nimono from just bento

I've used recipes from Just Bento in this blog before (like my post about the peanut-curry furikake recipe), and I also love the sister site (run by the same person, Makiko Itoh), Just Hungry. Itoh always marks when a recipe is vegan, and many of the non-vegan recipes on the site can be adapted easily.

This week I used her guide on how to make Nimono (Japanese "simmered dish"), and to go with it, used her guide on pickling sauces for quick-pickled veggies to pickle some radish and cucumbers on the side.

The nimono contains basically what I veggies I had to use up: sweet potatoes, black soy beans, radish greens, some celery, and the last of last year's yield of butternut squash. It was not very traditional (I pretty much think that being vegan means you go off-book when it comes to traditional Japanese food anyway), but was delicious! And, for the record, I chose the ama-zu sauce for the pickled veggies, which was ama-zing!

I just groaned out loud at my own pun, which is probably a bad sign.

there are always pickles in my fridge

No regular reader of this blog will be surprised by the fact that I love pickles. Our CSA gave us a ridiculous amount of cucumbers this year, and the vast majority of them went straight into brine, just so I could have pickles throughout the year month week. (The husband and I eat pickles at an alarming rate.) There were so many pickles to be had that even now, more than a month after cucumber season has ended, we still even have some pickles left!

In the big jar on the left, Bread and Butter Pickles from Recipe Girl. These were so good this is half of a double batch--and this double batch was the second time I'd made them this summer! The first time I made them, they were good, but felt like they were missing something: cloves. I added about 1/2 tsp of cloves to the recipe the second time I made it. If you make these pickles, DO THAT. It really adds an extra "oomph" to the tastiness. Thinly sliced onions make such a great addition to pickles, I can't believe more recipes don't include them.

In the middle, Garlic-Dill pickles from the Kitchn. I had enough to make 3 jars of this, and gave away one as a gift. These were a little saltier than I would have liked, but the garlic flavor is nice and strong. I'd make them again, but next time I might cut down on the salt.

Finally, on the far right is something to do with leftover pickle brine: use it to pickle more things! Like... Pickled Carrots! The jar is cloudy from condensation; the brine is the same clear yellow as the Bread and Butter pickles. I simply julienned some carrots and stuck them in the brine. They needed to soak longer than if I'd blanched them first, and they were always quite crispy, but they absorbed just the right amount of flavor.

For the record, I only ever make refrigerator pickles; I never can them. But I've been thinking of trying my hand at canning this fall, in preparation for making edible holiday gifts. I've been doing some preliminary research, but are there any canners out there with advice for someone new to canning (who doesn't want to buy a whole huge set of equpiment)?

Happy Halloween!

My halloween turnips! They're supposed to look like Jack Skellington and Oogie Boogie from the Nightmare Before Christmas (my favorite movie - now rereleased in 3D! can't wait to see it)... turnips are more delicate than I'd thought.

When mom visited this weekend, she brought me LOADS of turnips from her natural food store that had begun to wrinkle. Apparently not many people appreciate the wonder that is the turnip. So with loads of turnips and not many recipes for them, I decided to connect to my celtic roots.

watch out little turnip!

Turnips don't have that soft mushy inside that makes pumpkins so ideal for carving, but after I scored the innards several times with the knives, they were fairly easy to dig out with a spoon. The only problem is in the details... As you can see from Jack's nose, I didn't have a small enough knife to do detailing.

but they're so cute.

I was left with a pile of turnip shavings:


There's about 1 tightly-packed cup of shavings. I pickled them, which is to say I added about 3/4 cup vinegar, 1 1/4 cups water, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1 tsp dill. If I hadn't been so worn out from cutting, I'd've added some chopped garlic. I left it to marinate for a few hours on the counter, then stuck it in the fridge for 3 days to pickle. Today's the third day - I'll let you know tomorrow how it went.

Enjoy your halloween!