Fresh Pickles Makes it Summer

Bella Baita Garden View

I don't know about you but when I was growing up in southern Illinois, our family dining table usually had two items that graced the center of the table for almost every lunch and dinner for the duration of the summer season. What would that be, you might be wondering, unless it was on your table as well? Invariably we had big juicy slabs of deeply red tomatoes on one plate and a glass bowl or the appropriate sized tupperware bowl with cucumber and a few onion slices, languishing in an ample amount of apple cider vinegar. There probably was a touch of sugar and a bit of water to tame the tang. I loved those sides of the summer and rarely tired of them, my folks certainly didn't. They had a way of elevating most luncheon cold cuts or filling in around the edges of light suppers, that I rarely have replicated since living in the higher mountain climes.

Refrigerator Pickles and Cuore di Bui Tomatoes

However recently we have been getting some great "cuore di bui" (ox heart) tomatoes, at the market, and I greedily snatched up some slender, what I have always called "pickling", cukes, when I ran into them in the market last week. I planned on putting up a couple of jars of my favorite "Blue Ribbon Dill pickles" for my winter stash, but, as fortune would have it, my rss feed from Food In Jars arrived and there was a recipe for a big bowl of overnight refrigerator pickles that were destined for a potluck.  I knew that those slender pickling cukes had a new destination coming right up. If you like to can and think that you need to make large batches of jam or pickles or whatever and are put off by it, then this is a canning blog for you. I ran across Food in Jars on Facebook quite a while back and fell in love with author Marisa's straight forward approach to putting any and everything up on a small scale so that your cupboard  is overflowing with beautifully filled jars of tasty treats to brighten up meals after the flush of summer bounty is just a memory.  I have always enjoyed canning (which in reality is jarring) and managed to put a few jars of this, that and the other up, over the years. My mom and grandmothers did too, of course,, and although I only canned with my mom a few times, and never with my grandmothers, I did enjoy many a jarred green bean, piccalilli, fruit preserves and jams from all of them over the years. I, so vividly, remember eating myself sick, literally, on my grandmother's dill pickles and yet still was able to enjoy the gallon jar she sent home with me. I think I fell in love with the old ball jar with the lead lid almost as much as the pickles. Over the years I  have almost always had my home jarred dill pickles on my shelves no matter where I have been, if I could get the ingredients.  Living in Colorado, I religiously put up several varieties of salsas over the year and still sorely miss the aroma of roasting of chiles that can fill the air in the autumn. Sigh....

My assorted fresh herbs

Anyway, this is a fast and easy recipe that doesn't have any real concrete measurements and lends itself to countless variations depending on what you have on hand. Food in Jar's Marisa used fresh mint and cilantro. I had an abundance of mint and basil, so that is what I used. I also used a couple of stems of horse radish leaves to not only give a little kick, but it also helps keep your pickles crisp, according to a surrogate grandmother of mine.  I will give you  some rough idea of what I used and if you would like an excellent visual step by step guide guide giving you a better idea of amounts, you can find that recipe on Food in Jars' blog here . I must insist that if you like pickles you are going to love these, as they are quick and delicious, not too tart, ever so slightly sweet and impossible to stop eating. I should know!

Pickles after one night in the fridge

Fresh Cucumber Refrigerator Pickles  

Makes approximately 2 quarts of pickle slices in brine

Ingredients:

1kg /2.2 pounds  or about 10 or so medium sized cucumbers(the spiny type used for pickles)

1/2- 1 small red onion, or shallot, or spring onion, chopped up, but not too fine

4 garlic cloves, sliced

2 tiny hot peppers, I used dried ones that I crumbled 

handful of mint, I like spearmint,  rough chopped

half handful of fresh basil, tear or chop into medium pieces 

2 horseradish leaves and stem, I cut the leaves and stems into long thirds 

Brine:

2 c / 16oz / 475g apple cider vinegar 

2 c / 16oz / 475g  water

1/4 c / 1 3/4 oz / 45-50g sugar

1-2 tsp / 5-10 g salt  (I tasted my brine till it seemed right to me)

Method:

Wash the cucumbers, slice into the thickness you like. I hovered between 1/4- 1/2 inch sized rounds.

Place everything except the cucumbers in bottom of a glass or metal bowl. 

Top with the cucumber slices.

Mix your brine ingredients in a sauce pan and heat till the salt and sugar melts, but don't boil.

Pour the hot brine over the cucumbers and all.

Set aside to cool.

Once cooled to room temperature either cover the bowl as is 

or put into a plastic container with a well sealing lid and

place in the refrigerator to do its magic over night.

They will be ready to eat the next day.

They will last at least two weeks, probably longer in the refrigerator, but I bet they won't last that long. 

You can count on it. 

Fresh refrigerator pickles

Caramel Mascarpone Berry Tartlets

When I don't post anything on my "view" for awhile, it usually means that we have been busy at the B&B and all the myriad things that entails. That is exactly what is going on at the moment. Add in a bounty of fruit to make jams and put away for another day when you crack open a jar or thaw some nice nice plump berries and the summer comes rushing back like a warm breath of air. Lucky for us we have wonderful guests to pamper and look after and send them on their way, sometimes with a few extra grams or ounces to remember us by.
If you are like me you have been finding ways to beat the heat and make your time in the kitchen minimal and yet satisfyingly tasty. When these gorgeous "frutti di bosco" as they are called here or forest fruits practically jumped into my basket, I knew that minimal preparation would be the best way to taste the luscious sweetness these bedazzling jewels were offering and keep me from just plunking them on top of some creamy apricot sorbetto.  Fair enough. We have had enough hot weather after a cool wet start this season that the fruit has been stunning. Bring it on I say.

Hard to resist these beauties.

Red gooseberries, blackberries, blue berries and rose colored currants (to die for)

Rummaging around, it didn't take me long to marry up a few of my favorite standards in my kitchen's speedway to heaven, to turn out some tartlets that won accolades from my eaters and a request for the recipe. Writing up a recipe is usually the hardest part for me, naturally. I can be exacting when it comes to baking, but I can also be quite cavalier with throwing things together and hoping for the best.

These look pretty edible wouldn't you say?

The recipe is fairly loose and really up for your interpretation, so I'll tell you what I did and then you most definitely must have at it. Time's a wasting.

Summer Berry Tartlets  or 
Caramel Mascarpone Cream Berry Tartlets

Yields 8  (3-4" or 8 cm tartlets)

For the fruit

I used about 1/2 pt total fruit, maybe a bit more
I used blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, red gooseberries, rose currants and sweet cherry halves.
I think strawberry, peach, apricot and plum slices would be equally as delicious. Mix and match what you have or can find.
Wash your fruit and pat dry.

For the crust

• 2 cups of crushed cookie/biscuit/biscotti , your choice. I used a Nibby Buckwheat cookie I had on hand
• 1/4c (50g) melted unsalted butter
• 2 T demerara sugar or coarse brown sugar or some sort of unrefined sugar

Mix all together in a bowl and press the mixture into  8 greased and  lightly floured, removable bottom tartlet pans
Make sure your base is completely covered and slightly up the sides of the pans. Better to have the bottom covered with crumbs than up the sides for ease of removing from the pan later.
Chill till firm before adding any of the other layers.

For the filling

Caramel layer
I had about 1 1/2 c (150g) caramel I had made previously. It was cold so easier to work with.

If you need a recipe to go by this one works well and will yield enough for all of these tarts.

• 1/2 c water
• 1 1/2c (100g) sugar
• 1 c cream, heavy

Place you sugar and water in a heavy bottomed, tall sided pan and stir, just to start the sugar to dissolve. Place on low heat and stir occasionally till it dissolves.
Once the sugar has dissolved, stop stirring and raise your heat to medium high. It will start to color and you may need to swirl the pan gently to distribute the color.
If needed you can wash the sides down with a pastry brush and just enough water to dissolve any crystals that might develop as you cook it. Go light on the water.
Cook until desired golden brown and remove from heat.
Add in your heavy cream all at once being careful as it will boil up. Hence the need for tall sided pan.
Cool until thickened and not too runny or too thick to spread. You can restir if necessary.

Mascarpone layer

1-8 or 12 oz (250g) carton of mascarpone cream  I'm not sure what sizes it comes in in the states
2 T unrefined sugar. blond cane sugar or regular
2 T amaretto or liqueur of your choice and to taste
2 T heavy cream

Turn the cream into a roomy mixing bowl and whisk it a bit.
Add the sugar, whisk
Add  some the cream and Amaretto to get a spreadable consistency, but not too thin that it won't hold the fruit in place when spread on the tartlets. Adjust amounts of cream and amaretto to reach the right consistency. I use a hand whisk so I am careful not to over whisk it and get a runny mess. I find that sometimes different brands and quality of mascarpone will give different results. Some brands get quite watery quickly, so keep that in mind when you are whisking away.

To assemble

Remove your chilled tartlet, spread a layer of the caramel over all of the bottoms and chill again. I find a quick trip to the freezer for about 10 minutes is optimum for my technique.
Once the  caramel is set in place then remove from freezer and evenly distribute the cream amongst the tartlets and smooth out evenly.
Place your fruit on top slightly pressing the fruit into the cream.
I then chill the tarts for at least an hour before serving, although they will hold longer in the refrigerator.
As long as you are using uncut fruit it wouldn't be necessary to glaze your fruit. If however you are using cut fruit like strawberries and soft stone fruits, then you might thin some apricot or currant jam (ha ha have fun easily finding that in the US) with a table spoon or two of brandy , slightly heating it up and brush the cut fruit with the thinned jam mixture to keep the fruit from turning brown. Chill before serving.

Remove the tartlets from their pans and serve with a light sparkling moscato or fruit juice spritzer for a summer time treat.

Sizzling Summer Cooler.. Gazpacho Soup

August 15th was Ferragosto here in Italy.
It is a sacred holiday to Italians, one that has pagan origins and later was all about the religious aspects of the Virgin Mary being assumed into heaven, but then fell out of favor with the Vatican and has come to be the secular holiday of the summer.
According to Wikipedia... "Before the Roman Catholic Church came into existence, however, this holiday was celebrated in the Roman Empire to honor the gods—in particular Diana—and the cycle of fertility and ripening. In fact, the present Italian name of the holiday derives from its original Latin name, Feriae Augusti ("Festivals [Holidays] of the Emperor Augustus") ^[1]. Almost the entire month of August was taken as a holiday and leisure time in Italy in honor of this feast day."

Most Italians go out of their way to go somewhere for the day for a big restaurant meal in the mountains, the seaside, a bar-b-que with friends or a picnic out in the country somewhere. Here we had grid lock going up to our Fortezza di Fenestrelle this year to climb the almost 4,ooo covered stairs and walk across to the meadow in the Orsiera Rocciavre' park, where there was a free open air classical concert in what was a glorious summer day. We had guests that were clever enough to get up early and make the climb in the cool of the morning and before the roads became a parking lot. A fitting celebration to summer.

Another fitting celebration of the season bounty of tomatoes is refreshing Gazpacho soup.
I try to keep to the Italian theme here, but I don't think Gazpacho is too much of a stretch from our friends over in Spain, as I find it on the menu here now and then. It is a perfect summer treat that highlights the intense flavor juicy, luscious tomatoes. This dish just isn't the same any other time of the year. It has all the elements that are so beloved in Italian cooking, tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, red onions, and peppers if you like, all of which are in their zenith of abundance and flavor at the moment here in northern Italy.
I find that I tend to make it a little different every time depending on what is on hand and what suits me at the moment. I based this recipe on a few I found on line, but Elise's of Simply Recipes version I found the most helpful for me. You'll find a wealth of recipes there if you haven't found her site before.

Gazpacho Recipe

Ingredients

6 ripe tomatoes, peeled and large chopped a mixture of cherry tomatoes and heirlooms are a nice combination about 700 g or 1 1/2 lb of tomatoes
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, large chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 sweet red bell pepper (or green) seeded and chopped, (optional)
1-2 T chopped fresh parsley
2 T chopped fresh chives
2 T any combination of your favorite herbs I like to use basil or mint
1 clove garlic, minced, optional
2 T raspberry or white wine vinegar or lemon or lime juice
2 T olive oil
1/2 tsp red pepper or to taste
1 c tomato juice, I actually used water as I didn’t have any and it was still incredibly flavorful due to the tomatoes being so wonderful
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Method

Drop your tomatoes into a boiling pot of water for about 1-2 minutes.
Remove with a slotted spoon and run under cold water to make them cool enough to handle. Peel.
Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor.
Pulse and blend slightly, to desired consistency.
Adjust seasonings.
Chill for maybe an hour and serve with garlicky oily croutons or crumbled grissini on top. Drizzle a small amount of extra virgin olive oil on top.
You can refrigerate over night in a non-metal storage container. I find that the flavor changes completely, so keep that in mind.

Serves 4-6

And Buon Appetito!