A Year of Pickles

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Canning, Cookbook, Fermenting, Refrigerating, Topic, Using1 Comment
It’s hard to believe that this time last year I was gearing up for my cookbook’s release. Sample recipes from The Complete Guide to Pickling at TwiceasTasty.com.
Fermented Red Onions and Half-Sour Dill Pickles. Photograph by Andrew Purcell.

It’s hard to believe that this time last year I was gearing up for the launch of my first cookbook, The Complete Guide to Pickling. The timeline of writing and publishing a book means that I spent September 2020 sitting on my hands, resisting the urge to share my favorite recipes from the book ahead of the sales schedule and Brenda Ahearn’s stunning photos from my side project, The Pickled Picnic recipe collection, before the cookbook’s release.

As the cookbook’s official on-sale and launch party dates approached, I shared a handful of recipes from the book and offered details on some helpful tools I’d discovered while working on the project. This year, I’m able to get a jump on sharing new recipes from the book while many of us are still in the heart of harvest season.
Sample recipes from The Complete Guide to Pickling

Baking with Zucchini

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Topic3 Comments

I’ve improved on one of Mom’s staples for feeding zucchini to kids: chocolate cake. Get zucchini recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
I lost all sense of theme in this month’s blog posts, which ranged from grilling tofu, to induction cooking and canning, to pickling eggs. So I might as well round it out with another random topic: baking with zucchini.

People rarely plant zucchini seeds without later bemoaning the endless crop. It’s hard to plant just the two or three hills recommended for a family and even harder to thin each zucchini hill to a single plant. I watched my dad make this mistake every season and then watched my mom as she stared at a kitchen counter hidden under baseball bat-sized zukes, wondering what to do with them all. Yet year after year, I make the same planting mistake, and although I’m diligent about plucking zucchini when they’re about the thickness of an empty paper towel roll, some always get away.

So every year I eat, process, and give away lots of zucchini. But only recently have I returned to, and improved on, one of my mom’s staples for feeding zucchini to kids: Chocolate Zucchini Cake.
Learn to bake with zucchini and make Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Pickled Eggs

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Cookbook, Ingredient, Refrigerating, UsingLeave a comment

Pickled eggs keep and travel well, and some tricks will help you when making pickled eggs. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
Harvest is in full swing, which means my canning and fermenting supplies dominate my mudroom and my refrigerator is packed with produce waiting to be preserved. But after the successful launch of my pickling cookbook, The Complete Guide to Pickling, last fall, I’ve made time for some recipes that make minimal use of my homegrown produce, including pickled eggs.

We have a rich supply of eggs on the farm where I garden. As I created pickled egg recipes for my cookbook, I fell in love with the rich colors of brine-infused egg whites against bright orange yolks. Since then, I’ve been playing with all sorts of brines—reused from other pickles and made from scratch—to produce a range of colors and flavors.

Pickled eggs keep and travel well, and we’ve been eating them regularly all summer. They have become staples for multiday cruises aboard The Blue Mule, and they make a great post-yoga snack or grab-and-go breakfast with the garden’s latest berries. I’ve learned a few tricks along the way that will help you when making pickled eggs.
Learn to reuse pickle brine and make pickled eggs

Choosing Portable Burners

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Canning, Tools2 Comments

Of all the options when cooking outdoors, and portable induction burners are among the most efficient. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
Our Montana heatwave rolls on, so I’m moving as may food projects as I can out of the hot kitchen to a shady, breezy space. Fortunately, there are plenty of options when cooking outdoors. As I blogged about all last month, a grill is my favorite summertime tool. It adds another layer of flavor whether I’m cooking a meal, preparing food for the freezer and midwinter use, or firing off rounds of vegetables to stockpile for canning.

But the grill is just one of my outdoor cooking tools. Aboard The Blue Mule, we carry a grill, a two-burner camp stove, and a Jetboil backpacking stove, covering every cooking need while on the water. At home, large canning sessions happen outdoors on a heavy-duty, two-burner cooker. The most recent addition to my cooking arsenal has been a portable electric burner. As long as I have access to a flat surface and an electrical outlet, I can set up this burner for Twice as Tasty live events, workshops, or anywhere else I want to go.

Off the blog, I’ve been researching the best portable burners for The Spruce Eats. My latest lineup has been focused on induction models.
Read more about induction cooking

Grilled Tofu

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Grilling, IngredientLeave a comment
Grilled Tofu and Veggies. Learn more about the recipes in the ‘Ohana Grill Cookbook.
Grilled Tofu and Veggies. The ‘Ohana Grill Cookbook / Dawn Sakamoto.

Since last week’s post, I’ve been continuing to sample and enjoy recipes from The ‘Ohana Grill Cookbook. One of the first to catch my eye continues to be a favorite, so I was thrilled when author Adrienne Robillard and photographer Dawn Sakamoto Paiva allowed me to share it in a bonus grilling post this week.

The book’s 50 recipes put Hawaiian flavors on the grill, no matter where your grill is located. I had no trouble finding most of the ingredients listed, even in northwest Montana, and my homegrown vegetables had plenty of chances to play with pineapple, mango, and other tropical flavors. I tried many fish and shellfish recipes from the collection—and more than 20 recipes will satisfy meat lovers. But one I’m going to be making again and again should be on everyone’s list, from carnivores to vegans: Grilled Tofu and Veggies.
Learn to make Grilled Tofu and Veggies from The ‘Ohana Grill Cookbook

Cookbook Review: Grilling, Hawaiian Style

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Grilling, TopicLeave a comment

To put it simply: making the recipes from The ‘Ohana Grill Cookbook has been such delicious fun. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
Besides grilling and sharing my own recipes this month, the authors of the new ‘Ohana Grill Cookbook offered me a copy to check out. The Hawaiian-inspired recipes range from Pineapple Chicken to Curry Coconut Shrimp with a side of Sesame Eggplant and Grilled Bread Salad. Of the recipes I’ve tried, we’ve had wiped-clean plates after every meal. To put it simply: making the recipes from The ‘Ohana Grill Cookbook has been such delicious fun.
Read more about The ‘Ohana Grill Cookbook

Grilled Shrimp

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Grilling, IngredientLeave a comment

Chipotles in adobo boost the smoky heat of a marinade or sauce. Get grilling recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
In case you haven’t noticed, I love the flavor of smoky chilies. I buy cans of chipotle chilies for my favorite salsa. I also home-smoke homegrown chilies to dry or turn into paste and then use in everything from spiced nuts to cheese dip to fish cakes. In my pickling cookbook, I recommend Fresno chilies in many recipes because of their natural slightly smoky flavor.

Chipotle peppers are actually jalapenos; they’ve just been smoked and dried. When you buy them canned, they’ve been rehydrated and stored in a spicy tomato-based sauce. The sauce can be as flavorful as the peppers, and they boost the heat and smoky flavor of a marinade. You only need a little chipotle flavor for a marinade, but don’t let that stop you from opening a can. Scoop any leftover chilies and adobo into an ice cube tray, and then freeze and bag the cubes for future use. A standard ice-cube tray holds about 2 tablespoons per cube.

After I’ve used a marinade for grilling, I hate to toss what’s left. So I boil it into a sauce and mix it into a second meal.
Learn to make Chipotle-Marinated Grilled Shrimp and Spanish-Inspired Fried Rice

Grilled Fish

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Grilling, Ingredient1 Comment

For an off-the-stovetop meal, I combine marinated fish with my favorite couscous trick. Get grilled fish recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Of all the foods I throw on the grill, fish is probably the easiest for other people to recognize. If you have a high-quality piece of freshly caught fish, a little lemon, salt, and pepper may be all you need to make it grill ready. But I find that approach works best if you’re following my dad’s mantra: “You catch it, you clean it, you cook it, you eat it.” These days, I apply that philosophy to homegrown and grilled veg. For store-bought fish, I tend to bring out the flavor with an easy marinade.

I’ve been making a North African-inspired marinade for years, modifying and tweaking it until it reminds me of the spicy olives I fell for while traveling in Morocco and blends in some of the runaway cilantro and mint from the garden. To pull together a meal off the stovetop, I turn to my favorite trick for couscous, often making a big enough batch to turn the leftovers into a separate, second meal.
Learn to make North African-Inspired Grilled Fish and Pour-Over Couscous

Beating the Heat

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Freezing, Grilling, Topic1 Comment

A couple of my off-the-blog pieces come in just as handy as a shady grill amid a heatwave. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
Stepping outside to a shady grill to keep the kitchen cool is just one way I beat summer’s heat. A couple of my pieces that are appearing off the blog this month may come in just as handy amid a heatwave.

I’ll get back to sharing new grilling recipes in the next week. This week, I want to put you behind the scenes for my recently published freezer tour for Greatist and my lineup of portable electric burners for The Spruce Eats.
Read more about beating the heat

One Prep, Two Meals: From the Grill

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Grilling, Topic2 Comments

Recipes perfect for blazing summer days require minimal stovetop time and maximize your playtime. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
Earlier this week, as I prepped for a boat-based spin on my Fine Dining: Front Country workshop, I was reminded how much I love grilled meals. Especially when I can create two dinners from one prep session. And especially in the middle of a heatwave.

This month, I’ll be sharing recipes perfect for blazing summer days. They require minimal stovetop time and instead have you firing up the grill. They also let you maximize your summer playtime by prepping the next night’s meal, using the same base ingredients but putting a new spin on their flavors. Instead of eating tiresome leftovers, you’ll enjoy a fresh dish with minimal added effort.
Read more about one prep for two meals from the grill