Radish Quick Pickles

I love pickles. When I was a kid one of my favorite after school snacks was a big green dill pickle wrapped in a paper towel. I was a weird kid. As a grown up I have loved to turn just about anything into pickles. And right now with the radishes going bonkers in my garden I thought I would pickle some. 

Quick Pickles are just that - quick. These pickles last about a month in the refrigerator and require no complicated canning procedures. What can you pickle? I love beets, carrots, green beans, onions, cauliflower and cucumbers. The fun comes in the seasoning - chili flakes, garlic, coriander, fennel seeds and black pepper. So many options! All you need is several caning jars with lids. I like a wide mouth jar if I have them - it is easier to fit he vegetables in. Vinegar - I usually use just plain white vinegar. But you can experiment with red wine vinegar, champagne vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Each add their own special nuance. 

For the radish pickles I decided to add some red onion, garlic and lemon peel. 

I chopped up my onion and peeled my garlic cloves. 

My radishes were fresh from the garden so I trimmed off the green tops, roots and scrubbed them.

Next I cut them into bite size pieces. Many of them were pretty small so I left them whole. 

Then I packed the jars. I added the onions and garlic as well as some black peppercorns and a bay leaf. I topped the jars with pieces of lemon peel. 

Now to the brine - 

I like my brine vinegary. I also don't like my pickles that sweet. But you can add more sugar if you like. 

Quick Pickle Brine

• 1 1/4 cups vinegar
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt

Bring to a boil on the stove and poor carefully into the jars over the vegetables. Submerging them. You may need to make double or triple batches of brine if you are making a lot of pickles.

Let them cool for 20 minutes - cover with lids and refrigerate. Let sit for at least one day before eating. Then store in the refrigerator for 1 month. 

They are great for picnics and BBQs - but mine mostly get eaten directly out of the jar!

Canning Tomato Sauce

We were really excited to grow tomatoes this summer. We bought 5 varieties, two of them were paste tomatoes. I wanted to can my own basic tomato sauce. This last year we stopped using canned tomato products after reading this article on the 7 Foods Experts Won't Eat. Mr. Ramon and I have already cut out canned foods like soups, beans etc. When I read this we switched to tetra pack tomatoes as jarred varieties are soooo expensive.

Our tomatoes had s slow start due to the long cold spring. This past month and a half have been super sunny and we have had some really good yields. That allowed me to can up my first tomato sauce.

It all starts with fresh ripe tomatoes. Here are some of the San Marzano I used for this sauce. Beautiful!

A quick wash and remove the stems. There are many ways to go about sauce and I am lucky to have a Vita Mix Blender that I can use to puree them, skin and all. Without this option you would want to quick blanch them in hot water and toss into an ice bath to slip the skins off. I also leave the seeds in as they will be pureed as well. You could remove the seeds if you want. 

Once I have them blended super smooth I put them in a large stock pot to cook down to my desired thickness. I left this sauce a little thin knowing I can always thicken it when I use in in my recipes. 

While it simmers away I sterilized my jars and got my water bath ready to process them once filled. 

I added some lemon juice to each jar, filled with the hot tomato sauce and processed for 35 minutes. Here are the gorgeous jars once done. I hope to get enough tomatoes to make up a couple more batches. 

Tomato Sauce

Wash, trim and remove stems from your tomatoes. 

If you have a high powered blender you can belnd your tomatoes with then skins and seed intact until smooth. 

If you want to remove the skins: drip each tomato into boiling water for 30-60 seconds until skins split. Immediately put tomatoes into ice water. Remove skins with your hands. 

If you want to remove the seeds, slice in half and scoop out with a spoon. 

If you are not pureeing in a blender, you will need to simmer tomatoes until soft then puree with a hand blender, blender or food processor until smooth. 

Place your pureed tomatoes into a saucepan or stock pot and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and let simmer until you reach the desired consistency. 

Using sterilized jars, add 2 teaspoons per quart or 1 tablespoon per pint of lemon juice in the bottom of each jar. Fill with hot tomato sauce up to 1/2 ince from rim. Place hot lid and rings on and tighten. Water bath process for 35 minutes.