sour dill pickles

Since my visit to Montreal, I've been left with a deep, deep hankering for pickles. Not just the commercial dills that you can buy at any supermarket, but the salty, pucker-inducing bite of a Jewish deli sour. While my husband preferred the half-sour to go with his smoked meat sandwich, I'm all about the full sour. Bring it on! So as I savored the last bite of the Schwartz's Deli pickle that had made it's way into my carry-on, I had an idea to try making my own.

So this weekend I made pickles. While you might picture me slaving over a hot canning bath, I didn't. With these pickles, fermentation rules instead of heat and vinegar. The best part? They only took me about 15 or 20 minutes to make. Talk about a quickle! I haven't tried them yet (I feel they haven't reached full sour capability), but the recipe I used is from David Lebovitz so I'm sure I won't be steered wrong. Though, I'm afraid I did lean a bit too heavy on the pickling spices - let's hope that won't ruin them!

UPDATE: So I finally tasted the pickles and while they taste good, the cut pickles were too soft. The pickles that I left whole were very crunchy and perfect. Perhaps the cut pickles should be eaten sooner and maybe only pickled for only 2-3 days instead of 5? If you've got any ideas, let me know!

And if pickles aren't to your liking, I'm a new contributor over at the popular design blog, Poppytalk and I've got a pretty tasty granola recipe up. Go take a peek and say hello!

sour dill pickles
(recipe adapted from David Lebovitz)
8 c water
3 T coarse kosher salt
8-10 Kirby pickling cukes, rinsed
4 cloves garlic, peeled & lightly crushed
1 T pickling spice
3 bay leaves
1 large bunch of dill (seed heads preferred)

1. In a large pot, heat the water with the salt until it dissolves.

2. Fill up your mason jars with boiling water and then dump the water into the sink. Alternatively, run them through the dishwasher if that's what you got.

3. Tightly pack the pickles into jars. I left some pickles whole and others I quartered. Do what you like, just make sure that they are tight as you don't want any pickles floating up above the brine line. Divide up the spices, garlic, bay leaves and dill amongst the jars.

4. Fill up the jars with the brine, making sure that all pickles are submerged. Cover with cheesecloth secured with rubber bands and leave them in a cool, dark place for 3 days. Taste (they'd be more like half-sours here, I would imagine) or let them go for a full 5 or 6 days for a full sour. Once they are to your liking, store them in the fridge. They should last for a month or so.

baked mini corn dogs

Last night I posed a question to my husband: would he like a stir fry or corn dogs for dinner? Obviously not a very fair question. Sorry, stir fry, your time will come. After my husband closed his gaping maw, I got down to work. After a bit of Google-ing, I spotted this near-perfect recipe. I made it more perfect by adding in some chili-powder for flavour and a kick of spicy cayenne for bite. These would be a perfect addition to your Canada Day or July 4th holiday party.

The end result isn't the cylindrical n' greasy meat-pop of your carnival dreams, but it does satisfy any food-on-stick craving you might be hankering for. These corn dogs are flat at the bottom, but they are crispy and the flavour is just right. I wasn't sure about adding all that sugar, but it actually helped them taste more authentic. I liked the sweetness but feel free to cut it down or leave it out completely.

I had some lollypop sticks leftover from some fall-time caramel apple making and they worked perfectly for this meal. Please note that this recipe makes a lot of batter! So feel free to increase the hot dog amount to 8 if you are feeding a crowd or do like we did and use the batter the next morning to make a really great corn bread. Just fry up a small amount of bacon - or just heat up some vegetable oil or bacon grease in a cast iron pan. When hot, pour in the batter and place in a pre-heated 375F degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Slice into quarters and eat hot.

baked mini corn dogs
1 c cornmeal
1 c flour
2 T brown sugar
1 T chili powder
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/4 c milk (feel free to use almond/soy/rice milk)
1 egg
1 T canola oil
4-8 hot dogs, cut in half (use tofu or veggie dogs, if you like)
8-16 lollypop sticks

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large bowl, combine the first 6 ingredients. In a smaller bowl, mix together the milk, egg and canola oil. Pour the wet into the dry and mix gently with a fork.

Cut your hot dogs in half (mini-dogs not skinny-dogs) and pierce each half with a stick. Dredge each half into the cornmeal batter and place onto a silpat-covered cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until the batter becomes golden brown.

be a believer: pickled prunes with orange zest

Lately, I've been on a pickling kick and I currently have in my fridge batches of homemade pickled carrots, pickled red grapes and these lovely pickled prunes. I first discovered the joys of "quickles" years ago when I was unemployed and I discovered a book called "The Joy of Pickling" at the local library. That summer, I pickled cucumbers, green grapes, carrot sticks, green beans and red onions. The thing is that I never actually canned anything...all my pickles were either refrigerator or freezer pickles. It's easy and the results are almost instant. It's my kind of work!

Lately, there's been a lot of talk about pickling and almost everywhere I turn, someone is pickling red grapes (Thanks Molly for the inspiration!) So of course, I pickled some red grapes too (delicious) but I also tried my hand at the lowly prune. The prune doesn't get much respect. It's associated with the elderly and bodily functions most people don't mention in polite company, but really, prunes can be quite plump, sweet and tasty. And these prunes prove it. They go well with meats, tucked into a sandwich, or picked at on a buffet table.

These pretties were served at my birthday and they were popular. People went back for seconds and thirds and they immediately stopped dissing the prune. Become a believer, give the prune its due. Oh and on a completely unrelated topic, please stop by The Food Network Canada blog and check out my post on Bandidas Taqueria here in Vancouver.

More quick pickles? Try these cinnamon heart quick pickles or these summery refrigerator pickles.

pickled prunes with orange zest
(adapted from Molly Wizenberg)
250g pitted prunes
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
juice of 1 large orange & 1 lemon
3 T granulated sugar
Zest of 1 orange (zest should be matchstick size)
1 bay leaf
4 green cardamom pods
4 allspice berries
5 whole cloves
1 t black peppercorns
1 t whole mustard seeds
1/4 t red pepper flakes

Combine all ingredients in a medium sized saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat to low and let it simmer for 30 minutes until the liquid has reduced to a heavy syrup. Set aside to cool and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Serve cold or at room temperature.