kitchen alchemy: preserved green chilies

What to do with one hundred odd fiery green chilies prematurely plucked from the garden?

This year's chili plant is producing hot as hell, small curly beasts. Sadly it's been exiled from the garden bed for routine maintenance and I've been left with the aforementioned bowl of green firecrackers.

Last autumn I used Christina's recipe to preserve the last of the season's red chilies. The jar has seen me through the winter, dipping into it whenever a recipe calls for fresh chili. Though now I look for the link I cannot find it, aint that always the way. No problem, it's a simple technique and I'd even scrawled the ingredients on the label.

On the jar I'd written:
Very hot chilies
garlic
salt
vinegar

And folks - that's about as complex as this recipe needs to be. No need for precise measurements and you can even skip the garlic if you like. The most important thing to remember is to keep the mixture covered in vinegar.

Chilies preserved in vinegar

Step 1: Wash and towel dry the fresh chiles.
Step 2: Cut off stalks and discard any damaged fruit.
Step 3: In a small (or large if you're doing a big batch) food processor add the chilies, a few peeled cloves of garlic and a teaspoon.



Add a tablespoon or two of vinegar and blend.

Step 4: Decant into a clean air tight jar, top with vinegar and keep refridgerated.



When your recipe calls for chili, just grab a spoon and add straight from the jar. No slicing, dicing or painful chili-on-the-finger accidents!

semi-dried tommy toes

All the way across the world Wendy, in snowy Scotland, is drying tomatoes.

Here is sun-drenched Melbourne I am giving away more tomatoes than I can eat. For a very small garden we have been spoilt with produce. Right now the grapes are dripping off the vine, the hot chillies are ripening, we have been harvesting an eggplant or three a week since mid-January and there is an embarrassing abundance of Tommy Toe’s and Grosse Lisse.

Encouraged by Wendy’s winter efforts, last night I did the first batch of dried Tommy Toes. This is my favourite tomato, a large cherry style about 3-4 cm across that grows in a little vine.

Batch number one is “semi-dried”, still a bit moist rather than leathery. Halved and placed on a rack with a light sprinkle of caster sugar, salt and cracked pepper, I cooked them for about 2.5 hours in a 100c oven. We went to bed breathing in the fruit scented air, a miraculous aromatherapy cure - I slept til 9am!

This morning I packed the semidried tomatoes into recycled anchovy jars with organic olive oil and fresh local garlic. Not being fully dried, it will be important to keep them well covered in oil but what a fragrant dressing the excess oil will make!

Now, just waiting for some cool weather to do a second batch. With the current ant plague I don’t dare dry them au naturel in the sun.

more lemons

A friend gave me an armful of lemons off her tree yesterday. They are thick skinned and have a medium amount of juice. It’s a long time since I preserved any but in the spirit of pickling things, I got the urge to make a jar.

Previous endeavours in preserving lemons have taught me to downsize. While its nice to give away jars of homemade produce, I found that if you like cooking with preserved lemons you tend to make your own, while those who don’t just tend to let the gifted jars gather dust.

It only takes 5 minutes to put a bottle together. Recipes vary. I tend to follow Stephanie Alexander but you know me by now, I read one version, then another elsewhere and just go ahead with no measurements and throw something together.

I managed to get 3-4 large lemons into one of those coffee jars that old ladies in Op Shops tend to think are worth a dollar a pop.



Five minute preserved lemons

Wash your lemons. Scrub them if necessary. Make sure your fruit is home grown, organic, no spray (or from a reliable organic source) – remember it is the skin you will be eating so you want it chemical-free and clean.

Slice your lemons into wedges. When I’ve done large jars in the past I have partially quartered whole fruit – cutting through the lemon about 4/5 of the way through and pushed some salt and spices into the wedges. For a small container leaving them whole was not an option, so cut each lemon into 8 wedges.

Pack the wedges into a jar with the odd scatter of black peppercorns. Don’t be afraid to push the lemons down with a bit force to reduce some of the juice and oils.

Squeeze some extra lemons (great use for the ones with slightly blighted skins), enough to cover the wedges. Before pouring, stir in a generous handful of rock salt. Let it dissolve a little before pouring the juice over the fruit.

Pop in a stick of cassia if desired.

Seal well.

Keep them on the bench for a week or so, giving them a gentle shake each day.

When you start using them either top with more fresh lemon juice to keep the fruit covered, or pour a thin layer of vegetable oil to top the jar and refrigerate.

Use the skin of the lemons (discarding the pulp) in Middle Eastern dishes, salads and fishy creations.



For those who prefer their recipes with more precise measurements – check out Lucy’s recipe for speedy preserved lemons. I hope her new home has a lemon tree!

pickling while Wall Street burns*

When I am brave enough to continue my kitchen audit and spring clean the refrigerator (who knows, today could be the lucky day) I know there is going to be a plethora of jams, chutneys and relishes. The reality is my tastebuds tend to opt for savoury over sweet. As much as I like sweet things, I prefer salt, spice and alliums as a major part of my daily flavour profile. Because of this pickles and other unsweetened preserves never last long in the house.

The Significant Eater is a bit of a pickle-fiend. He has a thing for pickles of the European variety like onions, gherkins, eggs and rollmops but his love of Kimchi is legendary. On the top of my list is a good Indian mango pickle and our new favourite - achard, which hails from Mauritius.

A few weeks ago I spotted a tub of yellow vegetables, at a deli at Vic Market weeks ago and they’ve become a bit of a staple. Traditionally they are eaten with white bread and meat, neither being quite my thing. Instead I have added them as a side to vegetarian curries, smoked fish and the SE has been popping them into his sandwiches.

Pickles should be simple to make so I began searching for recipes, given we are getting through them so fast. Like the achard I bought the standard combination of vegetables seems to be cabbage, cauliflower, carrots and green beans. All recipes I looked at had onion, mustard seeds and garlic to flavour, with chilli, vinegar and turmeric being optional.

The brilliant yellow colour comes from the mustard seed oil, rather than the turmeric. I haven’t used this oil before and only occasionally worked with the seeds themselves. The oil, like the seeds, imparts an earthiness rather than just heat or spice. If you believe everything you read about mustard it could be competing for superfood status. It is reportedly high in the antioxidant selenium (though this depends on the status of the soil it is grown in) like garlic and as a member of the Brassica family has the reputation of being an anti-cancer food like all the rest of the cabbage clan.

For my first batch of Achard dé legumes I was inspired by a recipe from Madeleine Philippe. Here is my variation.

Mauritian pickles

1/4 – 1/2 green cabbage (depending on size), finely sliced
1/4-1/2 cauliflower, broken into small florets
2 carrots, julienned finely
a generous handful green beans (not in season yet so I stuck to my smaller sized hand for this measurement), finely sliced lengthways
180 ml (approx) mustard seed oil
2 tablespoons mustard seeds (I used yellow but the recipe calls for black) next time I’ll use more
6 cloves of garlic, crushed next time I’ll use more
1-2 large brown or white onions, finely sliced
1 large chilli (I used red though some recipes call for green) next time I’ll use more
2-3 tablespoons white vinegar
salt to taste

Sharpen your largest knife, pour a glass of wine, crank up the stereo or have someone around to chat and lend a hand.

Slice your way through the mound of vegetables. Cut as finely has you have the patience for. I separated my veg into 2 big bowls based on denseness and blanching time – the cabbage and beans in one, the cauliflower and carrots in another.

Get a large pot of water boiling.

When you have a rolling boil gently pour in the cauliflower and carrots, once the water comes back to the boil cook for another minute before adding the cabbage and beans. Give them a further minute or two on the boil before straining and cooling in ice water. The vegetables should still have some crunch. Once cooled leave them to strain, as you want to get as much water out as possible.

In a large pot, preferably one with a thick bottom, pour in the mustard oil and add the onion. Cook over a low heat, stirring frequently, until the onions are transparent. Next add the mustard seeds, garlic and turmeric. Give it another stir. Now combine the chilli and drained vegetables. You may need to add more oil, the idea is to coat them with the yellow fluid but not make them swim.

Now season with salt. While the spices will mature a bit with time the saltiness will stay the same.

Allow the vegetables to cool, and then mix in the vinegar.

Sterilize some wide mouth jars (hot wash in dishwasher, or cleaned by hand with detergent and water, followed by 20 minutes in a low oven).

This test batch filled 3 recycled, 500gm sized jars.

Pack your jars and refrigerate. Try to leave them at least a couple of days before devouring.



Last night we added the pickles as a side dish to a particularly spicy kedgeree. It both boosted the vegetable content of the meal and tempered the heat. It tasted so good that though I was full enough to burst, I still felt bereft that I couldn’t finish my plate.

Today for lunch I topped some rye bread with mayo, avocado, smoked salmon and achard. I see no end in sight for the pickle love-fest in progress in this house at the moment!


Pickle-pedia

Shelf life? If the pickles remain well covered with oil, brine or vinegar, stored in sterilized jars (don’t forget the lids) that seals well and kept in the refrigerated they should last for at least a year. However always use commonsense – look for any signs of mould, sniff and taste cautiously. As we are getting through a jar a week, I’m unlikely to find out just how long they will last.

Pickles are a good way to extend the life of vegetables but always use fresh, good quality produce to begin with.

It is great to use up a glut of seasonal produce.

Almost any vegetables can be blanched and pickled with vinegar or brine and spices.

It means there are vegetables on hand at times when the cupboards are bare or the fresh stuff is scarce.

While most nutritionists will tell you there is Vitamin C in pickles like this, in reality this nutrient is lost from the moment the plant is picked and cooking further depletes the C. However they still have a lot of fibre and trace nutrients.

*Have you noticed how fancy magazines like to feature recipes for jams, pickles and other preserves these days? I expect there will be even more of these as part of a new Depression Era Chic. I know most of our grandmothers would be aghast at buying a kilo or two of fruit or vegetables (often out of season at exorbitant prices) and a few designer jars. Preserving comes out of a tradition of ‘waste not, want not’ using up any excess produce that you have grown yourself to keep you fed during the lean months. If you can’t grow your own, look out for seasonal gluts, farm gate sales and buying in bulk at wholesale markets.


Today’s exploration of mustard seeds is in celebration of Weekend Herb Blogging, this week hosted by the delightful Susan from The Well Seasoned Cook