This week at the market I veered away from sweet and over to savory, drawn in by the beautiful array and bewitching aroma of a multitude of peppers. I had come across a recipe for pickled-chile relish that I wanted to try, because I was reminded of my grandfather's love of chiles. He and my grandmother kept a small garden, and while she put up jam, he was in charge of the pepper jelly and a delightfully tart relish I can only liken to chow-chow. Many childhood lunches at Granny's house consisted of a hot dog rolled up in a corn tortilla with mustard and Pappy's relish.
So, thus inspired, I loaded up on peppers of every color, and a few other things to boot: tomatillos, tomatoes, green beans, peppers (serranos, tequilas, hungarian wax, purple bells, and yellow peppers helpfully labeled "sweet"), akane apples (a delicious variety with lovely white flesh), red globe peaches (embarassingly large!), eggplants, zucchini, cucumber, and more corn! Just thinking about all that amazing produce makes me happy. I'm especially fond of the round zucchinis, which are so tasty that I can hardly cook them- I just keep eating the slices raw!
Well. What to do with such a haul? I decided to try out the pickled-chile relish recipe. I sought out the 1/4 pint cans because their diminutive size is so beguiling. After that, there was no stopping me. Here's a link for the recipe. Once that was processing, I decided to make some salsa with the tomatillos. I roasted them up with some leftover peppers (two of the "sweets" and a serrano) as well as a walla walla sweet onion and some garlic cloves. I tossed everything with olive oil, salt and pepper and threw it in the oven to broil. Once everything was blistery and the tomatillos were oozing, I let it cool, then peeled the peppers and garlic. I seeded the seranno to moderate the heat a little bit. Then I pureed everything together and added some salt and vinegar to adjust the seasoning.
Meanwhile, I had some
beans going. A few weeks ago I found some lovely Orca beans at the market. I'd never had them before. Actually, I'd never even heard of them! Of course, curiosity got the best of me. I picked up a bag, and promptly did nothing with it. Fortunately, you can ignore beans for a few weeks without consequence. But now I was ready to cook some beans, because it was over 100 degrees, and why wouldn't I want to throw a pot on to simmer for a few hours?? I can't say I regret it. I don't like to soak my beans, because if you toss out the soaking liquid then you lose some nutrients. (Plus, soaking takes foresight...) I've found that if you bring the beans up to boil for a minute, then turn it down, the beans will cook just fine. The trouble I'd been having was with texture. I consulted the vaunted Harold McGee, who pointed out that molasses, with its vitamin C content, acidity level, and sugar level, helps to preserve the texture of beans over the course of long cooking times. Well, my time in the south drew me to through in a ham hock too, as well as some onions, carrots, dried chiles (1 ancho, 1 pasilla), and a little spice bundle containing half a cinnamon stick, some cumin seeds, and some red pepper flakes. I filled the pot with water to cover, brought it to a boil, then let it barely simmer for a few hours. Once the beans were done, I seasoned it with salt. I was thrilled with the way they turned out. The flavor is delicate, buttery and almost sweet, with a light heat. The best part is that the beans kept their unusual patterned color. I had expected the color to bleed, like cranberry beans do, resulting in a uniform color, but they were just as orca-like when they were cooked as they were prior to cooking. Fantastic!
By that time I was ready to eat! I originally planned to have veggie soft tacos, but I decided to make the beans the star, alternately garnishing with the roasty green salsa and the pickled chile relish. Oh, it was so good, I ate five! They were small though. Honest.
My only note is that the relish was more liquidy than I expected. But it was still delicious.
And in this manner I enjoyed another joyous week of eating and preserving.
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