Cukes & corn

I've had an abundance of fresh veggies lately, so I decided to make two awesome dishes: frozen cucumbers and cheddar corn chowder.

Frozen Cucumbers

I recently visited my aunt, who I noticed had been pickling cucumbers. I asked if I could see her recipe (I now have three, possibly four, that I am trying out), and she let me rifle through her entire gorgeous recipe box. I copied down this one, too: frozen cucumbers. It's like pickles, but no canning, and (you guessed it) you keep them in the freezer.

First, toss 2 quarts of sliced cucumbers and 1 chopped green pepper with 2 tbsp. pickling salt. It's important to use pickling salt because regular table salt will make the mixture cloudy. You let that sit in the fridge for a couple of hours at least.

Then you drain it to remove all the liquid. At this point, the cukes are a little floppy, but still crisp.


While the cukes & peppers are draining, you boil 2 cups vinegar with 3 cups granulated sugar. When the mixture boils in earnest, it will become clear, and then you pour it over your cukes in a freezer-proof container.


With all the flash-frozen berries, corn, and other items in the freezer, I was barely able to fit this in. I need to eat up some of those frozen skillet meals to make room for the other stuff I'm going to be freezing before fall ends!

Cheddar Corn Chowder

This is a pretty easy soup. It goes like this:

1. Fry bacon or pancetta and save for topping the soup later.
2. Toss in some butter and onion, then make a roux by adding flour, salt, pepper, and turmeric.
3. Add chicken stock and diced potatoes, then simmer for 15 min.
   
4. Add blanched corn, half-and-half, and shredded cheddar cheese.
5. Pour into bowls and top with aforementioned bacon.

I thought it cooked up pretty quick, especially for a soup. As usual, since it's an Ina soup, it has a lot of onions in it, but all my corn and potatoes came from my CSA! I'm thinking of freezing a heap of it, too. Yay summer!