Marisa McClellan's Blog, page 116

Spicy Quick Pickled Cucumbers

In yesterday’s post about fancy salts, I mentioned that I would be sharing a couple of tasty ways to use these more esoteric salts in batches of pickles. This first recipe is one that uses a generous teaspoon of fleur de sel (though you can also use kosher salt if that’s what you’ve got) to pull some liquid out of the cucumbers and firm up their texture a little.

This pickle is loosely based on the recipe for smacked cucumber in Fuchsia Dunlop’s book Every Grain of Rice. I made it for the first time last year and it rapidly became one of my favorite things to eat (so crunchy! so spicy!). However, it’s the sort of thing that should be made and eaten within the same hour and so I tried to make a version that would keep its texture a little bit longer.

You start by peeling, seeding, and slicing the two cucumbers. Heap the pieces in a bowl and sprinkle with one teaspoon of fleur de sel. Using your hands, massage the salt into the cucumbers and then let them sit for about half an hour. When the time is up, there should be a goodly accumulation of liquid in the bottom of the bowl. Drain that out, toss the cucumbers again and try draining them once more. I tend to do this three or four times, until the cucumbers aren’t releasing anymore water.

While the cucumbers sit with the salt, mix up the pickling liquid (all the exact amounts can be found in the organized recipe below). It’s a slurry of grated garlic, grated ginger, sugar, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, toasted sesame oil, and coarse ground red chili powder (I use the kind meant for making kimchi). Finally, combine the cucumbers and the dressing and stir to combine.

You can eat this pickle immediately (truly, it’s one of the quickest), or you can funnel it into a jar and eat it by the forkful over the next day or two. It’s fiery from the chili powder and garlic, and I find it endlessly delicious.

Don’t forget to enter this week’s giveaway from The Meadow!

Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win!

Print

Spicy Quick Pickled Cucumbers

Ingredients

2 slicing cucumbers
1 teaspoon fleur de sel or kosher salt
2 cloves garlic, grated on a Microplane
1 inch peeled ginger, grated on a Microplane
1/2 cup unseasoned rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground red chili powder

Instructions

Peel, seed, and slice the cucumbers.
Place them in a bowl and sprinkle with salt. Toss cucumbers to distribute the salt. Let them sit for about half an hour.
While cucumbers rest, combine the garlic, ginger, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and red chili powder in a small bowl or measuring cup and stir to combine.
Drain the cucumbers of any liquid that's accumulated and add pickling liquid.
Eat immediately or funnel into a jar and refrigerate.
This pickle will keep 3-4 days in the refrigerator. Any longer and it will start to lose its texture. Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin2.2http://foodinjars.com/2014/04/spicy-quick-pickled-cucumbers/


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Giveaway: Foundation Salt Set from The Meadow

April Sponsors: Cuppow, Fillmore Container, New West KnifeWorks, and Preserving Now

It’s April! Time to welcome spring and say thanks to the companies that help make it possible for me to do what I do. Please shower them with your love (and business)!

First up is jar accessory maker Cuppow! They are the creator of the original mason jar travel mug topper and, more recently, of the BNTO, a cup that fits into a wide mouth mason jar and transforms it into a lunch box. They’ll be at the Eat Boutique Pop Up Market with me this Saturday and Sunday and will be giving a free BNTO to everyone who buys a copy of one of my books!

Next comes our friends at Fillmore Container. They sell all manner of canning jars and lids, as well as a handful of books and jar accessories. They’re a family-owned business based in Lancaster, PA and they happily work with home canners and commercial producers alike. Visit their blog to read up on how to best prepare for canning season!

I’m happy to welcome the nice folks at New West KnifeWorks back again! Based in Wyoming, they are makers of gorgeous, sturdy, crafted in the US kitchen knives. They are a joy to work with. If you register on their site, you enter yourself in for a chance to win one of their 7-piece knife blocks.

Last, but certainly not least is Preserving Now! Operated by Lyn Deardorff, Preserving Now is both a website and school dedicated to helping people expand their canning and preserving skills. If you’re in the Atlanta area, make sure to check out her schedule of upcoming classes and events! Lyn has been instrumental in setting up an array of book events for me in Atlanta and you can find out more about where I’ll be by visiting her website. Thanks so much, Lyn!

If you’d like to be a sponsor, there are lots of spots available, starting at just $75 a month.

Please visit my sponsorship page for more details! 
Related Posts:

February Sponsors: Cuppow, Fillmore Container, Tradestone Confections, Preserving Now, and The Clay Studio
Links: Canning Aprons, Lemon Oaty Bars, and a Winner
Pictures from the Pennsylvania Farm Show

Giveaway: Foundation Salt Set from The Meadow

Salt has forever been an essential ingredient in food preservation. It plays a key role in pickling, whether you’re fermenting or using vinegar, and has also long been used to preserve meat and fish.

As canners, one of the things we often hear is that pickling salt is the only way to go. And while it’s true that it dissolves quickly and doesn’t contain any additives that could discolor your pickles, I believe there are places for a variety of salts in the home preserver’s toolbox.

For the last few summers, I’ve made all my pickles with fine grain sea salts like this Fleur de Sel from The Meadow. I measure it out by weight in order to ensure that I don’t oversalt my dilly bean and cucumber dills (more on how to swap salts by weight in this post from 2010) and the finished pickles are fabulous and the quality of the brine suffers not at all from the salt substitution.

When I want to incorporate chunkier, more mineral-flavored salts like Sel Gris in my preserving, I opt for a batch of Herbs Salees (it’s best done in high summer, when tender herbs can be had for a song). I have a version of salt preserved herbs in my new cookbook, or you can try the technique on Well Preserved. They add incredible flavor to soups and stews.

Recently, the folks at The Meadow sent me their Foundation Salt Set (it retails for $40. If that feels too spendy, maybe their Mini Foundation Set at $20 might suit your budget?) and a little jar of deeply smoked sea salt to play with. I’ve been a customer of theirs since 2009, but their inventory is so deep that other that the Fleur de Sel, all the salts were new to me.

I have two pickle recipes going up later this week that feature these interesting salts, so stay tuned for those. However, in the mean time, let’s have a giveaway! The Meadow is offering up one of their Foundation Salt Sets to one lucky Food in Jars reader. Here’s how to enter:

Leave a comment on this post and share a salty tidbit. Do you have a favorite salt? Have you ever tried making your own sea salt? Tell me something about your relationship with salt.
Comments will close at 11:59 pm on Saturday, April 5, 2014. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Sunday, April 6, 2014.
Giveaway open to US residents only.
One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.

Disclosure: The Meadow sent me some salt to use and photograph and are also providing a set for the winner of this giveaway. However, they did not pay to be featured here on this blog and all opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone.

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Spicy Quick Pickled Cucumbers
A Peek Inside Preserving by the Pint + Giveaway
Giveaway: Tulid Reusable Leak-Proof Lids

This Weekend: Eat Boutique Spring Pop Up Market at Fringe!

Hey Boston! I’m coming to see you this weekend. I’ll be at the Eat Boutique Spring Pop Up Market at Fringe on Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon to 5 pm to show off my small batch canning tricks, sign books (we’ll have copies of both Food in Jars and Preserving by the Pint), and answer canning questions.

What’s more, the nice folks at Cuppow are giving a free BNTO to everyone who buys a copy of one of my books (I’m also going to be showing some of the cool things you can do with a BNTO).

Here are all the details:

When: Saturday, April 5 and Sunday, April 6, 12 noon to 5 pm.

Where: Fringe Union

9 Olive Square

Somerville, Massachusetts 02143

How much: Totally free!

Related Posts:

A Peek Inside Preserving by the Pint + Giveaway
Preserving by the Pint at the IACP Book & Blog Fest
One Month Until Preserving by the Pint

Links: Mango Butter, Savory Crumbles, and Winners

I spent four hours on Saturday hanging out at the Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal Market, sharing tastes of Honey Sweetened Strawberry Jam and signing copies Preserving by the Pint. It was a great day and so fun to meet so many of you! Thanks to everyone who braved the torrential rain to come out! Now, links.

Mangos are in season and this mango butter is on my to-make list.
Pretty pictures of carrot and cabbage kraut.
Simple, delicious-looking strawberry peach lemon jam.
Spinach slice. I want that in my lunchbox.
Doesn’t Ashley English’s new book look glorious!
How do you get ready for canning season?
Make the most of your preserves with this minestrone.
Gorgeous photos from Whole Larder Love’s annual passata day.
There should be more savory crumbles in my life.
My book got a couple nice mentions this week. One was on the Philly Inquirer and the other was on Maureen Petrosky’s website.

Thank you all so much for your kind words about the new book last week! The three giveaway copies go to…

#106/Lynn
#137/Debbie
#290/Courtney

Stay tuned, I’ll have a fresh giveaway up tomorrow.

Related Posts:

Links: Author Copies, June Taylor, and Winners
Links: More Kumquats, Pickled Cabbage, and a Winner
Links: Meyer Lemons, Pour Spouts, and Winners

Cookbooks: Power Hungry

These days, my brain is entirely occupied by thoughts of my upcoming book tour. Next Friday, I head to Boston for a weekend of demos and book signings at the Eat Boutique Pop-Up Market. Soon after that, I’m road tripping my way through Charlottesville, Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, and Memphis.

I have page after page of to-do lists in my notebook, covering topics like demo supplies, book sourcing, day-to-day logistics, and even road snacks (because while I’ll have a back seat full of pickles and jam, preserves do not a filling meal make).

Happily, thanks to Camille V. Saulsbury and her book Power Hungry my car snacks are in good hands. Released last fall, this book features recipes for granola bars, energy balls, and super healthy brownies that are the perfect thing to reach for when you’re driving from one state to another.

The book opens with an introduction to the pantry staples used in the recipes. From there Camilla moves into the section she calls “Super Natural Knock Offs.” If you have a favorite store bought bar, look here first, because chances are good that you’ll find a recipe that will get you something perfectly similar here.

From there, you move through chapters for Activity Bars (these are original recipes that are bursting with flavor to get you through a workout or a busy day), Endurance Bars (these are higher in protein and fat, for even more energy), Protein Bars (they get their protein from beans, or from whey or vegan protein powders), and Raw and Almost Raw Bars (these are the easiest bars in the book, because you just combine ingredients and pack them into shape).

So far, my favorite recipe in the book is the one for Friend Bars. They’re Camilla’s version of Kind Bars and the coconut almond variation has helped me kick my habit of picking up three or four at Trader Joe’s each time I grocery shop.

This week, one of the things on the ever-lengthening to-do list is to make a couple batches of these bars, wrap them individually and stash them in the freezer. I’ll grab a few for next weekend’s trip and even more when I head south.

I’m so looking forward to the fact that I won’t be dependent on expensive store bought bars for all this upcoming travel. What’s more, there’s really nothing better than having something homemade when I’m on the road. It becomes an edible touchstone for home and the life I’m so happy to lead.

Related Posts:

Cookbooks: Baking Sourdough Bread
Cookbooks: Whole Grain Mornings
Cookbooks for Canners, Picklers, and Preservers

Urban Preserving: Strawberry Kiwi Jam

When it comes to travel prep, my husband and I are not well matched. He likes to be fully packed at least 36 hours before a trip, so that he can get a peaceful night of sleep before a flight or drive. I am a bit more frenzied, often packing and re-packing my suitcase moments before it’s time to leave. What’s more, my last minute nature extends to preserving projects.

Last December, the last thing I did before putting my coat on to head to the airport was take half a dozen jars out of the hot water bath and turn off the stove. I had a citron melon with a broken rind. It would not last and I couldn’t bare to throw it away. It had to be done.

More recently, I found myself in the kitchen at 11:30 pm, having that familiar debate. Trash can or jam pan? You see, we had most of a pound of strawberries in the fridge that would not last my absence and four wrinkly kiwis that would be well on their way to hooch if left in the fruit basket another four days. I could either bear the responsibility for wasting them or make a quick batch of jam.

And so, I made jam. I followed the formula you’ve all seen me employ before. I chopped the berries, scooped the kiwi out of its fuzzy wrapper, and heaped them both into a measuring cup to eyeball my volume. Three cups. I added in 1 1/4 cups of granulated sugar (I calculate half as much sugar as fruit and then use a bit less than that) stirred until it was juicy. The fruit and sugar combo then went into a skillet, where I cooked it until thick and spreadable (in the last two minutes of cooking, I added a little lemon juice to balance the sweetness).

Instead of being in possession of fading fruit, I had two half pints of tangy strawberry kiwi jam. I may not have gotten as much sleep as I could have used, but I was set free from the guilt of wasted fruit. A fair trade, in my book. And just this morning, I ate a bit on a slice of peanut butter toast and thought fondly of that late night investment of time.

Where do you all fall on the pre-travel canning continuum? Do you preserve at all costs, or do you occasionally let the produce go?

Print

Strawberry Kiwi Jam

Yield: makes approximately 1 pint

Ingredients

2 cups chopped strawberries
1 cup peeled and chopped kiwi
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon

Instructions

Combine the strawberries, kiwi, and sugar in a bowl and stir until the fruit begins to release its juice.
Scrape the fruit and sugar combination into a 12 inch skillet and place over high heat.
Bring to a boil and cook at a rapid bubble for 8-10 minutes, stirring regularly, until the jam is thick. You can tell it's done when you can pull your spatula through the cooking fruit and the jam doesn't immediately rush in to fill the space.
When jam is done, you can do one of two things. Simply scrape it into a pint jar, let it cool, and put it in the fridge. Or funnel it into two clean, hot half pint jars and process them in a boiling water bath canner for ten minutes.
As long as the seals are good, the processed jam is shelf stable for up to a year. Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin2.2http://foodinjars.com/2014/03/urban-preserving-strawberry-kiwi-jam/


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Urban Preserving: Pickled Fairy Tale Eggplant
Small Batch Black Velvet Apricot Jam Recipe
A Thimbleful of Jam

A Peek Inside Preserving by the Pint + Giveaway

I’ve been showing you all the cover of my new book, Preserving by the Pint, for months now. I thought that since today is its official release date (though Amazon makes such things mostly moot by shipping pre-orders as soon as it has them in stock), it might be fun to show you what it looks like on the inside.

This book is full of tiny batches and was written with farmers market shoppers, CSA subscribers, and container gardeners in mind (though truly, if you’re not among those groups, the book is still for you). All the recipes start with either a pint, a quart, or a pound (or two) because those are the units of measure that so many of us end up with after a trip to the green market, grocery store, or farm share pick-up.

Instead of giving away your excess produce, or worse, tossing on the compost pile, you can preserve it. Make pesto from that giant bundle of Thai basil. Cook excess zucchini down into a creamy, garlicky butter. And transform those alien-like heads of kohlrabi into crisp, tasty pickles.

Unlike my first book, which was arranged by type of preserve, Preserving by the Pint is set up seasonally. The idea is that you can start at the beginning with Spring and preserve your way through both the year and the book. As someone who did essentially that while writing the book, I can promise, you’ll end up with a delightfully varied assortment of things in your pantry and freezer when that year is up.

One thing you’ll start to notice about this book is that while all the recipes do preserve the season, they don’t all do it through canning. A generous handful of the recipes are designed for refrigerator storage and yet others are best frozen. I made the storage choices I did in order to create the best finished product possible.

These marinated sugar snap peas, for instances, are a quick pickle because if you were to process them in a boiling water bath canner, all those spritely peas would lose their snap and crunch. Kept in the fridge, they last a respectable amount of time and are far more delicious.

This quick tomato sauce is one of my very favorite recipes in the book. Most years, I buy a 100 pounds of tomatoes and spend a week preserving them whole or as puree. However, throughout the summer, there are often small deals on cracked or otherwise marred tomatoes at my local market that I hate to pass up.

This sauce makes it possible to spend a dollar or two, invest a little time peeling and cooking, and end up with two half pints of glorious, flavorful pizza sauce from each batch. Because I make four or five batches over the course of the summer, I end up with enough sauce to last all year, but it doesn’t feel like any work at all and costs nearly nothing.

In writing this book, I also worked hard to come up with recipes that solved problems. I often hear from people that they wish they could can caramel sauces. While this sweet pear caramel doesn’t have the creamy mouthfeel of a batch made with heavy cream, it’s a really delicious sauce that can be used in place of traditional caramel drizzles (and if you don’t like pears, try it with peach or raspberry puree).

I am really proud of how this book turned out and am so grateful to Running Press for helping me turn an idea into a beautiful, useful thing.

Finally, it’s time for the weekly giveaway to return. I have three signed copies of Preserving by the Pint, liberated from my stash of author copies, to give away. Here’s how to enter:

Leave a comment on this post and tell me what you think about the new book. Or, if you’re not ready to share your thoughts, tell me about your favorite small batch preserving project.
Comments will close at 11:59 pm on Saturday, March 29, 2014. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Sunday, March 30, 2014.
Giveaway open all.
One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.

P.S. The new book has gotten a bit of love from some of my local media outlets. Here’s what the Philly’s Citypaper, Geekadelphia, and Table Matters have to say.

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Preserving by the Pint at the IACP Book & Blog Fest
Giveaway: Tulid Reusable Leak-Proof Lids
Giveaway: New Blue and Green Lids From Ball

Book Signing at the Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal Market this Saturday!

Friends! The season of book signings, canning demos, and weekly reminders about all my crazy travels are upon us!

For my first official, post-release event, I’m staying close to home. Locals will find me at the Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia this Saturday, March 29, 2014, from 10 am to 2 pm. I’ll be standing behind the cheese case, handing out tastes of my honey sweetened strawberry jam and signing books.

We’ll have copies of the new book on hand for sale, as well as a few of the old one as well (I’m also happy to sign copies of the books that you might already own). Please come out, pick up a book, and say hi! I hope to see a number of you there!

P.S. My cold is finally gone, so you can come out, safe in the knowledge that I won’t pass an early spring bug along to you!

Related Posts:

Preserving by the Pint at the IACP Book & Blog Fest
Free Canning Demo at Williams-Sonoma at the Bellevue
Canning Demo at Art in the Age

Honey Sweetened Cara Cara Orange Jam on Simple Bites

I got back from Chicago last night with a stack of other peoples’ business cards, half a dozen water bottles from the Housewares Show (more on that soon), and a fog-inducing head cold. I’m good for nothing right now beyond curling up on the couch with a book and some tea.

Happily, I don’t have to leave you all entirely empty-handed. I wrote a piece for Simple Bites on Honey Sweetened Cara Cara Orange Jam that went live today. It’s bright, well-balanced, and can be used a number of different ways (on toast! with yogurt! in vinaigrette!). Please do head over there and take a look.

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Honey Sweetened Apricot Thyme Jam at Simple Bites
Curds, Pickles and Soups! Oh My!
Demos, Classes, Can-It-Forward and Canning Week on Simple Bites