Jalapeno Jelly

My bagels turned out well but they were eaten too quickly so I did not get any pictures. So I decided to go ahead and try making my own jalapeno jelly and post that this week. Since we went through one jar in no time after smoking the salmon; and a small jar ranges from 5-7 dollars I decided that It would also be cost effective for me to make my own. I am sure there will be much more smoked salmon in our future too( the coho are following the pinks). The cream cheese, jalapeno jelly, and smoked salmon is just an awesome combo. It is so good!!!

Ingredients

Yields approximately 6 1/2-pint jars.

• 13 large jalapeno peppers
• 2 medium red, yellow or orange bell pepper (I used orange)
• 1/3 cups lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups vinegar (white or cider, I used cider)
• 6 cups sugar
• 6 ounces liquid pectin (2 pouches of Certo brand, ONLY USE CERTO brand other do not work well I hear)
• Red, green or orange food coloring, optional (I choose to not use food coloring because I wanted the jelly to be all natural and I personally think the red and green jelly looks a little scary and it reminds me of maraschino cherries which I hate!).

Directions

1. WEAR RUBBER GLOVES!! IF you don't your hands will burn for days and be careful to not touch any part of your body while handling the jalapenos. Wash and remove the stem of all 13 jalapenos; discard stems. Place 7 of the whole jalapenos in a food processor.

2. Remove the stems and seeds of the bell peppers. Chop into large pieces and add to the food processor.

3. Process the pepper mixtures until pureed.

4. Removed the seeds from the remaining 6 jalapenos and finely dice and set aside.

5. Add the pureed pepper mixture to a large sauce pan and add the lemon juice and vinegar. Bring to a boil then simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Remove the pepper mixture from heat and strain using cheese cloths or coffee filters. You should have a little over 1 cup of liquid.

7. Add the liquid back to the large sauce pan and add the diced jalapeno. Add the sugar to the mixture and bring back to a boil and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add the liquid pectin and bring back to a rolling boil and cook for 1 minute. You can add the food coloring at this point if you wish.

8. Carefully ladle jelly into prepared canning jars leaving 1/4" of head space. Wipe any spilled jelly from the jar rims. Center lids on top of jars and tighten screw bands securely. Process jars in a water bath for 10 minutes. Test seal after cooling with finger. If the middle pops up the jar is not sealed.

Recipe modified from What's Cooking America.

Smoked Salmon

The Pink Salmon run is in full force in the PNW and my husband had the opportunity to go fishing a few times in the last few weeks and brought us back a bunch of fish. The quality of the pinks are good enough to grill up but I still wanted to smoke half of it. Smoked salmon just has such an awesome flavor and is so easy to do with an electric smoker. All it takes is a little time but most of that is inactive time so its no problem.

In the past I have always stuck to the wet brine recipes in the booklet that came with the Big Chief electric smoker but this time I found a recipe for a dry brine that I decided to do. It was simple to put together and I think that it makes for a less salty end product which I like.

I can't wait to have some of this fish on a bagel with cream cheese and jalapeno jelly. The bagels are in the oven as I write this. I'm trying the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day bagels. I really hope they turn out well. Maybe that will have to be my entry for next week. This salmon is also great for making smoked salmon cream cheese dip.

Ingredients

• For Dry Brine
  
• 
  
• 4 cups dark brown sugar
  
• 1 cup non-iodized salt
  
• 10-15 cloves of garlic
  

Directions

Press the cloves of garlic through a garlic press and in a bowl mix garlic, sugar, and salt together. In a large sealable container, add one layer of your prepared salmon chunks. The salmon should be cut to size, rinsed and all bones removed. Sprinkle a generous amount of the brine over the flesh of the salmon. Add another layer of salmon and repeat keeping flesh to flesh and skin to skin. Once all the salmon in covered place container in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Removed the fish from the container and gently rinse off the brine with water. Place the salmon on a drying rack and allow to dry for six hours. When dry, preheat your smoker and place the salmon in the smoker placing the thicker chunks on the bottom racks and the thinnest on the top. Follow manufactures instructions and add about 2-3 pans of wood chips and let the salmon dry/smoke for 6-10 hours depending on the weather and your taste. On the nice day that I smoked this salmon I used two pans of wood chips that was a mix of cherry and alder and I smoked the fish for about 7 hours.

After the salmon has been smoked, vacuum seal and freeze the extra that you don't use right away.

Recipe found from Salmon University.

Jan's Damn Good Garlic Dills

My mom once canned just about everything out of the garden. We even have a root cellar which she would pack with pickles, green beans, peaches etc. This was all several years ago so I'm not too familiar with canning. Making jam is really the extent of my preserving experience but his year I changed that. I ran across this great recipe in our local paper for refrigerator pickles. The recipe is really easy and the best thing is you don't have to "can" or "process" these pickles because you put them straight into the refrigerator. All you need is food grade sealing containers. I think I let our cucumbers go a way beyond the whole pickling size so I sliced most of them in wedges; did one jar of waffle cut pickles for sandwiches and had a little left over brine which I used to pickle a few beets. I'm really excited to try these in a month or so. Refrigerator pickles claim to be much crisper and zestier.

Ingredients

• 4 quarts pickling cucumbers, rinsed well with blossom ends rubbed off
• 16 large garlic cloves, peeled and sliced4 heads fresh pickling dill, halved
• 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
• 1 quart cider vinegar
  
• 1 quart water
• 1/4 cup pickling spices
• 1/3 cup pickling salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 cup chopped fresh pickling dill
  
  

  Directions

  Pack the cucumbers into clean, airtight jars (they don’t have to be “canning” jars) or food grade plastic containers (such as Rubbermaid canisters), leaving ½ inch head space.
  
  Divide the sliced pieces of garlic and halved heads of fresh pickling dill among the containers. Add a pinch (about ¼ of a teaspoon per quart) of the dried red pepper flakes to each container (another pinch of two should be used for those folks who enjoy more “bite” in their pickles).
  
  Prepare the brine by combining the vinegar, water, pickling spices, salt, sugar, turmeric and 1 cup of chopped fresh dill in a nonaluminum pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain off the seasonings from the brine. Then ladle the hot brine into the containers, leaving ½ inch head space. Attach lids. Let cool to room temperature, then store in the refrigerator.
  
  The pickles start to get good after seven to 10 days of aging, but really need at least a month to really blossom in flavor. Even then, they will continue to improve for 12 months or more.
  
  Makes about 4 quarts.

Recipe by Everett Herald food columnist Jan Robert-Dominguez