Tangerine Salsa

Extended Shelf Life for: Tangerines, Tomatoes, Onions, Jalapenos

We've been eating tangerines, cuties, oranges with great frequency.

I've begun a major research project regarding what to do with all of the peels and have made dishes such as Avocado-Orange Pasta, pints of Orange Marmalade, Candied Orange Peels and of course Fresh Orange Juice (with a few other veggies and fruits thrown in).

But after all of these dishes...I still had fruit to use up.

So, with a taco night in the works for church, I decided to do up a batch of tangerine salsa and the results were quite tasty indeed!

Ingredients/Directions:
Adapted from Appetite for China

Roughly chop 8-10 Tangerines, 2-3 Roma Tomatoes, 1 Red Onion and 1 Jalapeno. Mix together, toss in the juice of 1 Lime. Season with Salt and Cumin.

Preserving the Harvest: Pickled Peppers

Extended Shelf Life: Fresh Banana Peppers (?)

It's possible the man came home with a box full of small peppers and I may have got a bit excited at the possibilities since it was canning season and all... So, I went on a happy-go-lucky internet search and came across this recipe at My Man's Belly -- what happened next was spicy, tangy, delicious and perfect for sandwiches!

Ingredients/Directions:

You need a lot of peppers...I just sliced and shoved peppers into jars until I ran out of peppers, which ultimately occurred way too soon ^^ Throw 12 garlic clove halves (that means you'll need 6 garlic cloves) into the jar with the peppers. In a small saucepan bring 1 1/2 cups Water,1 1/2 cups distilled White Vinegar and 4 tsp. Salt to a boil over medium high heat. Remove from heat and pour over your peppers until they are all fully submerged. Cover and let set overnight, refrigerate and enjoy for the next 2 weeks (or more if you're a slow-eater/non-expiration-date-worrying-type-person).

Creamy Dill Cucumber Dip

Derby Days. Cinco de Mayo. Children's Day.

May 5th.

A day for celebration and gathering together under the bridge alongside the river.

I took this dish...not to brag, but it was a favorite among the picnic-ers.

Ingredients/Directions:

Mix together one container softened cream cheese with 3/4 of the same container plain yogurt and 1/4 of the same container mayonaise (you can also do this as a cup, 3/4 cups and 1/4 cup - but I didn't want to creat extra dishes, therefore just used the cream cheese container to 'measure'). Add to this mixture two peeled, seeded and diced cucumbers, 2 Tbsp. chopped Fresh Dill and Salt and Pepper to taste. Enjoy with crackers, chips or vegetables and a good group of friends.

Orange Curd

I've been spending more time reading cookbooks from my Kindle, just to garner inspiration. In a cookbook entitled Love of Cooking: Salads by Maggie Brooks I spotted a recipe for Lemon Curd. The author then states that Lime can easily replace the lemons in the recipe...I however was lacking both Lemons and Limes and was rather fortunate to have had some oranges recently gifted to me. I decided that Lemons, Limes and Oranges share enough properties (pulp, zestable, citrus) that oranges could also be substituted in this recipe. Friends, oranges are a good and beautiful substitution in a Lemon Curd recipe.

Ingredients/Directions:

In a small sauce pan heat 1 cup Sugar with 1 Tbsp Orange Peel, grated and 1 cup Fresh Orange Juice. Whisk well. Once heated, add 3 Tbsp. Butter and 3 Lg. Eggs, slightly beaten. Stir constantly until the mixture is thickened and coats the back of a spoon - about 8 minutes. Pour into glass jar or other container with cover and chill. Can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 months.

I recommend grating all of the orange peel and allowing the surplus to air dry to be used in future dishes.

We enjoyed this curd on top of some home-made Beer Bread.

For more sweet treats, check out, Sweet as Sugar Cookies....

Soju Hot Sauce

I haven't had a chance to use my Soju Hot Sauce and honestly, I'm too sure it worked out so hot. It would have been hugely beneficial to have only whole spices as opposed to using powdered cumin, however, that's not how I roll, so I modified and experimented using this recipe as my inspiration.

Basic idea: Shove a few dry or fresh hot chilies into a glass bottle, add toasted whole black peppercorns, allspice (or a combo of cinnamon and cloves) and some cumin seeds before pouring into the bottle a clear alcohol - in Korea, go for Soju. Let sit for a minimum of a week before experimenting and enjoying your home made hot sauce!