Backyard Foraging: Pecan Season

We picked up two quarts of pecans in our backyard yesterday.  We will likely get another bucket or two before the end of the season.  What should I make?  I was thinking about just toasting and spicing them,  On the other hand, I could make this German Chocolate Pie that has gotten raves every time I have made it in the past.

German Chocolate Pie

ingredients

1 cup sugar

1 heaping tablespoon unsweetened baking cocoa

1 heaping tablespoon self-rising flour

1 egg, beaten

1 cup evaporated milk

1/3 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1/3 cup coconut

1 unbaked 8-inch pie shell (make your own, dammit!)

preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine sugar, baking cocoa, and flour in a bowl, mixing well. Add beaten egg, evaporated milk, and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in pecans and coconut. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes, or until set.

Yäktoberfest 2014: Coming to a Dead-End Near You (If you're lucky, that is)

October is a great Austin month.  The weather is great almost every day.  Fall harvest means the local grocers, markets and restaurants are stocked with tons of good food things.  This year, the ACL Festival is in October too. and tons of musicians head down this way for gigs this time of year because, well, the weather is great almost every day, and it's Austin.

And of course, there's Yäktoberfest!  The fifth edition of our little neighborhood home brewer's celebration / contest / fundraiser is taking place on Saturday, October 25.  We expect to have a half dozen or so brewers, each with one, two, three or more different beers to sample.  For a donation, you get one year's membership in our Yäktoberfest organization, a tasting glass and a ticket to vote for your favorite beer.  We're also selling t-shirts this year for the first time.  If it goes well, that will be another yearly feature.  There's also food, possibly music, and a ga-ga ball pit in our host's front yard!

For more info:

• www.yaktoberfest.org
• Twitter: @Yaktoberfest

The Black Keys are just a rip-off of the Wh--? Wait ... the James Gang?

The indie rock world has a love-hate relationship with the Black Keys.  The band keeps turning out good-if-not-great rock records.  Still, the Black Keys can't seem to escape the long shadow of another indie rock titan.  There always seems to be this population out there who think that the Keys, indie rock darlings and all, are just a rip-off off the White Stripes.  Those people can point to a few obvious things in favor of their argument:

• Both bands are guitar-and-drums duos
• Both have a two-word "garage-rock" sounding name that includes a neutral color
• Both have a connection to the midwest 

But could it be that the "Black Keys rip off the White Stripes" thing is just a product of laziness?  I mean, listen to the two bands' music.  Sure, they are both influenced by blues rock and psychedelia, but so are about 50,000 other indie rock bands.  To be honest, watch this, and tell me you can't build a much stronger case that the Black Keys are just a somewhat-impotent version of Joe Walsh and the James Gang circa 1971?

Just saying.

Them Some Glorious Pickled Peppers

I walked by a vendor at the Austin downtown farmers market who had a basket full of beautifully colorful baby bell peppers.  Two young men were scooping handfuls into a paper bag.  I asked them if they had something planned already, and one responded that they were going to pickle them.  "Good idea, " said I, and I meant it, because I promptly purchased a bag of my own, went home, and pickled the suckers.  I had a few stray banana peppers growing in my garden, so I tossed those in as well.  I used the recipe below from a website called Taste of Home with a little extra garlic.  After a week or so in the fridge, my wife and I tasted them, and good golly they are tasty.  I'd say they're a lot like a pickled Italian cherry pepper.  Just great on sandwiches or salads.

Pickled Peppers

Ingredients

4 quarts long red, green or yellow peppers (Hungarian, Banana, etc.)

1-1/2 cups canning salt

4 quarts plus 2 cups water, divided

10 cups white vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

2 garlic cloves, peeled

Steps

1. Cut 2 small slits in each pepper. Dissolve salt in 4 quarts water. Pour over peppers; let stand 12 to 18 hours in a cool place. Drain; rinse and drain thoroughly.
2. In a Dutch oven, combine the vinegar, sugar, garlic and remaining water; bring to a boil and simmer 15 minutes. Remove garlic. Pack peppers into hot pint jars, leaving 1/2-in. headspace. Carefully ladle hot liquid over peppers, leaving 1/2-in. headspace. Remove air bubbles with a non-metallic utensil. Adjust lids. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Yield: about 8 pints.

Austin in August: Too Darn Hot!

Today's forecast ...

equals ...

Green Tomatoes: Not Just for Frying

When presented with a green tomato, most folks in the southern United States think one thing:  Fried.  Not me.  My family (and my wife's) have Eastern European roots, and our people like them pickled. This past Saturday, I picked up a few from Lightsey Farms at the downtown farmers' market.

For the recipe, I basically used this one, without the dill and with a bit less chili.  The only ingredients are salt, sugar, white vinegar, garlic, coriander seed and chilies.  I heated the brine before pouring over the tomatoes, which I left whole.

They will rest in the fridge for a week or two before I give them a try.  Expect them to take a bit longer than a cucumber.  You can slice them if you want to speed things up, but they won't last quite as long before becoming over-pickled.  Wish me luck!

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