Category: Recipe
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Lemon-dill kraut
This is an extremely tasty version of the ‘usual sauerkraut’ but with that little extra freshness from the lemon and the dill. The recipe from K. Shockey asks for dried dill, but I felt that I had to do something useful with that big bunch of fresh dill I had in my fridge. I like…
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Lemon Verbena-Kukicha Kombucha
Nearly all kombucha brewers will tell you that tea is, next to cane sugar and filtered water, an indispensable ingredient to make a good kombucha. The quality and the type of tea (Camellia sinensis) you choose are as important as the variety of grapes are to a winemaker. After experimenting for some time with green…
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Beets & Beluga lentil salad with kombucha-vinaigrette
This salad has been a staple through the winter at our lazy Sunday brunches, full of earthy flavours countered by the sweet & sour vinaigrette, the fermented beets and the saltiness of the feta. You can substitute the brined beets with oven-roasted beets if you like. The result will be slightly sweeter. Kombucha-vinaigrette: Ingredients: 200…
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Fermented Topinambur
Topinambur, sunchokes, Jerusalem artichokes, earth apples or sun roots… the names given to this somewhat strange tuber are nothing short of poetic. You can eat them raw or cooked but they turn out surprisingly delicious in a spicy ferment. In ‘Fermented Vegetables’, the recipe indicates to mix the topinambur with fennel. I made this easy…
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Hot Cinnamon Quince Ferment
The Shockeys call quinces ‘badass pears’ in ‘Fiery Ferments’ and although they don’t taste anything like a pear, their perfume is subtle and sweet. They cannot be eaten raw but are surprisingly great in this spicy ferment. Ingredients: 1 large quince, peeled, cored and sliced into small cubes (5×5 mm) zest and juice of half…
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Mustard: hot & cold soak
Mustard is a fascinating condiment, brightening our plate and palate. Strictly speaking, mustard is not really a product of fermentation but we use a fermented liquid (beer in this case, but it could be kombucha or kraut brine as well) to hydrate the seeds. Mustard seeds are exceedingly antimicrobial, explaining the longevity of the final…
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Bay capers
I have the good fortune of having a 5 meter tall beautiful Bay Laurel tree (Laurus nobilis) in my small city garden. So far, I picked the leaves to season sauces and slow cooking dishes but every spring, the tree is producing small flower buds, looking a bit similar to capers. In ‘Bar Tartine’, I…
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Brined Beets
Saying that the book ‘Bar Tartine’ by Nicolaus Balla & Cortney Burns is great, is an understatement. The talent and dedication of these people are so obvious and the way they share their techniques and recipes is just amazing. I had a hard time choosing a ferment from the book but decided to go for…
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Mango-lemon habanero salsa
While leafing through the truly amazing book ‘Fiery Ferments’ from Kirsten K. Shockey & Christopher Shockey, I stumble upon a spicy Onion-Mango Ferment that tickles my taste buds, just by reading it. But I don’t have the ingredients the recipe asks for, so I decide to make something different with what I have in the…
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Ghost pepper (or Naga Jolokia) hot sauce
I have to admit that I have been looking forward to giving these damn hot Ghost peppers a good blitz and discover what the results of 3 months of fermenting them tastes like. I started up the ferment mid December, after picking up these hotties at westlandpeppers.com, and made a couple of experimental small batches…