Side Projects

10.4 Long Island Autumn Adventure

Met up with my friend Peter in Long Island last Saturday to pick some apples and have a picnic at the beach. We picked a bushel of red delicious and were planning to eat when I insisted on instead stopping at a local corn maze.

Lugging a half bushel of apples onto the LIRR was a bit of a challenge, but I’m now extremely proud of the hand-picked pie I was able to bake for Sunday dinner. Farm fresh, even in Manhattan.

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4.12 Pickle Experiment

One of my favorite childhood snacks was cold pickled okra from the fridge. I even ate pickled okra one Christmas morning around 9am after discovering that Santa Clause had left me a jar in my stocking.

Last week, I ended up with about 10 left over okra after filling my crock-pot with oxtail and decided to figure out how difficult it could be to make my own pickled okra.

Refrigerator Pickled Okra

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10-15 medium sized fresh okra (blemish free)
2 Cups white vinegar
2 Cups water
3 tbsp non-iodized (“canning”) salt
1 tbsp pickling spice
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 Pinch celery seed
1 clove garlic
3 black pepper corns
1 pint-sized Ball canning jar with 2-piece lid

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I boiled vinegar, water, salt, canning spice, red pepper flakes and celery seed for 5 minutes on medium heat in a medium-sized pot, then turned off to let cool just slightly.

While boiling the water I soaked my remaining okra in cold water to clean them off well.

I then added one garlic clove (peeled and sliced in half) and 3 pepper corns to the bottom of a clean Ball pint-sized canning jar. I tightly pack as many okra as would fit making sure to leave space at top of the jar so it can close easily.

I then poured in the canning liquid, leaving 1/4″ head space, closed lid gently and placed in the fridge to pickle.

Results (4.20)

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Very tasty and still crisp. I would use fresh dill next time.