beets, chickpeas, garlic, & a full-moon hike
Let me tell you, the Aggs and I have plans for pickling and fermenting all sorts of things. We tend to get a bit dreamy-eyed and forget the details so we decided to have a meeting to draw up a game plan. The objective soon became to pickle at least one jar for each of us by the end of the meeting-also-known-as-lunch.
There is this book that I think is perfect for our ambitions called The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz with a forward by my hero Michael Pollan. We want to make sauerkraut and tempeh and dosas, too.
First day's pickling of choice: garlic! My mom used to always pickle garlic until it was black and make us eat it whenever we were sick. She hasn't made it in years and I miss it. So I called her up and she gave me her recipe which I will gladly share with you. I will also share with you the delicious lunch we ate while dreaming of pickley treats.
Mom's Pickled Garlic
ingredients:
enough garlic cloves to fill your jars, still in shells apple cider vinegar to cover entire jar
directions:
step 1: heat apple cider vinegar over stove on medium heat for about 20 minutes
step 2: placed garlic cloves in jar
step 3: pour warm apple cider vinegar over cloves to cover jar, seal tightly
step 4: don't open until 6 months later! don't store in direct sunlight but somewhere with a little warmth.
Agatha's Chickpea & Beet Salad
ingredients:
2 beets with greens | steamed, coarsely chopped, and cooled
1 can chickpeas | thoroughly rinsed
1/2 red onion | thinly sliced into half moons
some chopped flat leaf parsley
vinaigrette: salt|pepper|lemon juice | olive oil
directions:
step 1: toss together the cooled beets, beet
greens, chickpeas, red onion, and parsley
step 2: mix vinaigrette ingredients together and
toss in with salad. serve cool.
Oven-Roasted Zucchini with Fresh Oregano
(OK this is seriously AMAZING)
ingredients:
1 large zucchini | from Aggie's garden, super thinly sliced length-wise
a few
stems of oregano| also from Aggie's garden
some minced garlic
salt|pepper|olive oil
directions:
step 1: set oven to 375 degrees
step 2: toss sliced zucchini in garlic, salt,
pepper, olive oil
step 3: lay zucchini on baking dish or pan
(easier clean on parchment paper)
step 4: sprinkle oregano on top
step 5: bake zucchini for about 30 minutes or
until slightly crispy