Bumper crop! Our community has several gardens, an orchard, and a vineyard, and every year
seems to have a harvest highlight. So far this has been the year of the cucumber. After serving
cucumber salad in numerous forms, and making at least two multiple batches of sweet
refrigerator pickles, I have to admit that I sighed when I saw the next tub of cucumbers arrive in our kitchen. Garden bumper crops are faith building but can offer a challenge for speedy
processing and creative recipes. One year it was plums, and we saw plum pork, plum sauce,
plum butter, plum muffins, plum cakes, and frozen plums in the freezer for quite some time.
We found ourselves praying for a peach!
But this year – it’s the cucumber! Someone mentioned refrigerator dill pickles, and although I
was initially daunted by the idea, I found myself researching several different recipes and quite taken by lovely images on the internet of homemade dill pickles. With the beautiful ingredients in this recipe, you’ll end up with colorful jars of refrigerator pickles to give as gifts, or to keep on hand for eating. Once opened and served, expect them to disappear quickly! This recipe also can be multiplied out easily. (I made two gallons of pickles.) However, if multiplying, do use less garlic.
Rumor has it that this will also be our year for the apple. The initial drops and first fruits have already started to roll in….stay tuned.
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Refrigerator Dill Spears
SERVINGS21-quart jars
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COOK TIME10mins (plus refrigeration time) |
PREP TIME20mins |
READY IN24hrs |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Combine the vinegar, salt, and sugar in a stainless steel or Teflon pan over high heat. Whisk until the salt and sugar are dissolved.
- Transfer the liquid into a bowl and whisk in the cold water. Refrigerate brine until it has cooled enough to add to the cucumbers (approx. 30 minutes).
- While brine is cooling, place cucumbers into two clean 1-quart jars, leaving a little room to add the dill and spices.
- Then, when brine is cooled, add the coriander seeds, garlic cloves, mustard seeds, red pepper flakes, dill sprigs, and chilled brine into jars, dividing evenly.
- This is the fun part, as the finished product looks lovely! If necessary, add a bit of cold water until the brine covers the cucumbers.
- Cover and refrigerate about 24 hours, then serve. Cucumbers will keep in the refrigerator for up to one month.
Flipping through a folder of collected food photos and recipes, my eye was captured by one that looked like a pizza—and yet it wasn’t.
Here was a bright combination of fresh fruit and vegetables, specifically sliced tomatoes and peaches on a flatbread topped with a mixture of ricotta and parmesan cheese. What fun! With no recipe to follow, I launched into producing it on my own until I later found it written up in the June issue of “Cooking Light.”
If you’re looking for a fun food that’s quick, easy, tastes great and is still healthy you will want to try this. Enjoy!
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Tomato, Peach and Basil Flatbread
SERVINGS8servings (serving= 2 slices)
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COOK TIME15mins |
PREP TIME5mins |
READY IN20mins |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat grill on medium high heat.
- Using a whisk, mix the ricotta, onion salt, oregano, and pepper in a bowl and set aside.
- Brush both sides of the Naan bread with oil and grill each side
for 2 minutes and remove from grill.
- Spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the top, arranging the
tomatoes, peaches and basil leaves as desired.
- Cut each naan into 8 slices and arrange on a plate to serve.
One beautiful June day, our guests wanted to eat lunch on the patio, and something simple and summery seemed appropriate. I decided on a chicken salad plate featuring chilled zucchini soup. With fresh dill and a small dollop of sour cream, it was a real hit!
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Simple Summery Soup
SERVINGS2-3servings
|
COOK TIME20mins |
PREP TIME15mins |
READY IN1/2hr (plus chilling time) |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Cut up onion and zucchini into random size chunks and simmer in chicken or vegetable broth, enough to cover, until very soft and tender
- Cool for a few minutes, then place in blender with 2 Tablespoons of sour cream and blend until well mixed, adding more sour cream if desired
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Refrigerate until well chilled; serve with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with dill
For years, I just naturally began preparing many meals by chopping and sautéing together a combination of onions,celery and carrots. I never realized, in those teenage years, that I was employing a basic cooking technique, producing what is often referred to in the culinary world as the “All powerful Culinary Trio.” This homey trio of ingredients is absolutely essential for flavorful soups, sauces and gravies.
Recently, I added chopped potatoes to the mixture and that, along with a serving of fresh spinach and several succulent slices of roast lamb (excellent in the Spring) resulted in a most flavorful and satisfying meal. You might want to give it a try.
“All Powerful Culinary Trio” otherwise known as Mirepoix
Mirepoix can be used in a variety of ways—namely in stocks and sauces. To make a stock (chicken, beef, fish, lamb, etc.) one pound of Mirepoix will season roughly one gallon of liquid.
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Mirepoix
SERVINGS1pound
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COOK TIME |
PREP TIME15mins |
READY IN |
Ingredients
Instructions
Last night I encountered one of our sisters leaving the convent to attend a special baby shower that was to take place that day. She had in her hands a tray of the most exquisitely decorated mini cupcakes. I was very impressed by their beauty and the precision with which they had so carefully been decorated.
Late this afternoon I once again ran into the same sister. This time she was returning from the same baby shower with something even more impressive than the cupcakes I had seen going there earlier. In her hands she carried this little edible garden. It took my breath away. I was completely taken aback as I looked carefully at the little rows of miniature vegetables “planted” in a garden of humus that was topped with..toasted rye bread crumbs. It was absolutely charming…so much so no one wanted disrupt it to eat it because they wanted all the sisters at the convent to see it.
The person who made it for the shower was thrilled to find it as she flipped through the April 2018 issue of the Food Network magazine. Click here to see the original photo and ‘recipe’ for the edible garden entitled “Veggie Crudité Patch”.
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Edible Crudité Garden
SERVINGS
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COOK TIME |
PREP TIME |
READY IN |
Ingredients
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“Spring is on the way!” the kitchen sister sings. Outside the convent door the crocuses agree and now tonight’s evening meal reflects the happy thought by bringing a touch of Spring to the dinner table. During this Lenten season we have been serving lighter meals which have included a wide variety of new soups — mostly vegetable-based and surprisingly successful and satisfying. Our brand new fresh green pea soup is making its debut tonight and we shall see how it tastes.
Today in the bush outside my window I saw a baby robin and now there’s not a doubt that Spring is on its way!
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Fresh Green Pea Soup
SERVINGS6servings
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COOK TIME15mins |
PREP TIME10mins |
READY IN25mins |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Sautee onion, celery and garlic in a large pot.
- Dissolve the vegetable stock in the water and add to pot with onion, celery and garlic.
- Add the peas and stir occasionally, bringing everything to a boil.
- Cover and reduce the heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
- When peas are tender, remove from heat and let cool.
- Add mint leaves to the soup and blend with either an immersion blender, or in batches in a counter-top blender.
- Serve either warm or cold and garnish with fresh mint leaves if desired.
