Sweetie Pie

Gazpacho

When it's too hot to even consider turning on the stove or the oven (!) there's nothing like a refreshing bowl of cold tomato soup.  There's absolutely no cooking involved and eating it will make you feel as cool as a cucumber.

This recipe is from Andalusia, the southern region of Spain.  It gets just as hot there as it does here in South Carolina, but most homes there do not have air conditioning.  It's no surprise that such a simple and wonderful recipe for scorching summer weather would come from another famously hot climate. 

The hardest part of this recipe is peeling and seeding the tomatoes.  The best way to accomplish this is to blanch them in boiling water for a few seconds and then plunge them into an ice bath.  The skin will slip and slide right off.  I seeded mine over a sieve on top of the blender to save all the flavorful tomato juice.

Gazpacho can be served in a tall glass like a Bloody Mary, or in a bowl with lots of delicious garnishes for a complete summer meal.  There are just tons of variations on this recipe, but the basic ingredients are the same.  You will need ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, garlic, peppers, olive oil and some bread.
Gazpacho

3 pounds ripe tomatoes peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped

2 cucumbers peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped

2 slices white bread, crusts removed

1 small red onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 sweet peppers

6 Tablespoons olive oil

3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Place all the vegetables and the bread in a blender and pulse until it is well combined.  It should be approximately the consistency of a slurpy or milkshake.  Pour the gazpacho into a glass or ceramic bowl and add the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.  Refrigerate for several hours before serving.  Garnish with chopped cucumber, tomato and croutons.   If you're really hungry you can add some chopped hard boiled egg and bacon on top.

 Because the tomatoes and cukes are peeled, the soup will not have much color, but the taste is lively and bright.  You could vary this recipe in many ways.  I followed this recipe, which I found here, but it's not necessary to measure the ingredients exactly.  Just follow the basic proportions, then adjust it to your liking the next time.

 

Perky Pickles

 
Here are two easy pickle recipes for beginners.  I am new to making pickles, but am quickly developing a pickle problem.  I've made four batches of pickles this week and only stopped because I ran out of jars.  When it's so hot and humid outside that you get sticky with sweat just sitting in the shade, nothing is better than a crunchy, tart and salty pickle.  These two recipes are for refrigerator pickles, so there's no canning involved.  Just assemble the ingredients and enjoy.
I grew cucumbers and fresh dill in my garden.  I think the intense flavor of the dill straight from the summer sunshine makes this simple recipe shine.  All you need is cucumbers, dill, garlic, vinegar, and salt.  Yum.  Vinegar and salt.

Refrigerator Dill Pickles

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar or white distilled vinegar

2 cups water

1 0r 2 cloves garlic

fresh dill or dried dill and seeds

1 tablespoon salt (kosher or pickling salt only)

cracked black pepper

cucumbers - cut into spears, slices, or whole if they are very small (If you buy your cukes at the grocery store, look for UNwaxed.)

Clean and dry 2 glass pint jars or one large quart jar.  You can reuse any glass jar for these recipes since they are refrigerator pickles and don't need to be canned or sealed.  When you're cutting up the cucumbers, cut off the blossom end (one end has the stem, the other usually smaller end is where the flower used to be - the blossom end) because it has an enzyme that can cause limp pickles - yuck!  Put as many cucumbers as you can into the jar(s) along with a clove or two of garlic, some dill and cracked pepper.  You can vary the amount of garlic, dill, and pepper according to your taste.  Place the vinegar and salt in a saucepan and heat to a boil.  Spoon the hot brine over the veggies until the jar is full and the cucumbers are submerged.  Put the lids on and let the pickles cool to room temperature.  Move them to the refrigerator and enjoy after 24 hours.  The inspiration for this recipe came from Urban Preserving.

These pickles crunch and snap with each mouthwatering bite. 

The next recipe is both sweet and sour and comes directly from the White On Rice Couple blog.  They have lots of fantastic recipes so you should click through and see for yourself.   For this recipe you'll need some fresh ginger, sugar, fennel seeds, and of course the vegetables you want to pickle.  Although cucumbers are by far the most common vegetable to be brined, you can pickle just about anything.  This recipe recommends using snap peas or asparagus, but I didn't have any so I used the veggies I had left over from another recipe (yes, another pickle recipe). 

Quick Ginger Pickles

1 clean pint jar or 2 jelly jars

1/3 cup white distilled vinegar

1/2 cup water

zest and juice of 1 lemon

3 or 4 sprigs fresh tarragon or dill

2 Tablespoons sugar

A 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, julienned (cut into very thin matchsticks)

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon dill seeds ( I didn't have any, so I added extra fresh dill.)

1 teaspoon salt - use kosher or pickling salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

pinch red pepper flakes

1/2 pound snap peas, asparagus, cucumbers, or other vegetables

1/2 medium red onion thinly sliced

Combine everything except the veggies and mix well to dissolve the salt and sugar.  I heated the mixture just a bit to get it to dissolve.  Now, scoop out the solids (lemon zest, seeds, dill...) and divide it evenly between your jars.  Next, put your vegetables into the jars and press down a little.  Pour the brine over it all and refrigerate.  Viola!  A lovely sweet and sour and most importantly, very gingery pickle. 

Welcome Summer

 

 

Crisp vegetables

Sticky heat and thunderstorms

I welcome summer.

 

Spring Dreams

Can you believe March is here?  I looked at my 'plans' and saw that I should be focusing on bread this month.  I'm just not into bread right now.  I'm unsatisfied with the recipes I've tried, I don't have a baking stone, and I don't have a mixer or food processor that can handle dough.  So if I want to make bread I have to be prepared to knead it by hand, a lot.  I would be happy to do this, maybe, ... another day. 

Today the sun is out and the garden wants attention.  I always have such high hopes for my garden in the spring.  I cram way too many plants, seeds, bulbs and dreams into a very small space.  Then I water sporadically, fertilize maybe once, and am so dissapointed by my yeilds.

I will do better this year.  I will not succumb to the wide variety of beautiful tomato plants and buy one of each.  I will not try to grow five different varieties of peppers or anything else.  What I really want is one slicing tomato, one cherry tomato, a few peppers and some herbs.  I also want to try potatoes again.  If I can maintain focus and not get sucked into trying all sorts of heirloom beans, carrots, and odds and ends maybe I'll have more success. 

It's still early, but we have a very warm climate, and sugar snap peas love cool weather.  These are already in the ground thanks to help from my little digger.  I'll plant potatoes next.  Apparently the conditions in my kitchen are perfect for sprouting them.  Some lettuce, spinach and shallots survived the winter.  Weeds are popping up so it's time to get crackin'.

 

Farm Fresh

We took a little trip to Live Oak Farm in Woodruff, SC yesterday.  We wanted to look at the Suffolk Punch draft horses, enjoy the beautiful weather and pick up some groceries.  We were not disappointed. 

 

The horses were sweet and friendly, and all the animals were clearly happy and well cared for on this farm.  We took in the sunshine and enjoyed looking at the sheep, cows, horses, barns, wagons and solar panels. 

We bought a cooler full of good stuff to stock our refrigerator and freezer.  It's a great feeling to know the meat we're eating came from animals that were clean, happy and healthy. We also enjoy supporting small farmers instead of big chain stores.  The store at Live Oak Farm is very nice and carries jams, relishes, pickles, milk, beef, lamb, duck, chicken, milk, eggs, dry and canned goods, and more.  We are now supplied with chicken, grass fed beef, pastured pork bacon, fresh eggs, butter and some cheese.  I forgot to get buttermilk. We also picked up some literature and they gave us a nice canvas shopping bag and Farmers Almanac.   It was a good day and a worthwhile trip.   I'm looking forward to all the good eats.