Cucumber Relish

I only made this because someone had given me a bucket of old-ish cucumbers and they looked too ugly to do anything else with them. Well, that and the fact that I am always looking for an opportunity to avoid anything containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and summer dinner condiments are filled with HFCS: relish, ketchup, mustard, etc. So I made this, expecting a ho-hum result mostly because of the state of the cucumbers, but was quite impressed to find that it was a seriously good relish. So good I now have 12 cucumber plants in the garden so I can make more of this stuff...

7 c prepared cucumbers (peeled and chopped)

4 c chopped green peppers

4 c chopped red peppers

2 c chopped celery

1 c chopped onion

1/2 c pickling salt

2 & 1/4 c sugar

3 c white vinegar

4 Tbsp each: celery seeds and mustard seeds

Combine cucumbers, peppers, celery, onions and pickling salt in a large glass or stainless bowl. Cover and leave 4 hours. Rinse vegetables well. Press out excess moisture. Combine sugar, vinegar, and spices in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add vegetables and bring back to boil, then boil for 10 minutes.

Can as per usual. Makes 7 pints.

Peach Pie Filling

I got this from the Bernardin site a couple of years ago. For something that looks rather pedestrian in print, this peach pie filling is astoundingly fragrant and delicious. All three of my kids have exclaimed out loud when I serve it. Usually what I've done is make turnovers with it, using puff pastry. It's also nice over yogurt or ice cream. The original recipe includes a cup of golden raisins but as I've never tried it that way I can't comment.

12 c prepared peaches (peeled, pitted, and roughly chopped)

two 3" cinnamon sticks

2.5 tsp whole cloves

2 & 2/3 c white sugar

2 c peeled, finely chopped apples

1/2 c lemon juice

1/4 c white vinegar

2 Tbsp grated lemon rind

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

Place cinnamon and cloves in a tea ball or cheesecloth. Combine peaches, spice ball, sugar, apples, lemon juice, vinegar, lemon rind and nutmeg in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then boil gently for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened. Remove spice bag and can: makes 4 pints.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

This is an excellent way to use up all that grated zucchini: it tastes good, it's very chocolatey, and it has a lot of moisture. It takes at least 3 days to dry out. Makes 2 loaves.

1/4 c butter

1/2 c oil

1 & 3/4 c sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c buttermilk

2 & 1/2 c flour

1/4 c cocoa

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 c grated zucchini

1/4 c chocolate chips

Make this the usual way: cream butter and sugar, add eggs one by one, add liquid ingredients then dry ingredients, fold in zucchini. Dump into loaf tins or one 9" X 12" cake tin. Sprinkle with chips.

Bake 325ºF for 45 minutes (loaf tins). Less for cake tin.

Simple Syrups

This is based on a recipe I saw in The Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld, a seriously excellent cookbook for the herb gardener.

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

Your choice of herb (ie: a fistful of mint, some rosemary, lemon thyme)

Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a stainless steel saucepan, stir until the sugar is completely dissolved, then toss in the herbs and clamp the lid on the pot. Leave it for at least 1/2 hour, then strain.

I usually let this mixture cool then pour it into freezer bags. I also usually triple the recipe, which means tripling the herbs (good use for all that mint spreading around your garden!).

Turtles

These are easy to make, surprisingly enough. And you finally get a chance to use that candy thermometer gathering dust in the drawer (um, well, mine was).

First, put some pecans on a baking sheet. The sheet must be lined with either parchment or a silpat. Group the pecans in threes or fours (see the picture to the left - 4 pecans under all that caramel).


Next, make the caramel.

Caramel

1 cup butter
1 & 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup (I used Golden Syrup)
one 14 ounce tin sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla

First, melt butter then stir in the sugar. Bring to a boil. Add syrup and bring to a boil again then add the milk. At this point you must stir it continuously and stick the thermometer in it and keep stirring until the temperature reaches 238ºF. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla then let it sit, stirring briefly, until it stops boiling and bubbling (5 minutes or so).

Once it starts to harden up a bit (this is a bit nebulous I realize but fiddle around and keep calm and you'll soon see what I mean) you can drop it by teaspoonfuls over your little piles of pecans. 

Then let them sit for at least a couple of hours, until the caramel is good and solid.

Then melt yourself some chocolate (dark or milk, the choice is yours) and dip them, again using either a silpat or parchment on a cookie sheet.

I halved this recipe when I made it, just because it seemed like such a lot of butter, and it made about 4 dozen turtles, so know that while it seems like a lot of butter and sugar and such, it actually makes a whack of candy.

Cranberry Sauce

This is an adaptation of a recipe I got from the November 1997 LA Times Food Section, back when we lived in the Land of the Forever Sun. It's really good, but I, I have made it better.

Combine the following ingredients in a saucepan:

1 & 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
12 whole cloves
4 whole allspice
4 pieces of cinnamon sticks
a goodly chunk of ginger
4-9 star anise

Edited to add: put the spices (save the cinnamon) in a tea caddy thingie if you have one. It will save you having to fish them out later. Trust me, they tend to disappear amongst the cranberries.


Cook, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved and the syrup is clear. I like to leave it at this point and let the whole mixture sit for 20 minutes, so the spices can really go to town. Then fire up the heat underneath the pot and add a package of cranberries. When they are popping wildly (about 5 minutes later), turn off the heat and cover. Let sit for ages. But before you do that add in the grated rind of at least 3 oranges.

And that's all you do. People will swoon and tell you it's the best thing you've ever made. Well, unless they are amongst those godless heathen who favour the canned variety, in which case you must feel free to ignore them and know that your tastebuds ARE superior.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Buns

Rolls:

3 cups milk
6 T butter
6 T sugar

1 tsp sugar
2 tsp yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water

2 eggs
9 cups white flour, more or less

Filling:

3/4 cup melted butter
1 & 1/4 cups sugar
3 T cinnamon


For rolls: Scald milk. Turn off heat, add butter and 6 T sugar. Let cool somewhat.

In a small bowl, dissolve 1 tsp sugar in lukewarm water, then sprinkle yeast over top. Cover. Let sit till foamy.

Combine water/yeast mixture with milk mixture. Add 2 eggs. Add 4 or 5 cups white flour (you can use whole wheat but the texture gets a little heavy) and beat well for 10 minutes. Then let sit for 10 minutes. Then add enough flour to make the dough soft but not sticky (4 more cups, more or less).

Knead on a well-floured surface for 8-10 minutes. Keep in mind that this dough will remain quite soft. Pop it into a greased bowl, cover with a cloth, and put it somewhere warm for an hour or so, until it has significantly increased in size.

To fill: Punch down, divide in half. Roll one half into a largish rectangle. Brush with some of the melted butter, then mix the cinnamon and the sugar and sprinkle almost half over top. Roll up gently, like a jelly roll, then slice into 2 inch slices. Line a baking tin with a sheet of parchment paper, since these can stick, then drizzle some of the butter on the bottom. Place the slices and cover, then place again in a warm, undisturbed area until they have risen and are doubled in size. If you have some leftover cinnamon sugar now's the time to sprinkle some more over top.

Bake 350ºF for about 1/2 hour.

Pumpkin Addition:

I had baked an entire pumpkin, then put the flesh into the food processor until smooth, so I took a couple of cups of this and spread it over the rolled out rectangle, then sprinkled the cinnamon sugar over top. It's a bit goopy, but easily done if you have a steady hand.