My estimable, round-bottomed wife is a bit of a kitchen witch. She keeps a half dozen large pots busy with all manner of things. Today, she had 4 pots going at once. She was thinking of a sundried tomato-beef stew using Frank’s good beef. But first, there was a pound of dried elderberries, to be simmered down for the syrup that will get us through the winter. In a second pot she had something-or-other going with pine sap she collected up in the mountains. This was making the house smell fragrant and woodsy. Two other pots held broth and vegetables for the stew.
I had left one of these on this morning, after stewing a pound of beef with salt and a few bay leaves. I later threw in some Bok Choy, Komatsuna, and Tokyo Bekana, from local farms. As a late breakfast, I ate a hurried bowl of broth and left the house for my afternoon rounds.
Mary cuts up root vegetables to convert into pickles. The recipe is simple: fill up one or many quart jars with cut root veggies (radishes of any kind, turnips of any kind, beets, carrots, celeriac), add several cloves of peeled garlic, salt, and spices (always different: caraway or dill seed, usually a mustard seed, a pepper or not). No vinegar. Then pour in boiling water to fill the jar and let it sit on the counter for 24-48 hours with a loose lid. Move to fridge and enjoy today or 30 days from today. Easy.
It’s a natural Lactobacillus ferment. The Lactobacillus is already on the roots.
Mary makes many jars when roots are plentiful, and they pile up in the back of the fridge. Today, she emptied one of these into the simple broth I had left warming on the back of the stove. She also added more meat and broth, plus sundried tomatoes, red onions, and fresh garlic, with liberal quantities of olive oil. She threw in a small handful of fennel seed and dillweed.
She said: ”A jar of salt-and-garlic pickles comes in handy as a stew kit.”
The pickles and a pour of the brine gave the broth a potent umami flavor, rounded with the sweetness of the tomatoes and herbs. To compliment the softness of the stewed beef, the pickles retained a satisfying crunch. It was a hearty soup that made for an excellent one-course meal. As a bonus, we got to stash enough in the fridge to eat again tomorrow.
Mary has given away a dozen or so quarts of these pickles since July. People ask her for the recipe, but the above generalia is as much as we’ve gotten out of her. She did say something about how “eye of newt” originally referred to the tiny round mustard seeds I found in my bowl. With certain types of fairies, it’s best not to ask too many annoying questions.
