Spring Pasta with Peas, Goat Cheese, and Smoked Salmon

This recipe is like spring in a bowl. I checked out the Fairmount farmer's market which is just a couple blocks away from me. There are about 6ish vendors who all have gorgeous veggies, homemade bread, and jam! I snatched up some garlic scapes and basically the rest of the ingredients for this pasta dish. I also like working with measurements like 1 handful as it is closer to how I actually cook. This recipe is from What Katie Ate. You might recognize her books which I've seen all over. Gorgeous photography and traveling and food. All good things as far as I'm concerned. Also this is the back of the latest bust magazine.

What you need:

1 lb/454 g dried spaghetti

1 heaping cup frozen baby peas, defrosted

400g + plain goat cheese (1 large log)

3 garlic scapes, chopped (optional)

Small bunch fresh dill

Small bunch fresh basil leaves 

Small handful mint leaves (about 16)

1 handful arugula 

Zest and juice 1 lemon

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4- 1/3 cup hot pasta water 

8 slices smoked salmon, torn into strips

Garnish with fresh basil and dill and fresh Parmesan 

What to do:

Cook pasta until al dente. Remember to reserve some pasta water when straining. Return the strained pasta to the cooking pot.

Add peas, goat cheese, herbs, lemon, and olive oil into a blender and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Add as much pasta water as needed to thin to a sauce consistency. Katie heats up the sauce but I skipped this. 

Stir the sauce into the pasta and heat for 3 minutes or so over medium low heat. Then plate the pasta then add the salmon and garnishes.

Note: the garlic scapes make the sauce less smooth but so much more delicious!

Green Pancakes with Lime Butter

     As usual, I came back from work with a couple of bags of spinach and swiss chard in my bike paneers. The pancakes are a great way to use up an abundance of produce. I followed the recipe in Ottolenghi’s vegetarian cookbook, Plenty almost exactly to make these. The double batch was a hit at girl dinner and with my roommates. I was inspired to post these (finally) after I saw Laura's scallion pancakes which are also delicious. All the pictures I'm seeing of Pittsburgh online make it look like Spring is really here!!!
     I just found out my dad is going to be visiting for my birthday! We'll get to spend the week with my friend, Cate and then 2 days with my dad. He's bringing me lots of books that I can read on the beach. English books are limited here; therefore, I've been reading everything (good and bad) on our 2 shelf library.
I'm wrapping things up with an anti-smoking presentation along with some of the other volunteers.
     We're having our goodbye dinner tonight. The main dish is a special treat our friend brought from Switzerland. This was one of my favorite dinners to eat while I was studying in France called "La Raclette." The basics of it are melted cheese + fingerling potatoes. It is heaven, really. We'll miss our friends but we plan to come back to Vietnam often (perhaps for the long-term). A European trip is already being planned for next summer with my little sister (her first time in Europe--yay!). Anyone want to join?

Ingredients
Lime butter:
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Grated zest of 1 lime
1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
1/2 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/4 tsp chile flakes

Pancake Batter:
4 cups spinach, chopped roughly if leaves are large
4 cups swiss chard, chopped roughly
3/4 cup gluten free flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 eggs
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
2/3 cup buttermilk
6 medium green onions, finely sliced (or 3 shallots)
2 fresh green jalapenos, thinly sliced
Coconut oil for frying

Directions
Make the lime butter first so the flavors can meld together while you're frying up the pancakes. You can halve the butter recipe since there will be plenty of extra. Place the butter in a medium bowl and mix with a fork until creamy. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. It takes some time to mix the lime juice into the butter, so just keep working with the butter. Place into a small, glass container with a lid. Place in refrigerator.
To make the batter bring some water (1-2 tbsp) in a large, shallow skillet to a boil. Throw in the spinach and swiss chard and stir until just wilted.

 


Drain in a sieve and squeeze out as much water as possible. Chop finely and set aside.
Mix the flour, baking powder, cumin, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Make a well and then add the eggs, melted butter, and buttermilk in a large mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Fold in the green onions, jalapenos, and spinach with a rubber spatula.




Pour a small amount of coconut oil into a cast iron skillet and place on medium-high heat. To cook the pancakes, ladle about 1/4 cup of batter onto the skillet. When the side facing up turns bubbly and the edges start to dry out, flip over the pancake.



You want a nice golden brown on both sides. Keep them in the oven at 200 degrees for warmth and serve with a generous dollop of lime butter and a drizzle of sriracha.
The extra lime butter is great on anything. I especially liked it on bagels and toast topped with a fried egg.

Curry Roasted Cauliflower with Cilantro pesto

I've been dreaming about making this cauliflower all day at work. It's a perfect cool, fall day for roasting vegetables in the oven. This is a take on the traditional tandoori roasted cauliflower. I decided to not make my own tandoori spice mix because of a lack of time. Instead, I mixed a couple different spices together and slathered it on the cauliflower. On the side we had some cilantro pesto that I had made earlier and some pickled red onion.

For the Spice Rub:
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp curry powder
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 lemon, zested and juiced

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Trim the stem of the cauliflower so it lays flat on a baking sheet. Then mix the spices with the yogurt and lemon juice. Spread the mixture generously all over the head of cauliflower.

Bake for about 35-45 minutes until the cauliflower is tender. Baking times will vary based on your oven and the size of the vegetable.
To serve: Slice and garnish with cilantro pesto and pickled red onions. Laura also made a lemon tahini (plus yogurt) dressing to go with some squash. It goes really well on the cauliflower too.

Cilantro Pesto (I found this recipe in a magazine a couple years ago and I've been making it ever since):

1/3 cup cashews (raw or toasted)
1 tsp curry
1 large bunch cilantro, just the leaves and the tender parts of the stems
salt and pepper
olive oil

Place the cashews (I've even used hazlenuts) and the curry into a food processor until chopped. Then add the leaves and process again. Add enough olive oil to form a paste. Season with salt and pepper.

This recipe makes more than you need as a garnish. This pesto is great on some raw zucchini noodles or even cooked zucchini.

Salsa Verde

There are so many tomatillos at the farm right now! We are growing an entire row of them and none of us can keep up with the plants. I've been making lots of salsa verde and using it as a dip or even as enchilada sauce. You can tell when tomatillos are ripe when their skin splits on the bottom. My favorite version of this salsa is with roasted tomatillos. I also use the salsa to prop open my cookbooks.

1 1/2-2 pounds tomatillos

1 medium white onion, peeled and quartered

3 cloves garlic
1-2 jalapenos (or an even hotter pepper), sliced with seeds
1 lime, juiced
1 bunch cilantro
salt and pepper

Peel the husk of the tomatillos, and give them a quick rinse. Slice them in half and place cut down onto baking sheets.

Roast at about 400 degrees for 15-25 minutes until the skins turn golden brown in spots. Let cool a little. Then blend with the onion, garlic, and jalapeno. Then add the cilantro and blend for a little longer. Add lime, salt, and pepper to taste.

Ground Cherry Coffee Cake

Ground cherries are related to tomatoes and tomatillos (all of them are in the nightshade family). They have a husk that surrounds them much like tomatillos, and they taste like a sweet tropical fruit with the texture of a tomato.

They are ready to harvest when they fall to the ground and will stay good for 2-3 weeks if you keep the husks on them. Laura has 2 plants at the house and we have a whole row growing at the Pittsburgh project. These are best fresh, but when there is such an abundance what can I do but bake them into a cake? This recipe is from The Kitchn and I made this cake while my family was in town.

2 cups white whole-wheat flour
1 cup cane sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
10 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cubed
1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup buttermilk (or regular milk with 1 tsp vinegar)
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups ground cherries, husks removed
1/2 cup chopped raw walnuts
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 10 inch springform pan.
Mix together the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Add the cubed butter and pulse until the butter chunks are the size of peas. Remove 1 cup of flour & butter mixture into a second bowl and set aside to use as topping later.
Add in baking powder and soda to base flour mixture and whisk gently. Add buttermilk and egg fold in until incorporated.
Pour flour mixture into cake pan. Pour the ground cherries evenly over the batter. Next, mix the nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon to the reserved flour mixture. Stir and sprinkle over the top.

Bake for 60 minutes until a toothpick comes out crumby, but clean. It's hard to tell if the cake is done becasue the crumb topping covers it, but I just take it out after an hour. Serve with ice cream!

Za'tar Spiced Beet Dip

When Janice and I were in San Francisco, we ate at this little Greek restaurant after yoga one day. We ordered a creamy, lemony beet dip that I took a picture of so I could remember to re-create it. I picked up some heirloom beets at the East Liberty farmer's market in the pouring rain and made 2 versions of this recipe. The raw version (made with 5 raw beets and regular plain yogurt) is more liquidy and not as sweet as the roasted beet one but still wonderful. The recipe is from Food and Wine.

For the dip:

6 medium beets

3-4 garlic cloves, crushed

1 small jalapeno, seeded

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp za'tar

Trim the greens off the beets. Since I got fresh beets, the skins were thin so I left them on. Roast the beets in a shallow pan filled with 1/2 inch water. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes until a fork can easily pierce the center of the beet. Once the beets are cool enough to handle, roughly chop them and place in a blender. Puree the beets until smooth. Then add the rest of the ingredients except for the yogurt and blend. Add the yogurt and blend until incorporated.

Za'tar:

2 tsp sumac (found at Whole Foods)

3 tbsp fresh thyme

2 tbsp fresh oregano

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp roasted sesame seeds

Grind the sumac and sesame seeds together in a mortar and pestle. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Store in an airtight container. Sprinkle over everything! I just put it on my eggs this morning with some pesto.

Toppings:

1/4 cup roated hazelnuts, chopped

2 tbsp goat cheese, crumbled

2 scallions, green and white parts thinly sliced

fresh mint

Sprinkle over the dip. I served this next to hummus with a loaf of fresh multigrain bread. It doesn't get any better than that!

Simple Cilantro Salad

When I saw this post on 101 Cookbooks, I had to make this salad as it is cilantro season. Pretty soon, it will be too hot for cilantro to grow so make it now! I actually liked it so much, I made it as the salad for Mother's Day too. We have an abundance of cilantro at the farm from the winter.

makes about 6 servings
1 cup high heat canola oil
1 cup thinly sliced shallots, about 6
1 large bunch of cilantro with stems (the freshest you can find)
1 tablespoon soy sauce or liquid aminos
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds
3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

To make the shallot oil, heat the canola oil over medium-high heat. turn down the heat to medium, sprinkle in the shallots, and cook slowly until they are golden brown for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, strain the oil off into a mason jar. Place the shallots on a paper towel and allow them to cool and crisp. Toast the sunflower seeds and sesame seeds, watching closely to make sure you don't burn them.

Cut off any tough, thick stems from the cilantro. Keep the tender ones. Whisk together the soy sauce, sugar, sea salt, and shallot oil to make the dressing. Place the cilantro, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds in a large bowl. Drizzle the dressing on top and garnish with the crispy shallots.

From the farm:

Lemony Roasted Chicken

I found a copy of Bon Appetit at work the other day in this weird wall indentation by the front entrance that seems like a sort of improvised lost and found, and I was pleasantly surprised! I would actually want to make a lot of those recipes. I had always assumed it was too fancy schmancy. The first recipe I've tried is this "Roasted Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Oregano."

The recipe calls for boneless thighs, but I used bone-in thighs so I cooked it a lot longer, at least 15 minutes in the skillet and 20 in the oven. I wished I'd left it skin down on the skillet a bit longer to get a crisper skin, it could probably sit in there for 20-25 minutes or more at medium heat. I added peas and couscous to make it a full lunch and served it with a croissant to soak up some tasty juices. 

The garlic is from Blackberry Meadows Farm (where Michelle's reception is going to be)!

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ROASTED CHICKEN THIGHS WITH LEMON AND OREGANO

From the December 2012 issue of Bon Appetit

1 lemon

4 large or 8 small skin-on, boneless chicken thighs (or cook longer for bone-in)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 teaspoons olive oil, divided

3 sprigs oregano (I used dried)

1 tablespoon minced shallot (or onion)

1/2 garlic clove, minced

1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc)

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth (I used water)

Hearty Pumpkin Soup

I made this soup for the cookie exchange so we could have something other than pure sugar to eat for the night! It started out as a simple creamy potato soup, but I decided to go with a vegetable pumpkin soup instead since we had so many vegetables at the apartment. I was at the farm a couple of weeks ago and I picked some radishes that I included in this soup. The greens are separated since I used them in another recipe. They are sweet and delicious on top of a pizza! I wanted to include some pictures in the blog since I think they are pretty!

At last, the recipe!

Pumpkin Soup



1 large red onion, diced
1 small white onion, diced
1 leek, light green section sliced (dark green saved to make veggie stock)
4 large carrots, chopped
5 radishes, chopped
1/4 head of cabbage, thinly sliced
3 red potatoes, chopped
2-3 cups vegetable broth, depending on desired consistency of the soup
2-3 cups pumpkin puree
1 can chickpeas
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tabletspoon dried rosemary

Saute the leek and onions until softened.

Add the carrots, cabbage, and the radishes and cook until slightly softened. Add the broth, herbs, and potatoes and bring to a boil. Simmer on low until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Add the pumpkin puree and chickpeas and heat up the soup until it is hot enough to serve. Season with salt and pepper to your taste. I garnished the soup with some dried rosemary and served it with some delicious foccacia from Mancini's in the Strip District.



Bust Borscht

While reading our issue of Bust magazine (not a magazine about statues, but feminism!), I decided to make a couple of the featured winter soups. This borscht is vegan and I believe it is Eastern European in origin. It is a mild soup but since I love beets that is ok with me! I picked the beets this week while I was at the farm to plant tulips.

Vegan Borscht

1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
5 medium sized beets, chopped
2 medium potatoes, diced
1/4 head of cabbage, chopped
4-5 cups of water or vegetable broth
a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
fresh dill
fresh parsley

Saute the onion in a large soup pot for a couple of minutes.

Then add the celery, carrots, and beets and cook until tender.

Add the cabbage and saute for another couple of minutes. Then add the liquid and the potatoes. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 40 minutes until all the vegetables are tender.

Season with salt and pepper. I like to blend half of the soup so that it is still a little chunky. Serve with a spoonful of vinegar and plenty of dill and parsley.

Mexican Pumpkin Rice

I also made this in the middle of the night this week as I was making the brownies. Brittany suggested we make something Mexican this week, so I just created something simple.

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked brown rice
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 cups sliced red, yellow, and green bell peppers (I used Trader Joe's frozen mix)
1 can black beans - keep the liquid!
1 medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon cumin
chopped fresh cilantro

Apple & Cheddar 'Za

Like pretty much everyone, I love pizza. And even my mom, who's normally hesitant about my pizza creations without tomato sauce, likes this one.

Everything goes together really well - apples, caramelized red onion, cheddar, sage, bacon...

He's kind of mad that I've been taking credit for all his blog posts.

APPLE & CHEDDAR PIZZA

Adapted but almost exactly from the recipe on How Sweet ItIs

white or wheat pizza dough

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large apple, very thinly sliced

5 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into squares

1 small red onion, sliced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 cup freshly grated cheddar

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

8-10 sage leaves

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Slice onions. Heat a skillet over medium heat and add 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, then add onions with a sprinkle of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, soft and juicy. In the last minute, add garlic and cook for 60 seconds, then set aside off heat.

3. While onions are cooking, cut bacon. Place on a paper-towel lined plate, and cover with another paper towel. Microwave for 3-4 minutes, just until the fat is rendered so the pizza is not incredible greasy. Set aside.

4. Remove pizza dough from the bowl and throw on a floured surface. Using a rolling pin or your hands, roll and shape it into your desired shape. Brush with remaining olive oil and sprinkle with nutmeg.

5. Slice apples (either do this now or, if earlier, preserve with lemon juice), then add about 1/4 cup cheese onto the dough. Place a layer of apples on the cheese, then add the onions and garlic. Add the remaining cheese evenly over top, then finish with bacon and another layer of apples. Lightly coat the sage with olive oil and place on top.

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until cheese is golden brown and bubbly.

Sage from now-abandoned Duquesne Community Garden from DYEP!!

Roasted Yellow Bell Pepper Soup

This is a great fall soup, and the season for it is rapidly ending. Earlier in the Fall, Nick and I went to a wedding up in Bradford (way up in the middle of nowhere), and we ended up staying over in Erie with Mike Snyder and his wonderful family. On the road trip back, I made Nick pull over at a farm (!) as usual. This usually consists me of yelling, "STOP RIGHT NOW" when I see any sign for a farmstand and Nick having a heart attack. This particular farm was on its last open farmstand of the season which meant tons of vegetables for almost nothing. I got a basket of multicolored peppers. I made roasted red bell peppers with the red ones (thanks to Laura's instructions), enchiladas with the green ones, and this soup with the yellow ones. Anyways, back to the recipe!

6-8 yellow bell peppers, seeded and halved
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, diced
1-2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup of heavy cream or 1 can coconut milk
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried rosemary

To roast the peppers: Place cut side down on a baking sheet and broil at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until the skins are dark brown in spots. Then place the peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for 10 minutes. When the peppers are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins. They should come off easily. Chop the peppers roughly and set aside.

For the soup, saute the onion for about 5 minutes until soft and transluscent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the broth, coconut milk, and the herbs and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Blend with an immersion blender and season with salt and pepper. To serve, top with goat cheese and a drizzle of olive oil plus fresh herbs.

Acorn Squash Risotto with Fresh Sage

Risotto is one of Brittany's favorite foods, so I was inspired to make it yesterday. I got some fresh sage from the farm, so I figured a squash dish would be even more perfect. Sundays are a great day to spend some time making this delicious dish since it does require a good amount of time.

Roasting the squash: Cut the squash in half and scoop out all the seeds. Slice into 1/2 inch pieces and place onto a greased baking pan with the skin on. Roast the squash at 350 degrees until the squash is tender (you can test it by seeing if a fork goes through the sqush easily) which takes about 20 minutes. Let cool, then peel or cut the skin off. It's much easier after the squash has roasted. Then slice the squash into bite sized chun

Making the risotto:

1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
2 cups of risotto rice (arborio rice, specifically)
6 cups of vegetable stock (this is just an estimate)
1/2 cup white wine (I just used a splash of white wine vinegar)
1 small bunch of sage, sliced
1/2 cup shredded asiago cheese
1 bunch of chopped parsley for garnish

Boil the vegetable broth, then turn the heat down to low just so it simmers. Saute the onion until transluscent in a large saucepan. Add the garlic and saute for an additional minute. Add the rice and saute for about 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of the broth and stir until the rice absorbs the liquid. Then continue slowly adding 1/2 cup amounts of broth until the rice is tender but still has some firmness to it. Make sure to keep stirring! It is a slow process and it makes your arm hurt but it is absolutely worth all the work! Finally add the white wine and continue stirring until the liquid is gone. Turn off the heat and add the cheese and stir into the rice. It gets nice and melty. Then add the sage and acorn squash. Season with salt and pepper.
Most restaurants add cream at the end, but this dish has enough flavor as is. I like to serve risotto over salad greens with an extra sprinkle of cheese and some chopped parsley. I did just that with a spicy green salad from Who Cooks for You Farm! Delicious.

Pumpkin Enchiladas with Green Tomato Sauce

As it is approaching the end of the farming season (and since we pulled out all the tomato plants at the farm), there is a bounty of green tomatoes.

Flashback to Summer- gorgeous ripe heirloom tomatoes from the farm!

I decided to make a green tomato soup, which was tasty but not as good as GREEN ENCHILADA SAUCE. Think green salsa made with tomatillos. Tangy and delicous.

Green Enchilada Sauce

1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, smashed and diced
5 medium sized green tomatoes, diced
1 small bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tsp cumin
3 jalapenos, seeded and diced

Crustless Apple-Sausage Quiche

A few weeks ago,  my brother and his girlfriend came to visit for the weekend, so we went apple-picking.  More accurately, I went to work, and everyone else went apple-picking:

Which of course meant that I came home to a delicious apple cobbler...mmmmmm....  Anyway, Steve didn't want to bring the apples home in the car, so the majority of the pickings were left in my kitchen, which I'm certainly NOT complaining about.  Since fall weather deserves delicious fall cooking, and since I'm unfortunately allergic to raw apples (yes, weird), I've been cooking up apples any way I can think of!  Basically I've been googling "apple-[insert random ingredient here] recipe" and seeing what comes up.  The favorite so far: Apple-Sausage Quiche.  I couldn't find one recipe that I really loved so this is kind of a mixture of a few different ideas I gathered from other recipes.

Note: I'm not a huge fan of pie crusts, so I usually skip the effort of making a crust (and the calories!) and just enjoy a crustless quiche.  I'm sure this would be just as tasty with a crust as well.

Ingredients:
2-3 medium sized apples (any variety, I tend to prefer the sweeter ones)
6 oz ground pork sausage
1/2-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
orange zest (optional)
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

Brown sausage in a skillet; drain the fat.  Alternatively, you could use precooked sausage links cut into small pieces.

Slice apples and arrange on the bottom of a pie pan.  Try to cover the whole bottom of the pan...make sure you get that apple-y goodness in every bite!

Spread cooked sausage over the layer of apples.  Top with shredded cheese.

Mix eggs and milk in a small bowl.  Add salt/pepper and orange zest, if desired.  (Confession: Orange zest is my new addiction. I like to put it in EVERYTHING.  But it's probably not essential, since the apples contribute a lot of sweetness.)

Pour egg mixture over other ingredients in the pan.

Bake uncovered at 375 for 15-20 minutes. 

Finally....enjoy!



Small Batch Pickled Jalapenos

There's an abundance of gorgeous purple jalapenos up at the farm this time of year, so I figured I would pickle some. Pickling is generally my solution to any overabundance of vegetables :)
This recipe is a modified one from Yumsugar.

Ingredients

10 whole jalapeños, stabbed 2-3 times with sharp paring knife
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorn
1/2 teaspoon whole caraway seeds
1 bay leaf
1 clove of garlic, pounded once
1 tablespoon canning salt
1 teaspoon agave nectar

Boil everything except for the jalapenos on the stove for a couple minutes. Meanwhile, pack a pint mason jar with the jalapenos that have been stabbed (so the pickling liquid can seep in). Pour the hot liquid and spices into the jar and screw on the lid. Done! So easy.

Keep in mind these are refrigerator pickles, so keep them in the fridge (obviously). They stay good for a couple of months in the fridge. Give them a shake once in awhile. They will be ready to eat within a week.