Preserved grape leaves are a standard ingredient in many Mediterranean cuisines.  Greek dolmathes, those tasty little bundles of rice, herbs and spices wrapped in grape leaves, are perhaps the recipe best known to Americans.  But they are also great for wrapping meat and fish for grilling or for wrapping goat cheeses during aging. A warm, wet spring here has meant that our grapes have gone crazy, sending out tons of  vines and leaves that needed to be trimmed back to favor the development of grapes.  Fortunately, preserving grape leaves is quick and easy.  I easily fit 80 leaves in one liter jar, which should be plenty for this summer’s cooking.
By the way, I always assumed that the lemony flavor of dolmathes came from lemon juice added to the filling. But while working this recipe, I tried one of the fresh grape leaves and found it to have a distinctly lemony flavor all its own.  I cant wait to wrap up a nice piece of merlu or cod for the barbecue this summer!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we grew habanero and jalapeño chilies this year, with some success.  That makes sense, given that we are only about 30 minutes from the area where piment d’Espelette is grown.  We planted six plants, three of each kind, in a part of our garden that not only gets a lot of sun, is also enclosed between our house and a stone wall, so tends to retain heat.  Seemed like a good place to try hot chilies.  We are still harvesting chilies into October.  And believe me, these babies are hot!

So far, we have used these hot chilies fresh in salsas and stir fries, used them for making hot chili oil, and have frozen some for the winter.  We made a trial at drying chilies on a string in the same way that piment d’Espelette is dried, with mixed results;  the slender jalapeños dried nicely, but the fatter habaneros tended to mildew before they were fully dry.

Here is an easy method for drying chilies in the oven that takes the guesswork out of the process.

1. Wash the chilies and remove the stem.  Split in half the lengthwise.  Do not remove the seeds, as the dried seeds are great for seasoning as well and hotter than the flesh.
2. Heat the oven to 175 degrees F.  Check this temperature with a thermometer, as many oven thermostats are not very accurate at the own end and too high a heat during drying will make your chilies bitter.
3. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Arrange the chilies, cut side up, in  a single layer.  Put into the oven.  Put the handle of a wooden spoon into the door of the oven so that it is just barely cracked.
4. Bake the chilies until fully dried. This should take 2-4 hours, depending on size and thickness of the chilies. They will turn very red, then continue to darken to an intense black-red. During the baking, check the oven temperature every 30 minutes or so to make sure it has not changed.
5. Let the dry chilies cool completely.  Use a mortar and pistil to crush the chilies to the size of red chili flake. Store in an airtight container.

Here is another recipe from my grandma’s favorite cookbook, “The Lilly Wallace New American Cookbook”. For those of you who are too young to remember apple butter, there is no butter in apple butter. It is, instead, like apple sauce reduced to the consistency and sweetness of jam.  My grandma flavored hers with warm spices, like cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. When I was a kid, my favorite sandwich was peanut butter and home-made apple butter.

I tasted my green cherry tomato-pearl onion pickles recently and I think they turned out very well.  So I am passing on the recipe. Note that this same method could be used for many veggies, such as green beans, cabbage and cauliflower.

On a recent warm evening, a storm passed through Orthez, with wind and beating rain.  We were snug inside but the cherry tomatoes took a hit;  the next morning I discovered a lot of green tomatoes on the ground around the plants.  My mom used to make pickled green tomatoes using the same recipe she used for dill pickles…Why not give it a try?   We have just harvested onions , so the smallest these will make a great addition, along with a few cloves of garlic and a sprig of dill.

Since this is a new process for me, I sought out a recipe in my Grand-mother’s cookbook, The Lily Wallace New American Cookbook, circa 1949.  When I say it was her cookbook, I mean that it was the ONLY cookbook she owned, her go-to for everything about the kitchen, stuffed with more than 3800 recipes and advice on everything from canning pears to pickling tongue to serving an elegant afternoon tea to how to make a Sidecar.  The copy she passed down to me is full of mark-ups and notes in my grandma’s hand and stuffed with other recipes and articles she gathered somewhere along the way.

It selected a recipe for “Mixed Pickles”, recipe 3627, which seemed to be going in the direction I was hoping for.  The only change I made was that I salted the vegetables and left them overnight, rather than leaving them in brine for 16 days as the recipe recommended.  After that, I packed the vegetables into a sterilized jar with spices and dill, then covered with a mix of 50/50 cider vinegar and white vinegar, then sealed the jar. Now I just need to wait for 4 weeks and see how they turn out.  I will provide the complete recipe once I have tasted and made corrections.

The arrival of quince on the market stands always signals the beginning of winter for me;  quince are the last tree fruits to arrive at the end of the season and, since they keep well, they are also one of the last available at the end of the year.  My grandma primarily used quince in combination with other  fruits in jam making, as its high pectin content often makes adding pectin unnecessary. Quince are also used to make membrillo, the famous Spanish quince paste that is often paired with cheese. This recipe is for a compote, something like a jam but with less sugar (jam has a pretty high ratio of sugar to fruit for the sugar’s preservative properties. This compote needs to be refrigerated, in a tightly sealed jar).

I served this compote as an appetizer on slices of goat cheese, finished with a chiffonnade of jambon de Bayonne, it was a big hit. Also tried it at the Holidays with terrine of whole foie gras, wow, really delicious!

In 2018, we planted a little apple tree in a sunny SE corner of our yard.  These days, it has grown to important size and yields a lot more lovely eating apples than we can possibly eat.  So after having given bags to all our friends and neighbors, and eaten apples everyday for a month, it seemed like a good idea to use the remaining box for chutney.

This recipe is based on Indian chutneys that I have enjoyed and copied. It is more in the savory-spice direction than the hot-spicy, so it makes a great accompaniment to grilled or roasted pork or even with broiled fish.

I have included the recipe for both white  and brown chicken stock, (called  fond blond or fond brun in French).  The two are used in different recipes depending on the desired finished effect.  The brown is great in rustic, full-flavored recipes and the white for delicate consommes and lighter sauces.

It is also a good way to use plain preserved tomatoes in juice when fresh tomatoes are out of season.

We serve this chutney with steak tartare at Café Presse.