Pinks and Zucchini Relish

Life is messy, but my hiatus seems to have been a month with more messes than usual: an allergy season that seemed it would never end...weeds on steroids taking over everything...How much physical therapy does one ankle need for crying out loud?...Does this look like a bedbug bite?...Who forgot and left the dog locked in the basement all night?...bad hair day every day...from flock to freezer: The Silence of the Ducks...a mountain of discarded wool from shearing day...a wallet and passport lost the night before a planned flight...and yesterday's 'is that OUR CAR smashed into the mailboxes??' Luckily yesterday's flares and flashing lights mess involved someone else's teens, who missed the telephone pole by a foot, but directly hit (and took out) the rock-solid frame for our mailboxes. My husband and our neighbor put it all back together again last night after dinner. For dinner we had one of these:



The pinks are running in the river and my husband has gone fishing before work the last few morning. I'm excited about the fish, because fresh fish is so wonderful. Last night I wrapped the one we had for dinner in foil before baking it (YUM), and today I'm smoking one. This is the basic recipe I use for smoking smelt and salmon.



Smoked Salmon Brine
3 quarts water
1/2 c. salt
1 c. brown sugar
1 T. garlic powder
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 T. ground black pepper
2-3 bay leaves
Soak salmon chunks in refrigerator 10-12 hours in brine. Place on dry rack and air dry at least one hour. Use four pans of chips and smoke 8-12 hours or until done. To can, pack into half-pint or pint jars without adding liquid. Seal. Process in pressure cooker for 100 minutes at 10 lbs. pressure.



It is the time of year for making Zucchini Relish. Last year I didn't make any and we have only 4 pints left. I ground the zucchini and onions today and put them in a bowl in the fridge to sit overnight. Hopefully, there will not be any major messes to deal with tomorrow and I can cook and can my relish. I can always hope for a mess-free day, even if I'm not counting on one!

Zucchini Relish
Grind and put in Ziploc quart bag in the fridge to add the next day (Saves a second cleaning of the grinder):
1/2 lb. green bell pepper
1 lb. red bell pepper

10 c. coarse ground seeded zucchini
4 c. coarse ground onion
1/3 c. pickling salt
Combine vegetables and sprinkle with salt. Let stand overnight. Drain. Rinse with cold water and drain again. Add:

2 1/2 c. vinegar
4 1/2 c. sugar
ground bell peppers in Ziploc bag
1 T. celery salt (or 1 t. celery seed and 2 t. salt)
1 T. nutmeg
1 T. turmeric
1/4 c. cornstarch

Cook slowly for 30 minutes or until clear. Put in pint jars and seal. Water bath for 15 minutes. Serve on hamburgers and other sandwiches and also great added to deviled eggs.

Bread n' Butter Pickles

Every once in awhile, something comes into your life that you really, really need -you just hadn't realized it yet. My son brought this BIG POT home, given to him by his friend's mother the other day. Now, I have a pot (pushed to the side just out of view in the photo above) big enough for making spaghetti and soup for our family, single batches of my jam and pickle recipes, -heavy bottomed, stainless steel, quite adequately large, I thought- but it is dwarfed by BIG POT which, not surprisingly, was once used for cooking in a large communal house.

The day after BIG POT came into our kitchen, I was making Bread n' Butter Pickles and the cucumbers I'd picked were enough for half again the recipe -too much for my not-so-big-pot to hold. That was when I realized what had been missing in my life all these years: BIG POT. A recipe and a half would easily fit in it, as well as double jam recipes, quadruple batches of strawberry preserves, huge vats of stock or soup for freezing.... Forever gone is the frustrating experience of putting ingredients into my not-so-big-pot and midway realizing it won't all fit. Never again. Thank you, Bob and Trista.

Bread n' Butter Pickles

Adapted from Pickles and Relishes by Andrea Chesman

4 quarts sliced, unpeeled cucumbers

4 medium sliced onions

2 red sweet peppers, sliced

4 cloves garlic, sliced

1/3 c. pickling salt

ice

5 c. sugar

3 c. cider or white vinegar (I use cider)

2 T. mustard seeds

1 1/2 t. turmeric

1 1/2 t. celery seeds

Combine sliced cucumbers, onions, peppers, garlic and salt in 5 gallon crock, large ceramic, glass or stainless steel bowl, or clean plastic bucket. Cover the vegetables with ice and mix well. Let stand 3 hours. Drain (remove any remaining large chunks of ice). Combine remaining ingredients in a large kettle. Add vegetables to syrup and bring to a boil. Pack pint jars leaving 1/2 inch head space. Seal. Water bath 5 minutes.

Makes 8 pints (a single batch recipe for not-so-big-pots)