Thursday, July 22, 2010

Picked Pepperonici Peppers, Cherry Pie, Green Coriander and Chioggia Beets

It's amazing how fast time flies when you're running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I will admit that I have been looking forward to the weekend when I can veg around the house a bit and catch up on my blog reading. Anyway, here are just some random tidbits on the home front:

pepperoncini peppers
As I mentioned on my last post, I harvested some pepperoncini peppers last weekend and was really looking forward to pickling them, which I did earlier this week. The recipe I used was fairly straight forward: mix together 2 cups of water, 1 cup of vinegar, 1 tablespoon of kosher salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar.

pickled peppers
I halved the pepperoncini peppers (and some cherry peppers I had lying around), packed them in an airtight jar, poured in the solution and into the fridge it went. After a couple of days, I sampled the pickled peppers and frankly, they are delicious. We've been enjoying them in salads and sandwiches. They will keep in the fridge for about a month but I honestly don't think they will last that long.

cherry pie
Earlier this week, I also spotted some fresh sour cherries at the market. I couldn't resist and had to get some. I hadn't made a pie since last fall. These cherries were just the motivation I needed. Cherry pie is Marc's favorite and I will admit that this was the best one I've made in a while.

For the the cherry pie filling, I combined 5 cups of pitted fresh sour cherries, 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 3 tablespoons of tapioca starch. A recipe for killer pie crust can be found here.

Green Coriander
On the gardening front, I harvested a good amount of green coriander last week.

Green Coriander 2
The seeds were plucked from then stems and then frozen for future use. As expected, green coriander has an aroma somewhere in between fresh cilantro and dried coriander seed.

Chioggia Beets
Finally, I'm really proud of my beets this year. They are plump and exceptionally sweet. If only this were the case every year. Not wanting to waste anything, I've been using the leaves in soups. The beet roots on the other hand are simply roasted with a bit of kosher salt and olive oil. Yum!

20 comments:

  1. Those pepperoncini peppers look delicious. I've only seen them more yellow than green (you know, from sandwich shops), but maybe I've been missing out on fresh pepperoncini peppers. I also didn't know that you could harvest green coriander seeds. The beets look great. I sowed some beet seeds a couple of weeks ago, but they haven't done much since germinating.

    As usual, I can't decide what impresses me more: your gardening skills, or your stunning photography. :)

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  2. Oooh, those peppers look amazing. What do they taste like before pickling? Love the coriander too! So nice. And the pie. Yummy.

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  3. I would just add to thyme2garden post:
    I don’t know what impresses me more: your gardening skills, photography skills or cooking skills!
    That sour cherry pie looks delicious!

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  4. Gorgeous photos!

    I am wondering: how do you use green coriander seeds?

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  5. Those pepperoncinis look great and so does the cherry pie!!! Two of my favorites :)

    I have never heard of using coriander seeds green.

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  6. I'm hungry for pepperoncinis now!

    Erm .... what's kosher salt please Thomas? Is it like sea salt?

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  7. The pepperoncini looks beautiful! I have several sources in my books that say up to 3 months for those refrigerator pickles, so pickle away! I haven't had any problems with that long, but you are right - those won't last! Do you dry the coriander seed? I have tons of it out there too but haven't done anything with it yet.

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  8. meemsnyc - they are surprisingly mild and faintly bitter. The bitterness goes away when pickled.

    Angela - I'll use it mostly to flavor marinades, dressings and soups.

    Miss Nutty Gnome - Wikipedia can probably explain it better than I can - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_salt

    I cook mostly with kosher or sea salt. My table salt is reserved for most baking. To me, kosher salt is more flavorful and tastes less "salty" than ordinary table salt if that makes sense.

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  9. My mouth is watering from that pie. Looks fantastic.

    The solution for the pepperoncini's, did you bring that to a simmer first to dissolve the salt and sugar, or was it just straight into the jar?

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  10. Turling - it went straight into the jar. If I was canning this, then yes I would have simmered it first than then processed in a hot water bath for 15 minutes. I like fresh pickles because they are much crispier.

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  11. Everything looks marvelous. Green coriander seed is tasty but I never thought of freezing it, great idea, thanks!

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  12. I snagged your simple refrigerator pickling mix recipe for later use. It sounds perfect and I want to have it handy when my peppers start coming on (It will be awhile as they are just tiny nubs at the moment!).

    The cherry pie is beautiful - one of my favorites too.

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  13. That pie looks delicious!! There's nothing better than a homemade cherry pie. Yumm!

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  14. I'd never thought about picking my coriander green. I wish I had because my old garden had tons of it but no ripe coriander yet.

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  15. Coriander never grows well for me here, it's too hot for them, maybe they'll do better in the fall. As Daphne says, I never thought of freezing the green seeds, they are beautiful.

    I have so many Shishito peppers coming out of my ears, pickling them is a good idea.

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  16. YUM on those pickled refrigerator peppers! How many plants do you have to produce that many all at once?

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  17. foodgardenkitchen - I have 3 plants.

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  18. Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, it's before 8 a.m. on the west coast, and my crust making has begun--your cherry pie photo was enough to make me set down my paper and head into the kitchen. I am to pie as crow is to shiny. Look forward to making the Autumn pie too. Thanks for the recipe.

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  19. My Chiogga's are really nice this year too. So much better than last year's. Is it because of the weather?

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