Brine and dandy: Pickling the season's best produce

Now that we’ve defrosted from the winter, the return of warmer weather means the return of fresh local produce. Spring produce is already a feast for the senses—crisp, colorful, and bursting with freshness. But if you soak those tender veggies in a tangy brine, they suddenly become the star of the plate. 

Quick pickling is the easiest way to add brightness, crunch, and a punch of flavor to just about anything you’re eating, from grain bowls and sandwiches to salads and charcuterie boards to cocktails and desserts. In just a few minutes, you can turn humble radishes, asparagus, and snap peas into bold, zippy toppings.

There are a lot of recipes for pickled ingredients online, but to keep things simple, I like to work off of a simple formula: equal parts water and vinegar, 1/4 part sugar (by volume), and 1/16th part kosher salt (by volume). In more basic terms, that’s 1 cup water, 1 cup vinegar, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon kosher salt. 

The acid in the vinegar helps inhibit the growth of bacteria and allows the brine to rapidly infuse the produce with flavor. The sugar balances the sourness, and the salt enhances the flavor. Once you have the basic formula down, you can play around with different herbs and spices, vinegars, and sweeteners to create different flavor profiles. 

You can pickle almost any produce. There are only a few foods that don't pickle well, including leafy greens, melons, avocados, and bananas.

I'm sharing a few of my go-to pickle recipes below, but feel free to change them up and make them your own.

Pickled Sugar Snap Peas

Ingredients

• 12 ounces sugar snap peas
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced in half
• 2 dill sprigs
• 1 teaspoon crushed black peppercorns
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 Tablespoon kosher salt

Directions

1. Place sugar snap peas, garlic, dill, peppercorns, mustard seeds, and red pepper flakes in jar.
2. Heat water, vinegar, sugar, and salt until sugar and salt are dissolved.
3. Pour brine over peas. Make sure it's fully submerged.
4. Cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate.
5. Eat within 1 month.

Pickled Fennel

Ingredients

• 1 large (or 2 small) fennel bulb
• Peel from 1 lemon (peeled in wide strips with vegetable peeler)
• 5 thyme sprigs
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 Tablespoon kosher salt

Directions

1. Trim stalks and tough outer layers from fennel bulb. Cut bulb in half lengthways and remove core. Save fronds but discard the rest. 
2. Thinly slice fennel bulb using mandolin (about 1/8-inch thick).
3. Stuff fennel slices, lemon peel, and thyme into large canning jar.
4. Heat water, vinegar, sugar, and salt until sugar and salt are dissolved.
5. Pour brine over fennel. Make sure fennel is fully submerged.
6. Cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate.
7. Eat within 1 month.

Pickled Blueberries

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh blueberries
• Peel from 1 lemon (peeled in wide strips with vegetable peeler)
• 1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 Tablespoon kosher salt

Directions

1. Stuff blueberries, lemon peel, and ginger into large canning jar.
2. Heat water, vinegar, sugar, and salt until sugar and salt are dissolved.
3. Pour brine over blueberries. Make sure blueberries are fully submerged.
4. Cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate.
5. Eat within 1 month.

  

Tiramisu Coffee Chip Ice Cream Cake

This is a sponsored post by Hudsonville Ice Cream, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

Let me tell you a little something about moms. They want you to treat them to something special for Mother's Day, but they don't want to ask for it. And they especially don't want to clean up any messes.

Fortunately, I have the perfect recipe to help your mom feel extra special--tiramisu ice cream cake! It's easy enough for a child to make, but it's also really sophisticated and decadent.

Tiramisu is a classic Italian dessert with three primary flavors: cocoa, mascarpone, and espresso. The name literally translates to "pick me up." And if there's one thing you need to know about moms, it's that we're tired and always need a "pick me up."

The base of the cake is a layer of lady fingers, also known as savoiardi. These are light, crisp sponge cookies in the shape of, you guessed it, a lady's fingers. Traditionally, the lady fingers are dipped in very strong coffee or espresso. But those are water-based liquids, and water can cause frozen desserts to become icy. The best way to prevent that is to make espresso syrup with sugar dissolved in equal parts water and mixed with instant espresso powder.

The next layer is Hudsonville Coffee Chip ice cream. This is a new flavor created for coffee fans. It's a creamy, coffee-flavored ice cream with dark chocolatey chips mixed in. The flavor combo is perfect for tiramisu ice cream cake.

It's very important to use high-quality ice cream in an ice cream cake, which is why I always use Hudsonville Ice Cream. Hudsonville is a Midwest company based out of Holland, Michigan, which is just about 3 hours north of Indianapolis. The company uses locally sourced cream and milk. The high-quality ingredients give it a creamier, silkier texture as it softens, rather than becoming icy or slushy. This is important because you need to soften the ice cream before layering it in the dessert.

The best way to soften ice cream is to take it out of the freezer about 15 minutes before you want to use it. Then scoop the ice cream into a large bowl and stir it gently with a spoon or spatula. This helps it soften evenly into a creamy, spreadable texture. Once the ice cream is pliable, stop. Too much stirring can break down the texture and make it icy once it refreezes.

Once you've finished layering the ice cream and lady fingers, place the loaf pan in the freezer and freeze for at least 6 hours or overnight. I highly recommend making this one day in advance so it has plenty of time to set. Or if you like to prep things in advance, you can make it up to one week ahead of time.

Before serving, I like to spread mascarpone whipped cream over the top and add a dusting of cocoa powder. Mascarpone whipped cream is more stable than regular whipped cream, so this can be made up to 2 days in advance.

Tiramisu Coffee Chip Ice Cream Cake

Yield: About 10 servings

Prep time: About 45 minutes

Total time: About 6 hours 45 minutes

Ingredients

For the espresso syrup

• 4 ounces water
• 4 ounces granulated sugar
• 3 Tablespoons instant espresso powder

For the cake

• 1 (7-ounce) package lady finger cookies
• 1 (48-ounce) container Hudsonville Coffee Chip ice cream

For the topping

• 4 ounces mascarpone
• 6 ounces heavy cream
• 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• Cocoa powder

Directions

For the espresso syrup

1. Heat water, sugar, and espresso powder in microwave or small saucepan until sugar and powder are dissolved.
2. Pour espresso syrup into shallow bowl and set aside.

For the cake

1. Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving enough overhang to lift the cake out later.
2. Quickly dip lady fingers into espresso syrup, one second for each side.
3. Line bottom of loaf pan with dipped ladyfingers, trimming if needed to fit snugly.
4. Evenly spread 1 1/3 cup of ice cream over top of lady fingers.
5. Repeat 2 more times, alternating layers of lady fingers with ice cream.
6. Cover top with plastic wrap and freeze at least 6 hours or until completely firm.

For the topping

1. Add mascarpone to stand mixer bowl fitted with whisk attachment (or in large bowl with electric beaters or whisk) and beat on medium-low speed for about 30 seconds.
2. Slowly pour in heavy cream and sugar with mixer running.
3. Once everything is combined, increase mixer to high speed and beat until soft peaks form.
4. Remove frozen tiramisu from loaf pan and spread mascarpone whipped cream over top.
5. Dust with cocoa powder and serve.