Checkout the Culinary Workshops page for details on the Biscuit Workshop. We’ll be making both Buttermilk Biscuits and Orange Scented Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls. My kitchen isn’t massive, so reserve your spot soon. If this proves to be a popular workshop I’ll be doing it again, so if you can’t make it this time, check back for more dates. Hope to see you soon in the Fiddlehead Kitchen.
First of all, can I just say I’m loving my five dollar estate sale plate score from last weekend! Snagged a really cool pottery bowl as well, also 5 bucks, that will most likely make an appearance on here at some point. Anyway, it’s one of several versions of Israeli Couscous Salad I make that is adorning said estate sale plate. This salad’s origin comes from a Barefoot Contessa recipe that I never actually made following her exact recipe, but it’s where the idea spun from. This version can serve as a complete one bowl meal with the addition of tuna, though the tuna is easily left out, as I often will do.
Israeli Couscous Salad
8 ounces of Israeli couscous, boiled in well salted water until al dente, drain and rinse well with cold water. Leave to drain again very well, then fluff with a fork.
Cherry tomatoes, a pint or more, mixed varieties or all the same, up to you
Cucumber, I used an English cucumber, but any variety will do, and as much or as little as you like
Kalamata olives, I used about ½ to ¾ of a jar
Capers, 2 to 3 tablespoons
Fresh garlic, finely minced (you’ll be eating it raw, so mince, mince, mince), about 2 teaspoons, but adjust to your taste
Zest from 3 to 4 lemons, amounting to roughly 2 teaspoons
1 tin of olive oil packed tuna, drained. I used albacore
Feta, best to find a nice one that’s swimming in brine and crumble it yourself, as much or as little as you like
Mix all of the above together is a big bowl
Lemony Vinaigrette
Whisk together ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil and ½ cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice, yep, the very same ones you zested. Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
Pour ¾ of the vinaigrette into the couscous salad, mix well, adding more vinaigrette if needed. Give it a taste to check the seasoning, adding additional salt and pepper if needed.
This “recipe” is so very easily adapted to what you might have on hand or tweaked just for the heck of it. A different pasta, like orzo or fusilli would be great. Skip the tuna, swap the feta for little fresh mozzarella balls, add thinly sliced fresh basil, maybe some roasted red peppers, a little cubed salami, perfecto. I’ve often used whole wheat couscous, the smaller more grain-like type, left the tuna and capers out and added fresh chopped mint for a light and refreshing Mediterranean inspired salad. Next up, I’m thinking a version using farro or possibly buckwheat… might as well, during the long, hot summer, salad is king.
Pickling is possibly one of the easiest, most satisfying versions of preserving you can do. It takes minimal time and just a few ingredients. Once in the jar and cooled down, these go right in the refrigerator, skipping the slightly more time consuming canning step you would need to do in order to safely store them at room temperature.
Pickled Red Onions
2 red onions (good sized, this is no time for puny onions)
1 cup of red wine vinegar
1 cup of apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon mixed peppercorns
3 or 4 whole allspice
A few of sprigs of fresh rosemary, oregano and thyme, or any combination of these you like
2 pint size (16 oz.) canning jars
Peel and halve the onions, then cut about an ⅛ of an inch thick. Evenly distribute between 2 freshly washed and dried jars, packing them in fairly tightly along with the peppercorns, allspice and fresh herbs.
Combine both vinegars, sugar and salt in a sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt. As soon as it boils, take off the heat and carefully pour into the jars leaving just a little space at the top. With a wooden spoon, if necessary, press the onions down to fully submerge them in the pickling liquid. Pop the lids on and let them sit on the counter until cooled, then store in the refrigerator for up to a month.
Over the weekend these topped off sautéed mushroom and mushroom brie (yeah you read that right, mushroom brie) turkey burgers on brioche. Delicious! Pickled anything adds that little extra zing, and these pickled red onions are no exception. Pile them on sandwiches, grilled steak, pizza, tacos, add them to all different kinds of salads, they’re a great addition to a cheese and charcuterie plate… basically, toss them on anything and everything.
Go pickle some onions, you’ll be glad you did.
My refrigerator stopped working a few weeks back. Good thing I went to scoop up some ice cream for dessert, that’s the only reason I discovered it before morning. Luckily I’ve got a garage fridge, not pretty but it works, and was able to transfer everything with minimal loss. A repair company was called, a part ordered and an appointment to install said part was made. Nothing left to do but spring clean my now completely empty refrigerator. Let me just say, it wasn’t smelly or dirty… I feel like I need to clarify that, but it’s always nice to take all the shelves and drawers out and give everything a good wash and wipe-down. Twenty minutes after finishing my surprise spring cleaning, the fridge started to work again—about 24 hours or so after it had stopped in the first place. By the next morning it was still working. The part and repair were cancelled. Over the next 2 days, just in case, I slowly started to put things back, but not everything.
It was brought to my attention that I had “Marie Kondo’d” my refrigerator without even realizing it at the time. I was going through jars of condiments, this and that, wondering how long has this half jar of—fill in the blank—been in here? What about the bottle of ketchup, when was the last time I even used ketchup? Is this little jar with 12 capers “sparking joy”? Wait a minute, I have 2 little jars with just a couple capers each. Ugh!
Gone, all you joyless vintage condiments and questionable nearly empty jars. Easy.
Time to confront the freezer. Ohhh, the freezer, not so easy. Let me start by saying freezers are great for stashing homemade chicken stock, keeping frozen peas on hand, specialty flours fresh and of course ice cream, a true necessity in life. They’re also ideal for portioning and freezing soup, sauce, leftovers, breads, the list goes on. I kind of hate my freezer though, it’s very small, very narrow, and because of that can get disorganized quickly if I’m not careful. Disorganized is a generous description of where it was. Disarray, utter chaos is probably more accurate. Tucked in the back behind or buried under more recent freezer acquisitions I found a ziplock bag of homemade marshmallows from 2, maybe 3 years ago, hmmm. Several previously opened bags of frozen peas that only had maybe a quarter to a half cup left and surely freezer burnt at that point. Ice cubes that had been in the silicone tray so long they had almost entirely disappeared, amazing! Then there were the ziplock bags of chicken backs I’ve been collecting (yes, I collect chicken parts) to make stock, and a few miscellaneous other things like a vacuum sealed ham bone whose age I’d rather not say.
Just like the caper jars and ketchup, the multiple opened bags of ancient frozen peas, old marshmallows and cookie recipe experiments—yeah, found several of those lingering in there—also got Kondo’d. The frozen chicken backs are going to stay in the garage freezer until it’s their turn to become stock… it’s really a better place for them, a little too bulky for my narrow freezer they were encroaching on prime ice cream real estate.
It’s quite nice to open the refrigerator and have room to put something without having to rearrange a whole shelf every time just to fit it in. The freezer, I only need to open the door to know what I have, no more digging around and having frozen things tumble out, inevitably landing on my foot. Now, in the same spirit, if I can just get to the closet in my office…