My friend, Marie's Mom's Pickles

The local vegetable stands are over-flowing with fresh produce, and I am lucky enough to stop at several of them every week to get ads for work.  The pickling cucumbers are looking especially good these days, so I searched my files for a recipe I got from my friend years ago.

In a squeaky clean one-gallon jar, add:

1/2 gallon water
1/3 cup canning salt
1/3 cup cider vinegar
l garlic bulb chopped in large pieces
1 heaping Tablespoon of sugar
one large bunch of fresh dill
1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes

Fill the jar with whole pickling cukes, add the rest of the ingredients.  Let the jar sit on the counter for a day with the cap loose.  Tighten up the top and refrigerate for at least a week - two is better. Obviously, the longer it sits, the more flavor the pickles absorb.

Sweet-Corn Chowder

Today was a rainy day--a really rainy day!!....And after all day of rain, it was starting to feel a little 'chilly-damp' in the house.  Perfect time to try my hand at corn chowder!  I've been collecting the cut-off  kernels of our uneaten cobs from our nightly corn-on-the-cob addiction in the freezer. (and when I say 'addiction', I mean it--we have steamed corn every.single.night. during the summer!!)

Here's how I made my chowder:

In my big soup pot (love my le creuset)  I fried up some diced pancetta to crisp, added some diced onion, and sauteed until soft.  I had 3 uncooked corn cobs...I sliced off the kernels and set aside.   Then scraped the corn 'milk' from the cobs into the pan and  added flour to thicken and to make a roux.  I added  a pint of half & half  and maybe a cup-plus of chicken broth and 4-5 cloves roasted garlic cloves. (I had some leftover roasted cloves from a previous nights meal). 

In separate pan, I boiled diced potato til soft. (I threw in the reserved corn kernels at the end of cooking to blanche.) Then I drained off the water.

 

To the soup pot, I added a big cupful of cooked frozen kernels I've been collecting over the last few weeks in the freezer.  Added the drained potatoes,  then a little paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper.

 

I served it topped with shredded cheddar, a dash of sherry and minced fresh jalapeno.