Saving the Season: Three Recipes by Kevin West

7/28/2019 Saving the Season: Three Recipes by Kevin West

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Recipes excerpted fromSAVING THE SEASONbyKevin West.

CHUTNEY | Yields 4 pints

When youre making preserves, fully 50 percent of your success is in the shoppinggood fruit makes good jam. Technique matters also, and a sound recipe makes adifference. But the crucial remaining factor is organization. Especially when dealing witha large quantity of perishable fruits or vegetables, you have to think through yourstrategy and plot out your work. If you cant get everything put up immediately, youhave to take into account how the produce will ripenand soon fadeas it waits foryou. My strategy for how to use a bushel of peaches would look something like this:

First day/underripe fruit: Pectin levels peak just before ripening, so Id start with peachjelly, using the same technique as for Apricot Jelly on page 184. If you dont want tomake jelly, give the peaches another day to ripen.

First day/just- ripe fruit: Peaches that are fragrant and slightly yielding but still firmenough to handle are ideal for canning in syrup, as either halves or slices in syrup.

Second day/fully ripe fruit:As the peaches become tender and fragrant, make jam.

Third day/dead- ripe fruit: By now, the peaches will likely have a few brown spots thatwill need to be cut away, so Id work up a batch of chutney, which requires long, slow

cooking that breaks down the fruit anyway.

Fourth day/tired fruit: Whatever peaches havent been used by now will likely look alittle sad, but even really soft, spotty ones can be trimmed for a batch of Spiced PeachButter (page 239). southern peach chutney evolved from an Indian relish called chatnithat British colonials brought home during the days when the sun never set on theEmpire. According to TheOxford Companion to Food, chatniis made fresh before ameal by grinding spices and adding them to a paste of tamarind, garlic, and limes orcoconut. Pieces of fruit or vegetable may be incorporated, but the chief flavorcharacteristic is sour. The British turned that into a fruit preserve, explains the OxfordCompanion: British chutneys are usually spiced, sweet, fruitpickles, having somethingof the consistency of jam. Highest esteem is accorded to mangochutney. . . .Chutneylater spread across the Atlantic to theWest Indies and the American South, wheretheesteemed mango was replaced by the honorablepeach.

5 pounds yellow peaches or nectarines, peeled and cut into -inch cubes3 cups organic or turbinado sugar2 cups apple-cider vinegar cup raisins


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1 cup chopped Vidalia onion1 sweet banana pepper or yellow bell pepper, diced2 or 3 fresh green jalapeos, diced, or adjust to taste2 cloves garlic, minced2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root

2 teaspoons freshly grated turmeric, or teaspoon ground4 tablespoons mustard seeds1 teaspoon garam masala (a ground spice mixture containing pepper, cloves,cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, nutmeg, cumin, and star anise)2 teaspoons Darjeeling tea (or 4 tea bags)

1. Combine all the ingredients in a deep pot, and bring to a boil. Moderate the heat,and reduce for as long as an hour, until all the excess liquid boils away and whatremains is thick and jamlike in texture. Be sure to taste the chutney at severalpoints, and adjust the seasonings to your preference. Chutney should be deeplyflavored and complex, with at least a bit of spicy heat. If you like the bright taste

of green chilies, add more minced jalapeos during the last 10 minutes ofcooking.2. Ladle the hot chutney into four prepared pint jars, leaving inch headspace.

Seal, and process in a boiling- water bath for 10 minutes. Allow to cure for amonth before eating.

CUCUMBER DILL SPEARS AND CHIPS | Yields 2 Quarts

On page 39, I explain that processing your pickles in a hot- water bath rather than a

boiling- water bath will give you a firmer texture. It follows that if you want pickles withreal snap, dont process them at all. These dill- pickle spearsor sandwich chips,depending on how you slice themcan be processed, if you want, for long- term shelfstorage, but first try making a batch to keep in the refrigerator. They will be crisp, andthe flavor of raw cucumber comes through. Its the freshest- tasting pickle in this book,and perhaps my favorite. The recipe can be scaled up.

cup kosher salt6 cups lukewarm water2 teaspoons coriander seeds teaspoon fennel seeds

3 large flowering dill heads (4 inches across)3 pounds Kirby pickling cucumbers4 cloves garlic, crushed2 cups white- wine vinegar

1. Dissolve the salt in the water, and add the coriander, fennel, and dill. Set aside.2. Scrub the cucumbers well, rubbing off any spines. Cut away a thin round from

the stem and blossom ends, and slice lengthwise into quarters. Put the spears in


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a large bowl, and cover with the brine. Weight the cucumbers with a plate, coverthe bowl with a kitchen towel, and set aside for 24 hours. If the bowl wont fit inyour refrigerator, its fine to leave it out at room temperature.

3. The next day, pack the cucumber spears into two scalded quart jars, saving thebrine. Measure out 2 cups of the brine and reserve. Strain the remaining brine

through a fine sieve to capture the aromatics, and divide them between the jars.Tuck a dill head and two cloves of garlic into each jar.4. Mix the vinegar and the 2 cups reserved brine, and bring to a boil. Pour it over

the pickles to cover. Seal the jars, and store in the refrigerator for a week beforeusing. For long- term shelf storage, leave inch headspace when filling the jars,then seal. Process in a boiling- water bath for 10 minutes, or in a hot- water bath,between 180 and 185 degrees, for 30 minutes.

[Note]Instead of spears, you could slice your cucumbers into round coins, lengthwiseslabs, or bias- cut ovals. Make the slices 38 inch thick and soak them in the brine for12 hours instead of 24.

NOCINO | Yields about 5 cups

June 24 is the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, the traditional day to harvest greenwalnuts for making nocino, a delicious liqueur invented at a congress of witches,according to Anna Tasca Lanza, the doyenne of Sicilian cooking. Lanzas witches wereItalian, but other countries from Croatia to France to the chilly Teutonic regions equallyclaim greenwalnut liqueur as their own. I learned to make it at the Institute of DomesticTechnology, a cooking school in Altadena, California, where I also teach. When you

harvest the nutsworking barefoot, according to some folklorethey are smaller thaneggs, smooth to the touch, and crisp like apples, because the shells have not yethardened. The nutmeats, at this stage, are jelly. Like most liqueurs, nocino is easy butrequires patience. You slice the nuts and cover them with strong booze, sugar, andspice, and allow the mixture to infuse for forty days, until it is nearly black. The real testof patience begins after you bottle it. Ten- year- old nocino is said to be the best, andcertainly you would never drink this summers batch before cold weather sets in this fall.Mature nocino has a complex flavor of nutmeg, allspice, coffee, and caramel. Drink itneat as a digestif, or use it to flavor desserts. A few tablespoons of nocino lightlywhisked into a cup of heavy cream will cause it to seize, as if magically transformed intocooked custard. The thickened cream is called posset, and can be used as a saucealongside cakes or other desserts.

My nocino recipe is based on those from the Institute of Domestic Technology andLanzas Sicilian cookbook The Garden of Endangered Fruit. Its fundamentals are greenwalnuts, 80-proof grain spirits, and sugar. (My secretingredient is coffee beans.)Youcan change the aromatics if you like, but use small quantities, because the spices cantake over. Green walnuts are sometimes available at farmers markets, or can beordered online at www.localharvest.org.
http://www.localharvest.org/http://www.localharvest.org/


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2 pounds green English walnuts, 1 inches or less in diameter (about 30)750 milliliters 80- proof vodka3 cups sugarZest of 1 lemon, in strips

Zest of 1 orange, in strips5 cloves whole nutmeg1 heaping teaspoon whole dark-roast coffee beans

1. Quarter the walnuts and place them in a large glass jar, at least 3- quart capacity.Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Dont worry that the sugar wontimmediately dissolve. Seal the jar, and place it in a sunny place for 40 days. Theliquid will first turn a sinister green, then black. Once every 10 days, agitate the

jar by inverting it a time or two. You can taste the alcohol at any stage and addmore aromatics if you like.

2. After 40 days, strain the contents of the jar through a damp jelly bag and catchthe liquids in a bowl. Funnel the liqueur into scalded bottles, and seal. Store in acool, dark place for several months; Lanza suggests opening them on All SaintsDay. Before serving, you may want to strain the liqueur through a coffee filter toremove sediments, but it isnt necessary to do so. The liqueur will keepindefinitely without refrigeration.

Excerpted fromSAVING THE SEASONby Kevin West. Copyright 2013 by Kevin West.Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writingfrom the publisher.

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Saving the Season: Three Recipes by Kevin West