Pickles: Dill and others. Salsas: Hot, Mexican, sweet. Condiments and other savory things.
A homemade chile (chili) powder made from whole, dried, Mexican chiles.
Seed chiles. Place in blender and grind fine. Warning: Do not open lid and sniff until dust settles, unless you want your sinuses cleaned. Add rest of ingredients and blend well. Store in covered container in a dry place.
We grew up on beets from the garden in the summer and pickled beets in the winter. Mom’s canning cellar always had an array of Mason jars stuffed with rich, red beetroot.
This particular recipe is for quick refrigerator pickled beets. A sliver of cinnamon bark and few cloves can also be added to the pickling liquid for spiced pickled beets.
Combine vinegar, water, sugar, salt and pepper. Boil for 2 minutes. Place in a glass bowl with beets and let cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate 12 hours.
In a pot combine vinegar, spices and garlic. Add mushrooms and simmer 10 minutes. remove garlic and place the mushrooms and liquid into a 1-quart container. Slowly pour in oil. Secure with plastic wrap and cover. Marinate, refrigerated, 1 week.
Easy refrigerator garlic or shallot pickles can keep in the fridge for up to one month.
Peel garlic or shallots. Cut big ones in half. Mix vinegar, sugar and salt. Boil. Drop in the garlic/shallots. Cook over high heat for 1 minutes. Cool. Store in tightly sealed container in fridge. Can keep up to one month.
If desired, pickling spices such as mustard seed, celery seed, and red pepper flakes may be added to brine.
Pico de Gallo is a uncooked Mexican salsa made with coarsely chopped tomatoes, onion, chiles, and sometimes fresh coriander. This version has a little vegetable oil and a hint of garlic added.
This salsa will be as hot as the chiles you put into it. An excellent addition to Pico de Gallo is small cubes of avocado
Pico de Gallo literally means “rooster’s beak”–
Combine all ingredients and let stand for awhile before using. The salt will help bring out the pungency of the chiles, and adding oil and/or lime juices makes for a juicier sauce.
If you don’t like fresh coriander, simply leave it out, and the salsa will still work.
Uncooked Green Sauce
Plunge peeled tomatillos in boiling water for about 30 seconds. Remove and run under cold water. Grind the chiles, onion, garlic, coriander and salt together in blender. Add the tomatillos, a pinch of sugar and the water and blend well.
For Salsa Verde Cocida (Cooked Green Sauce), substitute vegetable or chicken broth for the water in the above recipe and simmer sauce for 1/2 hour until slightly thickened.
Mom always preserved jars of tangy and savory green bean mustard pickles when the beans were being harvested in great quantities from our garden. They make a fabulous condiment and side dish, a way to bring garden beans onto the table when fresh beans aren’t available.
Wash and cut beans into small pieces. Cook in salted water 20 minutes. Mix flour, brown sugar, mustard, celery seed, turmeric, salt, and garlic powder. Add vinegar and blend till smooth. Boil 5 minutes. Add beans and bring to boil. Bottle at once in hot sterile jars.
Wash tomatoes. Chop and cook with onions until soft. Strain and put through sieve or food processor. Add the pickling spice, tied in a cheesecloth bag, the sugar and the vinegar. Simmer for about 1/2 hour and remove spice bag, unless you want a spicier ketchup. Cook for an additional 2 hours. Thicken with arrowroot as desired.
Wash and pack cucumbers into sterilized jars, vertically. Put a sprig of dill amongst them and add a couple of cloves of garlic to each jar. Bring water and salt to boil and add pickling spice; while still boiling pour over packed cucumbers in jars, filling to brim. Seal tight. Ready for use in about 3 weeks.
