer, allow the liquid to simmer for 5 mins more and test it again. Keep doing this until your desired consistency is achieved.

Turn the pot off, pour the hot liquid jelly into a clean jar, allow to cool on the counter and refrigerate. Your jelly will be solidified when it is cold. Store in the fridge for up to 3 months, enjoy!

So there you go, how easy was that?! No pectin, no nothing, just a pure fruit jelly! Now, I  promise I will be back very soon with a recipe that took me out of my comfort zone: quick pickles! Once again, no sterilizing or canning skills will be needed and just like this jelly, the pickles will be kept in the fridge! Till then, my loyal followers!

 

Good Old Fashioned Ontario Apple Crisp

"With an apple I will astonish Paris." Paul Cézanne

 

Hiya followers! If you live anywhere close to Georgetown, Ontario, make sure to check out my website and sign up to one of my cooking demonstrations! You can either come out to The Carter Farm Market located in Norval, Ontario, or I will come out to your house for a private demo!

www.sarahsculinaryadventure.com

 

 

How do you like them apples?! I swear, I've never seen so many in my life!

This morning I went for a walk down in the ravine along a trail here in Georgetown, ON. At one point the trail opens up into a large clearing and along the edge of the woods are least a half dozen apple trees. They are growing wild, not sprayed and I have the feeling they are the result of apple cores being tossed aside by people over the years! Ha! Well, after not being on the trail or seeing these trees for at least a couple of  months, I was amazed at the sight! The trees were dripping with beautiful, bright, ruby red apples! I'm talking boughs bent down to the ground from the weight of the fruit, not to mention dozens upon dozens of apples already fallen onto the ground! So what did I do, you might ask?! I picked an apple, gave it a good shine and took a bite. Sweet, juicy and absolutely delicious! So, what did I do after that?! Walked back to our place, grabbed a basket, my camera, retraced my route and picked apples for the first time in years! Walking back home I was wondering what I should do with my newly picked gems, so I sent off a text to my sweetie Kev and asked for his advice. He said a simple apple crisp would be nice for dessert and I agreed. Thank you Kevin because not only do we have dessert for tonight, but the house smells AMAZING!

 

 

Simple and Tasty Recipe:

 

Good Old Fashioned Ontario Apple Crisp

(serves 8 to 10)

Filling
8 large Ontario apples, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
¼ cup brown sugar or honey

 

Topping
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, cold and cut into cubes
1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Pinch of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter a medium sized casserole dish.

Place the apples and brown sugar into a large bowl and toss until the sugar has dissolved. Spread the filling out evenly into the bottom of the greased casserole dish.

In the same bowl, add in the topping ingredients and break up the butter pieces with your fingers until they are roughly the same size as peas. Spread the topping evenly over the apples.

Place the casserole into the oven. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the apples are tender and the crisp is browned. Serve warm or at room temperature, on it’s own or with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, crème fraiche or yogurt. Enjoy!

Now, I'm not an expert on apples by any means and I don't even know what type of apples I picked! I do know that there are proper apples for baking and I probably should have used them or recommended them for my crisp, but I am throwing caution to the wind and telling you to do as I did and use whatever type of fresh Ontario apples you have! I honestly don't think you'll regret it! Till next time, followers!

 

 

 

 

Jean Ikeson's Greenhouse! Dundas, Ontario

"Earth laughs in flowers." Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Hiya followers! If you live anywhere close to Georgetown, Ontario, make sure to check out my website and sign up to one of my cooking demonstrations! You can either come out to The Carter Farm Market located in Norval, Ontario, or I will come out to your house for a private demo!

www.sarahsculinaryadventure.com

 

As promised, I'm back to continue blogging about our family friend's farm that my sweetie and I visited a couple of weekends ago. Jean was born in Texas and grew up in Oklahoma, before travelling north and settling in Canada. She has lived in different parts of Ontario and Nova Scotia and is now back in Ontario and lives along the Niagara Escarpment in Dundas. If you scroll down my blog, you will see Jean's garden and the vegetables she grows, some representing her Southern roots such as okra, lots of peppers (some are hot!) and a couple different types of tomatillos. Speaking of tomatillos, I just blogged a recipe for salsa verde and as soon as local squash are ready, I will make Jean`s tomatillo and squash soup! Yum! Jean's farm isn't all about veggies though and her other gardening passion takes us indoors to her vast greenhouse which is filled with over a thousand orchids!
 

Part Two
 

Jean Ikeson loves orchids. Not only does she have a greenhouse full of them, but she is also is a member of many orchid societies and was an international judge at an orchid competition in Singapore a year and half a ago. Jean also has her own business named Windsor Greenhouse that sells orchids, orchid growing supplies and good quality greenhouses, not just poly huts. Here is a link to her website!

Now, before we get started looking at photos, I just wanted to share that the orchids are not in full bloom this time of year. So, today I only have about a dozen pictures to share, but Jean told us to come back in January or February when they are all in bloom. To tell you truth, I can't even imagine what that would look like! Over a thousand orchids in bloom?! I cannot wait to go back and I promise to bring my camera along. Here are some of Jean`s beautiful orchids!

 

 L.C. Puppy Love

 

Angraecum Sesquipedale (a.k.a Darwin's Orchid)

Though discovered by someone else, this native of Madagascar was made famous by Darwin! The noticeably long spur of the flower had Darwin rationalize that there must be a  large moth with a long proboscis (tongue) that must pollinate the orchid. He was proven right, but only years after his death. Recently, for the first time, hidden cameras finally caught footage of the infamous moth and here's a link to the video! Ha!

 

Schomburgkia

 

Lady Slipper

 

With over 25,00 different orchids, I had a hard time writing all of the names down!

 

 Look how small and delicate these orchids are! Magnificent!

Ants live within  the tubers of some orchid plants, keeping them pollinated.

 

 

Jane Rodmell's Salsa Verde Recipe

 

 Fresh tomatillos from Jean's farm, husked and ready to go!

 

Hiya followers! If you live anywhere close to Georgetown, Ontario, make sure to check out my website and sign up to one of my cooking demonstrations! You can either come out to The Carter Farm Market located in Norval, Ontario, or I will come out to your house for a private demo!

www.sarahsculinaryadventure.com

 

So, last week my blog was all about our friend Jean's farm and I'm back this week to share a recipe made with some of the beautiful produce from her garden! Tomatillos are a favourite of Jean's and she has a tonne of them! Related to the tomato and though technically regarded as a fruit, tomatillos are used in savoury recipes. A staple in Mexican cuisine, Tex-Mex cooking other in South American countries, the most popular way to prepare tomatillos is to make a green salsa from them called salsa verde. Now, I must be frank and tell you that I tried making my own salsa recipe this week, but it wasn't very good. Then I thought to myself "Why try to make something, when someone else does it better?" You see, at this year's Spring Cottage Life Show, Jane Rodmell and I demonstrated the salsa verde recipe she had developed for Cottage Life magazine. It was absolutely delicious! So delicious in fact that I figured I might as well share Jane's recipe instead of making my own, and now you all can enjoy it as much as I did! Yum!

 

Photograph by Jim Norton, from the Cottage Life website

 

This recipe is for Pork in Salsa Verde, but if you wish to just make the salsa, it can be easily adjusted!

 

Simple and Tasty Recipe:

 

Jane Rodmell's Pork in Salsa Verde

(serves 6)

2 tbsp vegetable oil (30 ml)

3 lbs pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 large white onion, peeled and cut 
into wedges

2 cloves garlic, unpeeled

1/2 tsp cumin seeds (2 ml)

4-6 sprigs fresh coriander, plus extra 
for garnish

1 bay leaf

Water or chicken stock

1 lb  tomatillos, about 8 (500 g) 
(see Tip)

2 jalapeno chiles

2 poblano chiles

Juice of 1 fresh lime

 

1. In a large, heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Lightly brown pork on all sides. Season lightly. Add half of onion, 1 clove garlic, cumin seeds, fresh coriander, and bay leaf. Add water or stock to cover meat, reduce heat, cover pot, and simmer until pork is tender, about an hour

.

2. Meanwhile, preheat broiler and husk and rinse tomatillos. Place on cookie sheets with chiles and remaining onion and garlic. Broil, turning occasionally, until chile and tomatillo skins are evenly browned and blistered. (Or thread tomatillos, chiles, onion, and garlic on metal skewers and grill on a barbecue.) Let cool. Rub off chile skins; remove veins and seeds. Remove garlic skin.

3. With a slotted spoon, remove meat to a bowl and season lightly. Strain cooking liquid and return to the pot, simmering until reduced by half.

4. Using a food processor, purée tomatillos, chiles, onions, garlic, and accumulated juices, adding reduced pork liquid as needed to make a sauce of creamy consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning.

5. Pour sauce over pork and heat through. Garnish with extra coriander, finely chopped, and drizzle fresh lime juice overtop.

Tip: Tomatillos, a Mexican staple, are small, tart fruits you can find in most large grocery stores. Choose ones with a bright green, papery husk. You can substitute canned tomatillos for fresh or, in a pinch, green tomatoes with a dash of lemon juice.
Variation: For Chicken in Salsa Verde, replace pork with boneless chicken thighs.