Finding yourself in a pickle? Then celebrate because November 14 is your holiday! It's National Pickle Day. Just about any vegetable or fruit can be pickled (soaked in vinegar and salt brine). The most popular are pickled gherkins--cucumbers. Cucumbers originated in India and migrated via traders to the Tigris Valley in 2030 B.C., reports the NY Food Museum. From there, pickles enjoyed an illustrious career in healing, cosmetics and best of all, eating! Just in time for holiday munching, here are pickle recipes. Emma Grace's Dickle Pill Soup. After enjoying dill pickle soup at various Hamtramck, Michigan Polish
restaurants, our youngest daughter decided to create her own variation. Inadvertently transposing the
initial consonants, it became her trademark Dickle Pill soup. And it's to die for.
Chop a small jar's worth of regular or kosher dill pickles. Milwaukee Midget dills are the chef's
preference. But you can use Claussen refrigerated pickles if you prefer. Or try spicy Mt. Olive dills for
a Cajun twist. Chop medium onion. Sauté onion in two sticks melted butter or margarine. When
onions are tender, add pickles, a little minced garlic, freshly cracked black pepper and dill weed. Add
2-3 tablespoons flour to thicken butter mixture. Add one cup milk, juice from pickles and 2-3 cups
chicken broth or water. Simmer till blended. Serve with pierogies and galumpkis.
Deutsch Kraut-Pickle Slaw. Grate two carrots. Chop one quarter each red and green cabbage, two
celery ribs and one small onion. Core, seed and chop one each green, yellow, orange and red
pepper. Slice one hothouse cucumber or two regular cukes. Blend one and a half cup acai or
pomegranate vinegar, half cup olive or safflower oil, and one cup apple cider and two tablespoons
horseradish. Season with celery seed, caraway seed, freshly cracked pepper, dill weed, Marinate and
chill overnight in fridge. You can swap sauerkraut for cabbage if desired, but reduce vinegar.
Omi's Pickled Turnips. Super easy, super delish. I got my recipe essentially from the Jerusalem Cookbook with tweaks from some Lebanese friends in Dearborn. Pare and slice in large matchsticks, two large turnips and one beet. (Or as many as you want, just using that ratio). Heavily salt with Himalayan pink salt and place in cool area to dehydrate for a few days. Kids will love seeing how the veggies dejuice. Now, after this, some people dispose of the salt water and move on to the next stop. I do not. I just leave it. So next add a few ribs' worth of celery sticks and one sliced jalapeno (wear gloves!) Next, add in vinegar to cover the vegetables and watch the magic happen. Your white turnips will begin to turn a gorgeous shade of puce. And beets will stay their pretty purple selves. You can toss out the celery and pepper pieces or eat them as you wish. Serve with homemade hummus and toum garlic paste.
Daddy's Famous Pickle Kebabs. Unlike my traditional Jerusalem pickled turnips, these are not traditional kebab in any way except the toothpick skewer and would have the good folk of the Levant shuddering in horror. But anyway, here's dad's recipe. Skewer on a toothpick one cheese cube, one hot dog "penny" and
one pickle slice. So they're not so healthy? Don't judge. These appetizers are crazy popular with
preschoolers because children can assemble themselves. They are a father-friendly quickie snack.
Mind children don't eat the toothpicks. If a less salty snack is desired, sub a grape or watermelon wedge for the hot dog. Though the chef insists that this is integral.
Tschus!
