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Sour Pickle Spectrum

July 14, 2016 By Lauren

dill

It’s my belief that most things in life–health, sexuality, political ideology, spiritual inclination–can be found not within binary but somewhere along a spectrum, even things as seemingly simple as, say, pickles.

Go into any old-timey Jewish deli and you’ll see what I mean.  There on the counter near the register you’ll find two, often three great big glass jars of cucumber pickles: half-sours, sours, double-sours all suspended in murky brine. The sour pickle spectrum.

cukes

I, personally, like my pickles sour as can be.  Blame it on adrenal fatigue (and the subsequent craving for salt), blame it on a vata-imbalance and a constant need for grounding, blame it on my Iraqi heritage (my dad has this endearing habit of linking my love for any vaguely middle-eastern food–olives, pistachios, figs–to this), while you’re at it, blame it on my Polish/Ukrainian heritage or my Jewish heritage for that matter (I love how the boundaries between what is traditionally “Jewish” food and what is traditionally “Slavic” are so beautifully blurry), any way you slice it, there’s no denying that I fall on the extreme end of the spectrum.

And not to make other versions of pickles feel less than, but if I’m being completely honest the classic cucumber pickle is my pickle of choice.  It’s one of those foods that has made its way onto the plates of such seemingly disparate cultures: the bowl of sour pickle soup from Poland, the sour pickles served with timman from Iraq, the smoked-meat sandwich w/ a side of sour pickles from Montreal, the triple-cheeseburger with extra pickles from the U.S. of A.

pickledill

It’s a food that transcends borders.  One that feels familiar, conjures up some sense of nostalgia no matter what your cultural heritage (or ayurvedic dosha, for that matter).  It’s a food that, for me, signals the start of deep Summer when days are long and spent submerged in grass, or lake, or hammock beneath stretched hours of sun.  I find this kind of food-nostalgia, “comfort” food in the truest sense, to be deeply nourishing, chicken soup for the soul.

And, when made traditionally through the process of lacto-fermentation (using just salt, water and time), it’s a food that is brimming with probiotics, or the beneficial bacteria that hang out and help out in our intestines strengthening not only our digestive health, but our immune health, our mental health.  As my Ethnobotany professor used to say whenever a medicinal plant also happened to taste delicious, bonus!

salty

Deep Summer means jars of pickles with varying degrees of sourness fermenting in my cupboard for various lengths of time.  Waiting to be crunched into alongside BLT or leg of oven-fried chicken or diced into egg-salad.

The two main factors that affect the sourness of cucumber pickles are:

  1. The amount of salt added (more salt = more sour)
  2. The amount of time (more time = more sour)

This week I’m sharing my method for medium-sour pickles.  I invite you to experiment this Summer and see where you fall on the spectrum!

pickles jar

Sour Pickles

Ingredients

2 and 1/2 heaping tablespoons sun-dried sea-salt (like Celtic sea-salt)

4 or 5 cucumbers

3 cloves garlic, peeled

couple stems flowering dill

Directions

  1. Sterilize a quart canning jar by filling with boiling water.
  2. Slice cucumbers into wedges.  Drain water from jar and let cool.  Pack jar with cukes, garlic and dill, until jar is completely full.
  3. Add salt.  Fill jar to the top with cold, non-chlorinated water.  Seal and shake to distribute salt.
  4. Leave in a cool, dark place for at least 3 days.  (I like to ferment medium sours for 5 days).  (You can ferment these babies for months and months, BTW).
  5. After opening pickles, store in fridge.

 

Filed Under: Ferments, Recipes, Seasons, Sides, Summer Tagged With: cucumbers, ferments, lacto ferments, pickles, sour pickles, summer, wild fermentation

Equinox Uovo-Margherita (or Egg-Pizza)

September 23, 2015 By Lauren

eggpizza

Happy Autumn Equinox, friends!

If your September has been flying as fast as ours has, then this dish is for you.  Call it a frittata or tortilla or just plain ol’ egg-pie, the combination of potatoes + assorted vegetable + eggs + cheese has seen me through many a hectic day.  It’s my kind of fast-food: one whose ingredients can be found in even the emptiest fridge, that takes five or less minutes of active preparation and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner and mid-night snack.

Last week I happened to have a few beautiful (and slowly turning) heirloom tomatoes on hand, so I arranged them on top of the potato and zucchinni frittata I was making.  I only had six eggs to fill my very broad skillet, so I added a whack-load of parmesan cheese to bulk it up.  When I took it out of the oven, I realized it totally belonged to a different genre of egg-pies–namely, the pizza one.  I added some freshly plucked basil and a good glug of olive oil and presto: the uovo-magherita (or egg-pizza) was born.

tomatoes slicedtomatoes zuchinnis

The Autumn Equinox is the official start of Fall, a farewell to Summer and a welcoming of cooler days, longer nights, and also sweaters, wool socks, sweet cider, and what is slow-cooked, brothy, roasted, stewed.

Saying farewell to Summer means a farewell to zucchinis and heirloom tomatoes and fresh basil, too.  That’s why I’m sharing this egg-pizza w/ you.  Let’s send off Summer in style.  Fast-food one, at that, to enjoy these still not-too-cold evenings and this waning Summer light.

moi eggoven uovomargherita

Print
Equinox Uovo-Margherita (or Egg-Pizza)

My cast-iron skillet has a 15-inch diameter. The amount of ingredients you use will depend on the diameter of your pan. Egg-pie, for me, is totally intuitive --use what you have on hand and let go of precision! If you've never improvised on a recipe before, this is a safe place to start.

Ingredients

  • knob ghee
  • two handfuls of new potatoes, peeled and sliced in half then sliced thinly
  • 2 small zucchinis, sliced in half then sliced thinly
  • 6-8 eggs, whisked w/ salt
  • 1-2 heirloom tomatoes, sliced thinly
  • a generous chunk of parmesan, grated
  • few leaves basil
  • glug or two of olive oil
  • course celtic sea salt

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 300F (150C). Place skillet or pan on stove and heat on medium. Add ghee once skillet is nice and hot and let melt.
  2. Add potatoes, distributing them evenly. Let cook undisturbed for 5 minutes so that they brown. Add pinch salt.
  3. Add zucchinis and stir. Let cook for a few more minutes.
  4. Whisk eggs in large mixing bowl w/ pinch of salt. Pour over zucchinis and potatoes.
  5. Let cook on stove for 5 minutes. Arrange half of your heirloom tomatoes on top. Take off heat and transfer to oven.
  6. Let cook for 12-15 minutes. I like my eggs to be wobbly, so I take mine out on the early side.
  7. A few minutes before you take your pie out of the oven, add the parmesan cheese.
  8. Let cool and add other half of the heirloom tomatoes, the basil and the good glug of olive oil and sprinkle w/ salt. Enjoy!
3.1

 

Filed Under: Animal, Dinner, Egg, Lunch, Recipes, Summer Tagged With: breakfast, dinner, egg, fall, fastfood, frittata, lunch, pie, pizza, summer, tomatoes, tortilla, zucchini

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