Bread and Butter Pickles

9 medium pickling cucumbers, sliced 
2 onions, sliced
2 Tbs. salt
1 and 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp mustard seed
1/8 tsp cayenne (opt)
1/4 tsp turmeric (opt)
1/8 tsp ground cloves (opt)

Use fresh cucumbers; trim 1/8th inch of the blossom ends off, wash and slice. Slice onions. Mix vegetables with salt and let stand 1 hour. Drain, and rinse with 2 cups cold water, draining that water away too. Combine vinegar, sugar, celery and mustard seeds (and any other spices) in a pot and heat to boiling. Cook 3 minutes.
Pack vegetables into jars (2-3 pint wide-mouthed jars), add hot vinegar mixture, leaving 1/2″ headspace. Seal at once and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Cool and store.

Spiced Pickled Summer Squash

From Red Fire Chef Kristen Schafenacker, 2007 

2 lbs zucchini or summer squash
2 medium onions
¼ cup kosher salt
2 cups cider vinegar
1+ cup sugar
2 t. mustard seed
1 t. red pepper flakes
2 t. celery seed
1 sliver fresh ginger

Place the vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, celery seed, ginger, red pepper, and salt in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the sliced onions and bring to a boil. Pack canning containers tightly with squash and fill with hot brining liquid. Submerge closed jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Sofrito

From Sarah Voiland, 2011 

Sofrito is a delicious flavoring substance that is classic in Puerto Rican cooking. You add it to anything from rice and beans, to soups and slow cooker dishes, to omlettes, to sauces for meat dishes. Once made, sofrito freezes really well in ice cube trays or other portion-sized containers for winter!  It will also keep well in the refrigerator for about 3 weeks.

1 onion
1 green pepper
2-3 cloves garlic
1 bunch cilantro leaves
1/4 tsp oregano (more if fresh)
2-4 tbs olive oil
salt to taste
1 tsp capers (opt.)
1-3 hot peppers (opt.)
1-2 roasted red peppers (opt.)
a few to a bunch of pitted olives (opt.)
Other optionals: black pepper, cayenne, paste tomatoes, cumin, culantro, annatto, celery, parsley, and many more!

No hard and fast recipe here! Something to play with! Multiply recipe for winter freezing. Wash, deseed, trim as needed. Chop into large chunks. Put all in blender, in batches if need be. I like to blend not as far as puree, but stop while there are still little bits of things, like tiny pieces of pepper and onion, discernible shards of herbs.

Mix everything in a bowl at the end if you did batches. Then refrigerate and freeze for later use. Or use some now!

To use, put some in a pan with oil and saute to meld the flavors before adding rice to boil or whatever it’s in your plans to make.
Lovely with red peppers too!

Fresh Tomato-Corn Salsa

From the contributor, CSA member Anna: “Thanks for the wonderful veggies that are coming in so far. I’m enjoying them very much. I wanted to share two recipes that I recently tried and love. I hope others will try and enjoy eating them as well.”

3 tomatoes, chopped 
3 ears corn
1 onion, chopped
1 pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 hot pepper, minced, or 1 tsp cayenne pepper
1⁄4 cup lemon juice or vinegar
2 Tbs. olive oil
Salt to taste
3 Tbs. cilantro

Chop tomatoes, salt and let sit in a colander for 30 min. to drain off extra juice. In the meantime, cut kernels from corn (yep, it’s delicious raw) and mix in the rest of the ingredients, adding the drained tomatoes last and salting to taste.

Roasted Corn and Peach Salsa

4 ears corn 
6 peaches
1 onion
1 pepper
5 tomatillos or 2 tomatoes (optional)
4 cloves garlic
¼ cup vinegar
1 hot pepper
salt to taste

Roast the corn under the broil in the oven or on a grill. Cut from cobs. Dice or food process peaches, mix with corn, minced onion, tomatillos or tomatoes if you’re using them, pepper, minced garlic and hot pepper. Add vinegar and salt to taste.

Let it sit for an hour to let the flavors blend.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde

This salsa is awesome! Sweet and tangy. 

lb tomatillos (remove husks and cut in half)
3-6 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lime juice, fresh is sweeter
1/4 cup diced sweet onion
1-3 diced jalapeno
chopped fresh cilantro, up to one bunch
1 tbsp maple syrup, or to taste
salt to taste
water, to desired consistency
for an extra twist add halved husk/ground cherries at the end

Roast tomatillos cut side down in a thick skillet until they soften most of the way through, and brown/blacken on the bottom. Then flip to cook the rounded side. You can snuggle the garlic cloves in there, cut in half, to roast at the same time. It’s okay if things blacken a little. You can also roast your jalapeno if you like.

Blend roasted tomatillos, garlic, olive oil, and lime juice. Add a little water if you want a wetter salsa or your blender needs help. Add onion, cilantro, jalapeno and a little salt. Blend for a second to mix. Taste, add maple syrup if desired, more salt if needed, same with lime juice, and then husk cherries at the end if you want them. Serve with corn chips or burritos or on enchiladas etc.

Tip: if you want to make a big batch, you can roast everything in the oven instead.

Roasted Red Pepper Hot Sauce

A great way to preserve hot peppers and enjoy them little bit by little bit. 

olive oil
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped onions
2-3 cloves chopped garlic
6 whole chiles any kind, stems removed
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tsp salt, or to taste

The types of chiles you use will affect the flavor and heat of the sauce. Choose any kind you like or use whatever you have. Roast the whole chiles, coated with olive oil, on a grill or under the broiler (or in a pan on the stovetop). Roast until the skins get browned and blackened in spots – gives good flavor.

Meanwhile, saute onions, carrots, garlic in a pan with a little olive oil until translucent. Once done, let the saute and the roasted peppers cool. Then put saute and peppers in a blender or food processor, and blend until smooth, adding vinegar until you get to the right consistentcy for you. Add salt to taste.

Pour finished sauce into a clean jar. Keep in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

Makes about 4 cups.

Southern Collard Greens

Here’s a vegetarian recipe for the southern favorite.  If you want to go for the real thing, just add a ham hock and reduce your salt and stock.

1 bunch of collard greens 
1 onion, diced
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. butter
3 cups vegetable stock
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
T. red wine or cider vinegar
hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Sautee onion in butter and olive oil until translucent.  Add stock, balsamic vinegar and chopped collards and simmer for 1 ½ hour-2 hours.  Add the rest of the vinegar, hot saßuce, salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Green Beans Braised with Tomatoes and Basil

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 
1 cup finely chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed
1-2 tomatoes , finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup water

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and half the garlic and sauté until onion softens slightly, about 5 minutes. Add green beans, tomatoes, basil leaves, and 1/2 cup water.

Cook until beans are crisp-tender, stirring and tossing occasionally, about 10 minutes. Add the rest of the garlic and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl and serve.