Cooking with Summer Garden Bounty

Cucumber Salsa? Cherry Tomato Pesto? Super Easy Pickles? Check out the recipes below and the video for tricks and tips… Oh and please don’t judge the video quality too harshly… it was a LIVE recording and ALL kinds of things went wrong! It’s kinda entertaining!

Recipes

Sun Gold Tomato Pesto – makes almost 1 cup

The first time I tried making tomato pesto I didn’t cook the tomatoes. It looked awful. It was runny and separated with a thick glob of stuff at the top of the bowl and watery stuff on the bottom. I must admit it still tasted pretty darn good, so I tried again and cooked my tomatoes to release some of the juice. It worked like a charm. My sweet momma always says, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

2 cups Sun Gold cherry tomatoes – or any variety tomato

½  cup Parmesan cheese – fresh is best

2 cloves garlic - crushed

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

❖      Put tomatoes in a saucepot on the stove and cook on medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Stir often in the first few minutes of cooking until tomatoes release their juice. Once the juice releases, simmer, uncovered until most of the tomato liquid is gone.

❖      Puree all ingredients together in a food processor, blender or with a mortar and pestle.

❖      Serve alongside Corn and Black Bean Cakes, Zucchini Fritters, toss with pasta, smear on chicken, roasted vegetables or use as a sandwich condiment.

Spicy Cucumber Salsa

4 medium sized cucumbers (about 2 pounds)

1 red or green bell pepper -finely diced

1-2 jalapeno peppers – seeded and finely diced

½ cup red onion – finely diced

2 cloves garlic – crushed

½ Cup fresh herbs – parsley, dill, fennel fronds, basil or cilantro - finely chopped

¼  Cup cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons fresh ground coriander seed

½  teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon salt

❖    Peel cucumbers and cut in half long-ways. If seeds are large and tough remove and discard seeds. Dice cucumbers finely.

❖    Combine cucumbers with remaining ingredients, stir, and allow to sit for at least an hour before serving.

❖    Pack in jars and store in the fridge. Relish will keep for several weeks in the fridge

If using a food processor:

❖    Cut cucumbers into chunks  and in a food processor pulse the cucumbers to finely dice but NOT puree. If your cucumbers are juicy, pour them into a mesh strainer, capture the juice for a refreshing drink or discard. Put strained cucumbers into a large bowl.

❖    In the food processor pulse, peppers, onion, garlic, and herbs to finely dice but NOT puree.

❖    Combine with remaining ingredients.

Easy Refrigerator Pickles – makes about 2 quarts

These are neither sweet nor sour pickles, and they have dill in them but I wouldn’t call them a dill pickle. What they are is crunchy and flavorful. Because there is no heat involved they don’t get soft like some canned pickles do. As a bonus, you can just keep adding cucumbers to the brine over several weeks for a continuous pickle supply.

2 cups water

¾  cup sugar

3 cups cider vinegar

8 cloves garlic – peeled and sliced

10 Bay leaves

2 Tablespoons fresh or dried dill

4 teaspoons salt

2 Tablespoons mustard seeds

1 Tablespoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon peppercorns

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

6 cups sliced cucumbers (3 pounds)

In a sauce pot bring the water and sugar to a boil, stir to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat, allow to cool 10 minutes, and add vinegar.

Add remaining ingredients, except cucumbers, to the brine.

Pack cucumbers in jars or whatever kind of container you like. Pour brine over cucumbers, making sure the brine is covering them.Put in the fridge and let sit at least 12 hours.

Pickles will keep refrigerated for several months.