put it up – Page 2

Barbeetcue Sauce?

This is a weird one. But if you’re a fan of pickled beets, you’ll love it. And even if you think you’re not a fan of pickled beets, you might love it, too. Sweet and cinnamon-y, it’s a natural when spread on toasts—or even a bagel—over a schmear of creamy cheese. The rice vinegar’s tang…

Endless Summer Salad

All summer long, my Grandma Morsch had a bowl of this refreshing, sweet-and-sour salad in the fridge. It’s possible, actually, that it was the same bowl all summer long. Well, for a couple weeks in a row, anyway. Because after supper, when the vessel’s contents were more brine than veg, she’d just slice in another…

Strawberry-Maple Jam

Time to rotate the berries. With a pint in yesterday’s LFFC sharebox, plus about a pint pulled from my own garden, plus a scruffy partial-quart leftover from the farmers market Sunday, I suddenly had a critical mass of berries, some of which were in that critical do-something-with-me-today stage. I hung onto most of my home-growns…

Quickled Shiitakes

Shiitake happens . . . to be my favorite mushroom. It also happens to make a great pickle. I roasted a handful of them Sunday to toss in this week’s batch of grain salad (alongside carrots, red onions, blanched kale, and a miso-carrot dressing). But a glance at our schedule for the next few days…

Alli-yum

I wasn’t keeping count until a croquet-ball-sized one landed on my little toe this morning when I opened the pantry door, but as of a couple hours ago, we had way too many onions on hand. And then I made this sweet onion marmalade. And now Sheila’s asking me to swap for more onions next week….

I packed a pint of pickled peppers

Yesterday’s sharebox included a bag of a dozen or so decent-sized jalapeños. That’s a lot. More than we can eat before they start to go hinky. So I skimmed off 4-5 larger peppers for a batch of roasted salsa this weekend, and the remaining half pound split perfectly into to two half-pint jars that’ll feed us over…

That’s the Spirit: DIY Tonic

Peas—a must-plant for me—will go in the ground sometime in the next few days, and I didn’t sow nearly enough of them last year. So last week I reviewed my sketches of what grew where over the past couple summers—searching for a spot to squeeze in a few more rows—and I was reminded that I didn’t…

Swap-Box Hero: Roasted Pumpkin Butter

Five pounds? According to John Oliver—in an epic rant against all things pumpkin-flavored—that’s how much pumpkin the average American eats each year. Maybe so. Nevertheless, there were three lovely little Kikuzas and a Queensland Blue in the swap box at the end of last week’s pick-up. So I grabbed a couple. Five pounds. I’m doing my…

Ketchup for What?

For fries. For burgers. For schnitzel. For brats. And, yes, for dogs. Three test batches and a couple dozen spoonfuls later, I’m ready to stop tinkering and send Curry Ketchup to the cloud for safe-keeping. I’m going to want to refer to this recipe again. Curry Ketchup So good it made me violate the Chicago Dog rule. Also…

3-2-1 Blackberry Simple Syrup

Back from vacation, I spent a steamy half hour this morning gleaning the last scruffy blackberries from the bramble out back. They surprised me again this year, putting out roughly 10 quarts over the past month. I’d feared their production would be way down after the construction crew next door bashed in the fence to which my…