Pick a peck of......



If you were wondering about the devil thingy. Boy Racer collects vintage Radiator caps and the devil is from
England circa 1920s was on his Morgan for years. I love it so he pops up here and there. He is snubbing our suck ass
Spring.

Ahhhh the crock is out and its pickle time on the Ghetto. Spring being so freaking elusive this year I had to do something rather than pine for berries that kinda suck so far. Alas my friends there is always something else Mother Nature will put you to task and this week it was me getting Pickled. Not a far stretch in my world.....

This is from an event last night that I catered  for a Kitchen N Bath showroom in Santa Cruz. There's the Smoked Tomato jam from last week. Visual feast is the first step to a beautiful eating adventure.

The mighty crock with all its history of pickles past ,this vessel brings me right into the sweet spot of pickling. The process of making the pickle, watching the crock on the shelf while it does its magic and then the love love love moment of opening her up stabbing a long pickle fork in the middle and popping open some beers. The cars start arriving for the spring pick nick and the pickle is the center piece for certain. Well I guess that Boston Butt in the smoker is no second fiddle .....


So what to do what to do? Crock or not to crock. Space is an issue this is a small crock compared to the ten ,twenty and thirty gallon crocks that I have and a standard refrigerator won't accommodate, yet can be stored in a cool dry space. Plastic...ehhh. off gassing always brings on a funk that tastes and smells gross if the pickle is left to its own devices too long. Glass ohh glass a great way to store das pickle. I just do my pickle thang in a big way. Glass that big this girl will break. I don't sell my pickle through my Jam Co. it's (don't)laugh too personal and I'm greedy don't wanna share with the faceless masses. Just me,Boy racer and the people we love.

Let's do this simple recipe to get you all good n Pickled.

This is a recipe for all things green, just like spring.


Handful of and bush or pole bean I like the little Hari Coverts ,great for Bloody Mary Sundays or in a good pilsner beer ya know?
Handful of peeled garlic right now spring garlic is all over the Farmers Markets check it.
Handful of young asparagus with the butts hacked off (too woody)
Handful of baby Zucchini halved lengthwise
A few very young leeks sliced lengthwise or RAMPS if you can find them toss em in one; of my all time favorites this time of year.
Handful of Persian Cukes(little guys very tender skin and small seeds)Slice any way turns you on .I did chips to balance out all the shapes going on.
Handful of Spring onion halved lengthwise and keep the green tops very yumm on a smoked Brisked sammy.

Wash all yer veg and toss together to get a nice mix o rama.
Toss in crock,glass or what ever you have to store this pups.

2C. White Vinegar 6%acidity please
2C Aged Sherry Vinegar
1T Honey (local is best)
1T Mustard Seed
1T Fengreek seed
1 handful of fresh thyme
1T peppercorn
2bay leaves
1T toasted fennel seed
1T Chili flake or more....
1t.Cardomon seed
four cloves
1t. Corriandar seed

whip out the mortar and pestle
rough grind all the herbs minus the thyme.

Bring vinegar honey and herbs to a boil.
Pour  over the veg(if it isn't covering the veg add some more aged sherry vin) and let her sit for a day. taste ,stir, assess the situation. If it feels right and the perfect crunch to sour ratio is hit, drain the veggies. then drizzle some Extra Cold Press Olive oil just to coat and there you have it. Pickle heaven in a crock.

From a Bloody Mary ,to a Charcuterie plate you are gonna be one happy pickle lover.

Ok I gotta run I have an order for my Spring Onion Jam that I got to get on......

SAVOUR THE JOURNEY- FREIND IN CHEESES xoxoxo

HOWIE please get a dictionary

Right spankin across the street from STANFORD U. Where some of the most brilliant minds come together, a pizza joint screws it all up. OK Howie you are the Artisan and your pizza is Artisnal. Dumb ass now if you are gonna use a hot button food word in the title of your joint . GET IT RIGHT. I kept drivin no use spending money to see if "right outta the can" means ARTISAN in Howies world. Sigh. Come on people wake up and hold your purveyors of "todays food" to a standard we all can be proud of. Kind of like Dominos trying to fool you into thinking they get all their cheese from that SMALL farm in the commercial. Read the fine print. Kinda like saying "we use organic when possible" WTF? Off the hook is what that is. March on I'm hungry and Howie is off the list.............xoxoxo T
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Eye of the Turophile

 

Universal hungers are few: Who dreams hotly of Souffle'? But wine once loved ,remains a passion: so too with bread ,salt and perhaps meat. As for cheese it is a love that is inherent in humanity. Oh yes the Chinese...they like it little. Linking all milk products with their herdsman-conquerors, the Tartars, and Mongols to name a few. Like its great brethren, bread and wine, cheese is born of a miracle. At the very instant when the milk is on the long lumpy, bumpy road to ruin, mysterious lactic acid or the more mysterious ferment and rennet works like grace upon it and raises it to the higher life of curd. It has traveled in one superb celestial arc to the very end of the Milky way.


Me Teaching at THE CHEESE SCHOOL in San Francisco, Ca
The more we know the better we feel