Tag: appetizer
Spicy Refrigerator Pickles
Spicy Refrigerator Pickles
I’ll be honest. I like pickled things, but have never liked straight up eating pickles on their own. I’d eat them on things, but never just a pickle…until now. These refrigerator pickles have changed my views on pickled cucumbers. Unlike many pickles that I’ve despised, these are crispy, not soggy, and have a freshness to them that I’ve never had before. All you have to do to make them is combine all of the ingredients in a jar, shake it up, and let sit in the refrigerator for 2 days. If you don’t want whole pickles, you can slice them into chips or spears; speeding up the pickling time to a day.
Equipment
- 1/2 gallon jar
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs mini cucumbers
- 8 sprigs fresh dill weed
- 1 tbsp mustard seeds
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 2/3 cups water
- 1 1/3 cup white vinegar
- 2 tbsp salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 6 dried whole red chili peppers
- 4 bay leaves
Add all of the ingredients into a jar, shake it up, and refrigerate for 2 days before eating.
Belizean Grilled Chicken Wings
Belizean Jerk Chicken Wings
I was recently on vacation in the beautiful country of Belize and picked up some jerk seasoning from a farmers market. Belizeans have their own version that differs from Jamaican jerk seasoning. The extra ingredients that aren’t part of Jamaican jerk are dried oregano and orange peel. In addition, they use allspice leaves instead of ground allspice berries. Since you’ll have a problem finding the leaves, ground will do. I chose to use wings, but any pieces of chicken will work great. This seasoning is also really good on pork, turkey, fish and shrimp.
Equipment
- chimney starter
- charcoal
- grill
Ingredients
- 8 large whole chicken wings
Belizean Jerk Dry Rub Seasoning
- 1 tbsp habanero pepper powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp dried thyme
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp allspice
- 2 tsp ground dried orange peel
- 2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Mix together the jerk ingredients.
- Liberally season the wings. Let marinate for 8 hours; preferably overnight.
- Let the charcoal get grey in a chimney starter. Pour the grey charcoal into the grill. Place the wings over the charcoal.
- Sear the wings on all sides for 10 minutes in total.
- Pull the wings off to the side away from the charcoal. Cover the grill with the vent open. Grill for 20 more minutes; occasionally turning to cook evenly.
Serve the wings with fried plantains; sweet or savory.
Raw Beef Salad
Raw Beef Salad
While this is more of a Cambodian-style carpaccio than a salad, this dish is extremely easy to make and will impress your dinner guests. The beef is technically raw, but gets cooked in the acidity of the lime juice; much like ceviche. The beef salad gets tossed with peanuts, chilies, and cilantro at the end of marination and is served with slices of cucumber.
Equipment
- mortar and pestle
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 3 limes juiced
- 3 tbsp palm sugar
- 2 stalks lemongrass finely chopped
- 2 shallots finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves finely minced
- 1 lb top sirloin trimmed of all fat; sliced 1/8” thick or less
- 1 red chilies thinly sliced
- 2 oz toasted peanuts
- 8 basil leaves
- 1/2 small white onion thinly sliced
- 1 cucumber peeled; thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Pound in a mortar and pestle the 2 tbsp of palm sugar with the juice of 2 limes and 2 tbsp of fish sauce.
- Toss with the onions, shallots, lemongrass, garlic, and basil.
- Add in the thinly sliced beef. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Pour out the marinade. Stir in the rest of the fish sauce, palm sugar, and lime juice. Toss with the peanuts and red chilies.
