Tag Archives: jalapeno

Garlic Dill Pickles

My friend, Matt Smith, posts some great pics and recipes of yummy dishes he makes from time to time. Earlier this summer he posted a pic of a giant vat of pickles that he had just made. And all of a sudden it dawned on me – I desperately want to make pickles.

He graciously gave me the recipe he used. As soon as I saw it, I knew this was the perfect pickle recipe.

It had all the ingredients I love in a pickle – jalapenos, garlic, dill, and some sugar. Cucumbers are flooding the farmers market at this time of year – everyone is practically giving them away. And I have a ton of jalapenos in my lil garden 🙂

The hardest part to this recipe? Waiting for the pickles to marinate for a week…..It takes SO much patience. Every time I opened the fridge, those pickles were staring at me – daring me to take a taste. Look at them….mocking me.

But I resisted. And my hard work paid off. These pickles are incredible. They might not be for everyone – so you might want to tweak the recipe. Tweak away, friends! These pickles are tart and have a definite vinegar flavor. They mellow over time.

I highly recommend draining all of the spices/seeds/dill/peppercorns out of the liquid when the week is up. That way they don’t continue pickling while you eat them (and you don’t reach into the vat and pull out a strand of dill or random spice).

Garlic Dill Pickles

Ingredients:

3.5-4 pounds of pickling cucumbers (the lil guys)
¼ cup chopped garlic
2 jalapeno peppers, thinly sliced (seeds and all)
½ cup chopped fresh dill

4 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
6 tblsp kosher salt
½ cup sugar (I used a lil less)
5 heaping tblsp pickling spices
2 tblsp mustard seeds
2 tblsp black peppercorns

Directions:

Make sure you prepare a large container – at least a 3.5 quart container – to hold your pickles.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Pull the pan off the stove and let the mixture cool down while you slice your cukes.

Prepare garlic, jalapenos, and dill. Slice your cucumbers into ½ inch-thick rounds – you can slice thinner if you like as well. Put them in your container along with the dill, garlic, and jalapenos and mix well.

Pour the mixture over your other ingredients and make sure everything is all mixed around and ingredients are distributed. Cool to room temperature and cover.

Here comes the hardest part: put them in the fridge and don’t touch them for a week unless you are going to shake them up a bit.

This recipe makes a TON of pickles and they keep for weeks!

Tags: appetizer, cucumber, dill, garlic, jalapeno, pickle, pickles, Snack

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Categories Appetizers, Sides, Snacks

Rustic Roasted Tomato Salsa

17 Feb

Who doesnt love salsa? Seriously…..find me someone who doesnt LOVE salsa.

Robb has the Rick Bayless “Mexican Everyday” cookbook. It has become one of our mexican cooking bibles.

We’ve tried a couple of his salsas, and we landed on this one as being the best. (I usually end up adding a bit more heat to it, too – as you can see by the additional random spicy peppers in the pan above)

This tastes divine – you can taste the roasted garlic and peppers. You can taste the freshness of the ingredients. And it’s simple to make. I made it for Mexican Supper Club back in October and it was a huge hit. I made a regular batch and then I made a SPICY batch for John and I.

Salsa is already a party food staple. Why not make your own at home? It’s so much healthier for you and you can modify it however you like!

Dip into it!!!!

Rustic Roasted Tomato Salsa

Ingredients:

2 jalapenos (or 4 serranos/1 habanero)
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
½ cup finely chopped white onion
One 15 oz can diced tomatoes- fire roasted, in juice
1/3 cup loosely packed roughly chopped cilantro
1-2 tsp of fresh lime juice
½ tsp Salt

Directions:

Remember to wear gloves when you handle/chop the spicy peppers – dont want to burn your skin or touch your eye later on!

Set small skillet over medium heat. Lay the chiles and garlic in the skillet and dry roast until soft and blotchy black in spots, about 10 minutes for the chiles and 15 mins for the garlic.

While chiles and garlic roast, scoop onion into strainer and rinse under cold water. Shake off excess water and pour into medium bowl.

Pull stems off the roasted chiles and peel papery skins off the garlic. Scoop them into the food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped. Add the tomatoes with their juice, re-cover and pulse a few more times, until the mixture is as coarse or smooth as you want your salsa to be.

Pour the mixture into the bowl with the onion. Add cilantro and stir thoroughly.

Thin with water if necessary to give salsa an easier consistency (I typically do not do this). Taste and season with lime juice and salt – I tend to go heavy on these two items.

NOTE: If making salsa ahead of time, refrigerate and don’t add onions and cilantro until ready to serve.

Tags: jalapeno, mexican, Salsa, Tomato

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Categories Appetizers, Sides, Snacks

Cheddar Jalapeno Cornbread Muffins

8 Jul

My dear friend, Liz Kaiser, was texting me earlier this week looking for good cornbread recipes that include whole kernels of corn. She was looking for a moist cornbread recipe to showcase the corn. My cornbread recipes didnt have what she wanted, but I quickly found a couple decent recipes on foodgawker. Then I told her she was crazy for baking in this heat, to which she agreed. And then I proceeded to bake both these and a birthday cake for Robbbb on the hottest (102) day of the year…..who’s crazy? Oh, right…..

Dry Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

I was perusing foodgawker 2 nights later and came across this recipe for cheddar jalapeno cornbread muffins. I started reading the recipe and immediately was drawn to it. And I decided I needed to bookmark to try. But I had some buttermilk on hand and had most of the other ingredients – including a fresh jalapeno from my garden! So I decided to try this recipe ASAP!

Wet, Dry, corn, and pepper

The mixture

These muffins are CHOCK full of flavor! I also included about a cup of corn, and almost a cup of diced jalapeno because I love the taste and like chunky muffins. I also ended up using 2 cups of shredded cheddar. Oooops 🙂

Ready to bake

Freshly baked

Talk about taste……let me tell you how moist and delicious these babies are! I can envision taking these to a picnic/BBQ or using as an accompaniment to a BBQ meal. In fact, I will be making BBQ chicken and serving these on the side 🙂

Look at that lil beauty

Pile of Yum

Extreme Closeup

Cut Open

This recipe definitely makes more than 12 muffins as it says…..My count was about 24 muffins.

Cheddar Jalapeno Cornbread Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 lg eggs
4 Tbsp cheddar cheese, grated (plus some for topping)
2 Tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup corn kernels
3 Tbsp jalapeño, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, cheese, and butter.

With a large spoon slowly stir in the wet ingredients to the flour and cornmeal. Add the corn kernels and jalapenos.

Place into greased muffins pans and fill about 3/4 of the way. Top each muffin with a little bit of cheese and bake for 10 minutes or until golden. (NOTE: In my oven, the muffins took more like 15-17 minutes – so check them at 10 and add on time so they get really nice and golden on top)

Tags: Corn, jalapeno, muffin

Comments 5 Comments
Categories Appetizers, Sides, Snacks

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