Martha Meets Lucy

Sweet and Spicy Pickles

I never fully jumped on the bacon bandwagon. And now the bacon bandwagon is pretty much done. You still get your occasional bacon vodka, or maple-bacon-bourbon cupcake, but I think we can all agree its pretty much over. Like cupcakes and macarons before it, bacon’s moment in the sun has faded.

But we need a trend. Something we can all rally around, overuse, and then abandon like so many trendy foods before it.

To the trend committee, I would like to suggest that we just start making everything spicy. Not spicy to the point that flavors are masked and everyone is crying and fearful for the next morning, but let’s play with peppers and flavors and use them in maybe not so expected ways.

Sangria is better with jalapenos (or a habanero). And how can you say no to Mexican brownies?

But let’s talk pickles today. Now, I know that spicy pickles are nothing new. I mean, that's what kimchi is. A spicy pickle. But these are different. Because these are sweet pickles.

Sweet and spicy pickles to be exact. I don’t know that refreshing has ever been a word applied to pickles, but these totally are. Sweet, spicy, and ever-so-slightly minty, these are the sweet pickles for the sweet pickle haters of the world. (Me, I love any and all things pickled.)

And while I would never do a pickle back with any of the many neon pickles lining grocery store shelves, I wouldn’t say no to a chaser of sweet and spicy pickle juice.

I wouldn’t say no to pickle juice, vodka (or Hendricks) with a splash of club soda either.

Sweet and Spicy Pickles
Inspired by the pickles I had at The Playground which then promptly vanished from the menu.

This makes a lot of pickles. I have cucumber plants producing like crazy, so I tried to use as many as I could. These are kind of addictive, so while you can 1/2 the recipe, you might regret that decision, especially if you bring a jar to a picnic or BBQ.

A note about peppers: I used almost all of one kind of pepper. Next time I would use a variety, probably 1/2-1 habanero, 2 green jalapenos, and 2 red jalapenos. Use whatever your favorite hot peppers are.

2 pounds pickles (English or Persian are the best from the grocery store since they’re unwaxed, or use whatever is available at the farmer’s market.)
5-8 thinly sliced hot peppers
1/2 cup julienned mint
4 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt

Slice cucumbers so they are about 1/8” thick. I found this easiest and quickest with a mandolin, but a sharp knife and patience works too. Put the cucumbers in a large, clean glass jar or 2 quart jars. Add the peppers and mint to the jar.

In a medium sized sauce pan, combine the vinegar, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Carefully and slowly pour the vinegar mix over the cucumbers until they are completely submerged. There might be a little bit of extra liquid which you can toss. Put lids on the jars and allow the pickles to cool on the counter. Once they’re room temperature, put the jars in the fridge. They’ll start tasting like pickles in a few hours. 

Brown Butter Bourbon Banana Bread (with Streusel!)

I had a whole post written about this, but there's nothing else to tell you that the title hasn't already. Brown butter. Bourbon. Streusel. (The bananas are not the important part here).

Fine. I'll try to tell you more. Brown butter and bourbon are BFF's. They totes gave each other best friend necklaces when they were in first grade and they both still have them. Sometimes I smell bourbon and think, "hmmm...smells brown buttery".

This bread. Oh, this bread. None of the components will jump up and punch you in the face. Except maybe the streusel, but that's just the way a streusel laced with big flakes of salt is in anything. As an added bonus for people who don't like bananas (aka me), the bourbon and brown butter mask a lot of the more...unpleasant flavors. Instead, its oh so subtley banana, but a major punch of nutty caramelly-ness.

 

I decided to double the streusel after I took this picture. You can thank me later.

 

Jeeze...I'm drooling again. I tried. I can't talk about this anymore. Just do it.

Confessions

Somethings I would like to get off my chest that I am reasonably confident ya'll won't judge me for. But if you do, its okay. I would judge me too.

I had a dream about a tomato sandwich last week. I almost cried when I realized a homegrown beefsteak tomato is still a few weeks away.

Speaking of crying, I really, REALLY needed coffee which of course means that of the three people sitting at the table, I got the mug with the lipstick still on it. The other 2 people weren't even planning on having coffee and their cups were fine. I probably would have kept my cup and just drank from the non-lipstick side* if the waitress hadn't noticed. I think the tears welling up in my eyes (no exaggeration) prompted both of my companions to offer me their mugs. I finished a cup before the waitress came back then stared at it, willing it to refill itself.

The aforementioned diner coffee did nothing by the way. It was really, really weak. And I like my coffee as dark and as black as Satan's heart. One of my teachers in high school referred to my coffee brewing style as "making jet fuel".

Speaking of coffee, did you know its iced coffee season? And did you know that the ONLY way to make iced coffee is to cold brew it? Cold brewed iced coffee is such a showoff. CBIC is like just grind me and forget about me***, strain, and have the most amazing iced coffee experience of your life. Its all smokey and chocolatey and smooth as all get out. Its like the Tom Selleck of coffees. (1/3 cup finely ground coffee:1.5 cups water. Let sit covered overnight. Strain through coffee filter. Fill glass with ice, add enough coffee to come 1/2 way up the glass. Add water to fill the glass. For more thorough instructions click here.)

Know what goes great with your iced coffee in the morning? Banana bread. Want to know what's even better than banana bread? Brown Butter Bourbon Banana Bread with Streusel. Recipe coming soon. I promise. Otherwise this one might kill me.

*Definitely would have**. Commercial dishwashers suck. That glass went through the dishwasher, but lipstick never comes off. I know this from lots of time spent working in restaurants.

**Judge away. Clearly I have a problem

***Hehehe. Get your mind out of the gutter Deanna. No one else thought that was dirty and you're still laughing at it 5 minutes later. And you neglected to mention adding water to the coffee, but you're not going to fix that part because you're STILL laughing about it. God, grow up.

Grapefruit Jalapeno Sangria

“So what should I bring?”

“Nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

“BYOB. And yes I’m sure. We have plenty of food.”

You guys, I went to my first BBQ/pool party of the year and I didn’t bring anything to eat. No dips (crack or otherwise), no sides, no desserts. Nothing. Except my beverage of choice.

Apparently I have awesome friends who want me to be able to show up and just relax. I know. I know. Its rough being me. Sometimes I forget that the majority of my friends are actually good cooks. And maybe sometimes they want to show off their skills.

*I would NEVER show off in the kitchen.*

I should have known that the girl who introduced me to the Breakfast Sandwich burger would have a BBQ covered.

But if she thought I was showing up with beer, she was sorely mistaken. You won’t let me bring food? Fine. I’ll bring the best sangria you’ve ever tasted then force you to drink it with me.

Ok, maybe I didn't force them to drink it. I encouraged everyone to try it, then watched them down their beers so they could switch drinks.

I think its safe to say that sangria is the perfect summer beverage. Especially when you’re floating in a pool. Its a drink and a snack. And it tastes best in the summer when all those practically overripe berries are begging to be used. As much as I love a traditional red sangria, I knew that I wanted to do something a little different for this party. I started off with my approximation of the sangria this restaurant serves at brunch. They start with elderflower syrup, cucumber, blueberries, raspberries, mint and grapefruit juice then they add a bottle of champagne. Let me tell you, it is heaven.

But the true genius (modest as always) was my decision to add a thinly sliced jalapeno.

Oh em gee. Jalapeno takes sangria from normal to out of this world. No one will confuse this sangria with the sangria from a family friendly restaurant.

If a sassy, gay Latin man was turned into a drink, he would be this sangria. Its fruity, sassy, and slightly shocking. 

So I guess its a good thing I didn’t get to bring food. If I had I never would have made my new favorite sangria.

Watermelon and Feta Salad

Now that summer is officially here (aka I turned on the air conditioning and Memorial Day is almost here) its time to discuss watermelon. (To people in the Southern Hemisphere, I'm sorry. Maybe bookmark this recipe and make this instead.)

Now don’t get me wrong, I love watermelon plain. Or with a squeeze of lime. Or juiced and added to a mojito. But I absolutely adore watermelon with something spicy. My mom used to make “Fire and Ice Salsa” which used watermelon in place of tomato. (This was years before the fruit salsa became super trendy. I know because people used to think she was crazy for making it until they tried it.)

Then I saw a recipe for watermelon salad. These days, its not so unique. But that doesn’t mean its not delicious. If you can resist crunchy cool watermelon with pickled red onions, salty feta crumbles, and the kick of jalapeno mellowed by a touch of mint there might be something wrong with you.

 

after cutting up the watermelon my camera died. I charged it for 5 minutes, but only got one picture out of it. I need to remember that iphones have cameras.

 

Just saying.

And if you’re bringing this over to a Memorial Day BBQ, get out your melon baller because you’re going to want to use the rind as the bowl. Trust me, after a few watermelon mojitos, you won’t want to have to remember to bring your serving bowl home. And watermelon balls (hehehe) are so stinkin’ cute.

So on this glorious 3 day weekend that I will be spending at work (where I guarantee it will be mind numbingly slow) eat some watermelon. And have a drink and float in the pool for me. But please wear your sunscreen. Don’t be like my dance instructor who thought the water would protect his pasty white skin from burning to a lobster color. Again. Skin cancer isn’t a good look.

Normally you would get a recipe right here, but WAIT there’s more! Now how much would you pay? I’m hoping its $23.10.

When I was but a wee young lass in the first weeks of my culinary school training, I went to New Orleans for SOS’s annual conference. Also on the trip were two girls who took the trip far more seriously than I. They never had to be woken up to get their butts to general session, nor were they out till 3 in the morning (if they were, they hid it well).

For the last two years, they’ve been writing a cookbook.

Which is now available for pre-order on Amazon. Its full of recipes for family meals served at some of the world’s best restaurants. To give you some perspective, the forward is by Ferran Adrià. There are recipes from Ad Hoc, WD-50, and The Fat Duck. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

I highly suggest you do the same.

Now have some salad.