One of the hazards of regular food-blogging is that I’m always looking to come up with new content. While that’s normally a great thing, and keeps me on my toes in the kitchen, it’s not very often that we see a repeat here. Or I’ll make something once, share a few notes on how to make it better, and then never try it again in the improved way. So I thought today I’d just share a few updates to some past posts.
First, I wanted to talk pickles. Last fall I shared a recipe for Pickled Baby Carrots that was really easy to make, but I couldn’t share how delicious it was since it was a pickle and needed to, well, pickle for a while. I’m happy to report that the pickles are very good. The carrot maintains some of its crunch while picking up all the flavors of the pickle. I only have one concern with this recipe and that is the oregano called for. I realize the pickle is called Pickled Baby Carrots with Oregano and Peppers, but the oregano seems a strange choice to me. As we’ve been munching on these carrots, I can’t help but think how thyme or tarragon would have made these pickles absolutely perfect. So next time, they will be made with thyme or tarragon. This is a small batch pickle- so if you happen to have a few baby carrots leftover from the holidays, this is a fantastic way to use them up. The recipe as written is for two pint jars, and while it does call for a boiling water bath, you could certainly skip that and store them in the fridge for a few months.
Then there’s bread. Oh, how we love bread. I’ve made a few variations of the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes that I talked about here. They’ve all been good so far, but the kids don’t really care for them. They don’t like the uber-crispy crust all that much, but Andy and I have sure been enjoying them. I did find that the second day the saltiness of the bread really went away, and the flavor was much better too. I haven’t gotten past a second day yet, simply because I’ve been doing half batches. I also made a loaf using both days to make just one larger loaf. I thought the size of that was perfect for our family- and much better than the tiny 1-pound loaf. I do have this recipe typed up now, so if you’re interested, leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail and I’ll be happy to e-mail you the recipe with my notes.
Speaking of bread, the Buttermilk and Honey Bread keeps finding itself on my table as well. It’s just a great multi-purpose bread. Great for dunking into thick chowder, great for sandwiches, and great for a slice of toast in the morning. Yesterday found me out of bread flour, so I tried making it with all-purpose flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour. It turned out wonderful, yet again.
We’ve also been enjoying last summer’s strawberry bounty again. One of the best things I did was freeze strawberries lightly sugared. They have been fantastic to pull out for topping waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, or simply eating with a spoon as Zander prefers. We’ll be looking forward to a lot more, as we still have a freezer full of strawberries that need to be put to use.
Another fruit- my Two Pan Apple Crisp has shown how remarkable it is from frozen! I pulled a pan out of the freezer not too long ago and tossed it into the oven, frozen solid. A short while later this beautiful aroma began wafting through the house, and we all enjoyed the apple crisp as if it were freshly made. It took about an hour in the oven to reach perfection.
And finally, some beans today. Specifically, this Barbequed Kielbasa. The last time we had made this, I made it in the crock-pot. As a result of that, the beans came out very soupy, and not as good as we like, so Andy put them in a foil pan and threw them on the grill while he was smoking some pork. OMG, the beans came out fantastic then- better than they’ve ever been. Porky and garlicky and smokey and so wonderful. Well, we had made a rather large batch, and after a few days, it seemed a shame to toss the beans, so I put them in the freezer. They came out last week to accompany some simple roasted chicken, and let me tell you, this dish freezes beautifully! I simply reheated them on the stove top, adding about 1/4 cup of water to get it going, and twenty minutes later we had fantastic baked beans. The Barbequed Kielbasa has proven itself a wonderful main dish or side dish, and now it proves its versatility by freezing like a champ. It’s definitely one of our favorites.
