Pickled Okra

When I was looking for a recipe to make canned Brandied Peaches, I found the recipe I ended up using at Food & Wine, courtesy of Linton Hopkins.  Those peaches were amazing.  So, now if it's pickled, brined, or canned, I think I'll just turn there first...

Which is where I found the inspiration for spicy pickled okra, again, courtesy of Linton Hopkins...  I didn't follow that recipe exactly, because I already had pickling spice on hand it's comprised of most of what goes into his recipe...  So, I'll write this post on how I made it, though I would recommend going to his recipe for the real deal.

Spicy Pickled Okra


Ingredients
1 lb okra, trimmed (which apparently means slicing off the top of the caps and anything else to make them fit)
8 small red dried chili peppers
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1 Tbsp pickling spice
1/2 c cider vinegar
1/2 c water

Instructions
Pack the okra, chili peppers, and garlic evenly into two sterilized pint jars.  You'll have to stuff them a bit to make it fit.

Combine the pickling spice, vinegar, and water in a medium saucepot and heat to a boil over high heat.  When liquid mixture is boiling, turn off the heat and use a ladle to transfer the liquid over the okra in the pint jars.  Leave 1/2 inch at the top for head space.  Wipe the mouth of the jars and place the lids and rings on top to close.

Place both jars into a large stockpot and cover with water.  Bring water to boiling and the continue to boil the jars for 10 minutes.  Remove the jars from the pot and let cool to room temperature.

Makes two pints, and they'll be good for a year...  If you wait that long to make a bloody mary with them...

Squash Spaghetti

I have made this one a couple times and each time I do something different, and love it. This version is my favorite but you can easily adapt the recipe for your own preference.

Ingredients:
2 squash, cut in half and seeds removed
LOTS of tomatoes, sliced
Bell pepppers, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
Olive oil
Parmesan cheese

On a foil lined baking sheet place the squash so the "skin" side is on the bottom. Lightly cover each half with olive oil, and bake in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes

Let the squash cool, and then take a fork and shred the inside. These are your "noodles." Then in a large sauce pan on medium heat saute the tomatoes, peppers, and garlic using a little bit of olive oil. After a few minutes add your squash noodles and then serve warm with Parmesan cheese. If you are not an olive oil fan, you can use any type of sauce and add any of your favorites!

Easy Garlic Potatoes

I have seen this on pinterest about 10 times so I figured I would give it a try. It's beyond easy and delicious

Ingredients:
1 potatoe
1 glove of garlic
olive oil
salt and pepper

Slice the potatoe about 3/4s of the way

Then chop up the garlic clove and put a little bit of garlic in each slice. Drizzle olive oil, and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. I also used a bit of lawry's seasoning salt because I thought it sounded good!
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes and enjoy!

Parmesan Potatoes

As I mentioned below, I had an almost overwhelming amount of veggies to use so I was eager to get back and start cooking. I had about 3 weeks worth of potatoes that I needed to cook up, but I wanted to do something quick and easy so I could attend to my other veggies as well. This recipe (like all of mine) is very simple, and required few ingredients.

Ingredients:
Potatoes
Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese

My massive amount of potatoes:

Preheat Oven to 400
Cut up potatoes and put them in a mixing bowl (in my case, it had to be pretty large). Put a little olive oil and mix up to make sure all the potatoes are oiled up. Place in a baking pan, and then layer on the parmesan (you can never have too much cheese, wine, or money in my opinion). Cook for 35-40 minutes, and enjoy. For those with a sophisticated palate, I highly recommend dipping in ketchup

Zucchini Chips

So after being gone for a week and a half, I have a TON of veggies to use! Zucchini was one of the vegetables I had an abundance of, and I decided to try something new. I love my green bean fries, so I adapted the recipe for zucchini. It was just the right amount of flavor, and very yummy! It pains me to use my farm fresh eggs for just egg whites, so I used milk instead. Here it is:

Ingredients:
1 large zucchini, sliced
1 cup of skim milk
Italian bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350
Dip sliced zucchini in skim milk and then place on greased baking sheet. Arrange chips on sheet and then sprinkle with bread crumbs. Cook for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Simple Radish Salad

So our first delivery is here! I was so excited with so many fresh vegetables, I didn't even know where to start. I decided to start with radishes because I used to hate them, so I figured if I screwed up my first recipe it should be something I don't like. Well to my surprise, I LOVED it! Here is what I did:

chopped up 2 radishes and half a cucumber into a small bowl
drizzled 1 tablespoon of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
Sprinkled garlic salt and lemon pepper (you could use any seasoning you like)

The picture doesn't really do it justice, it was amazing.

Here we go

Less than 3 weeks until we start getting our  CSA deliveries from  Dry Dock Farm! Bring on the fresh, locally grown vegetables, fruits, and herbs!