Quick pickled red onions and homemade tortillas (sorta)

I haven't had pork in awhile, which is why this dish was appealing to me. OK, that was a lie. I've probably consumed an entire pig in the last two weeks thanks to visiting Jess in NYC and Momofuku's Bo Saam meal. However, a carnitas style of pork sounded good to me and the pork butt was too cheap to pass up. I simmered in water with paprika, cumin, chile powder, and a cinnamon stick after being quickly seared. I've been serving the pork on some bhutamese rice, but I thought it'd be nice to mix up dinner a bit and go to Whole Foods to pick up some mini tortillas I spotted earlier this week to make tacos. While I was there I spotted a red onion and decided that a quick pickled onion would be a nice addition to the sweet tasting pork. Then I remembered seeing Maseca (instant tortilla mix) and thought that if I was already pickling something for the tacos I might as well make the tortillas, too (my train of thought doesn't always make sense). THEN, I saw the Hatch chiles were in season. I've never seen these in a store and they are apparently, according the native New Mexicans, amazing when roasted. So, of course, I had to buy some. Went to WF for tortillas and left with an onion, Maseca, and Hatch chiles (oh, and some kale)...I never seem to remember that WF is dangerous.



I usually use the quick pickled red onions for fish tacos, but them seem to work on most tacos with a sweet or fried component. They also work well on burgers. The recipe is simple enough and they can be pickled for as little as 5 minutes before serving.

1 onion - halved and sliced thinly
White vinegar (enough to cover onion container of choosing)
Sugar (optional)

I know this is vague, but how sweet these turn out is really up to you. I like them slightly sweet so I usually use about a tablespoon of sugar for one small onion. Just heat the vinegar and sugar (if using) to a boil, remove from heat, and pour over the onion. This can sit from 5 minutes to 6 hours to even overnight before serving.



Homemade tortillas are fantastic. But, fresh masa and lard is not always easy to come by. Maseca, an instant tortilla flour, is a great alternative and actually turns out very well. All it takes is the flour, water, and a little bit of salt. Oh, and a tortilla press of some sort. Given my love for all things tacos I do in fact have a tortilla press, but you could just as easily use the under side of a frying pan. These are very easy, take less than 10 minutes, and are fresh so I urge you to try it. Of course you could always mill your own corn to make masa from scratch (ha).

Sweet Dill Quick Pickles

Here is the recipe for the pickles that Jessica posted.

4 cups thinly sliced unpeeled cucumbers
2 cups sugar
1 medium onion, thinly sliced into rings
1½ cups white vinegar
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp mustard seed
Sprig or two of washed dill (chopped or left whole)

Combine sugar, vinegar, salt, and mustard seed in a non-reactive pot and bring to a boil to combine. Let the brine cool for a few minutes. Meanwhile pack cucumbers, onions, and dill into a clean jar. Pour brine into the packed jar, cap, and refrigerate. The pickles may be eaten within an hour, but are best left for a day in the fridge. They won't last a week because you'll eat them too fast.

You may also add things like red pepper flakes and whole peppers or tone down the sugar if you'd like it less sweet.

Quick Salt Cucumber Pickles

I visited New York City a few weeks ago and landed around 9 PM arriving at Jessica's at about 9:30 PM. We thought it would be no problem finding a restaurant open that late: it's NYC of course! However, by the time we got downtown and wandered around trying to find a place it was 12 AM and none of our choices were open (fail Lombardi's). Wait! Momofuku Noodle Bar is open to 2 AM! Score! Having only their late night menu available was no problem and we settled into a meal that included chicken wings, kimchi-pork tamale, and ginger scallion noodles. I had heard that the noodles were one of the best recipes in Momofuku's cookbook so I was excited to try them. I wasn't let down. They were delicious and came topped with vinegar-pickled mushrooms, which were FANTASTIC (likely from left over ramen broth makings), toasted nori, bamboo shoots, and quick salt cucumber pickles. Ever since trying it I have wanted to make it at home and accompany it with quick salt pickles. Tonight was the night and it was great. Here are Momofuku's quick cucumber salt pickles:

2 large cucumbers (I used one huge hot house because it was the only one I could find)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Simply thinly slice the cucumber and toss with sugar salt letting it sit for 5-10 minutes. The cookbook says they last up to 4 hours in the fridge, but I'm going to see if they last until tomorrow night. Serve! You could also do this with radishes or daikon.

Mixed Quick Pickle

Yesterday I did a really small batch of quick pickled Persian cucumbers and they were so good I thought (and Jessica thought), why not make more? Today at Whole Foods there were these wonderful Rainbow carrots that I decided to get.

I also picked up some pickling cucumbers and fennel since I've never quick pickled fennel before. Looks good...hopefully it'll taste good!

*Update: Tastes great! Fennel did really well and didn't spread its flavor to everything else, which was good. The Rainbow carrots did dye the liquid pink though...

Quick Pickled Cucumber

Sometimes you just can't wait the few days or weeks that it takes for a cucumber to "mature" in flavor or ferment itself into deliciousness. That is why quick pickles are so great and simple to make! This recipe was adapted from the "Momofuku" cookbook's vinegar pickles.

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar (plus or minus a tablespoon or two to taste)

4 tablespoons of sugar (more if you like it sweeter)

2 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt

Vegetable of choice (I did it with a Persian cucumber we had in the fridge)

I like to heat all the ingredients minus the vegetable(s) on the stove until the salt and sugar dissolve, but today I just added hot water from a kettle to all the other ingredients (Momofuku calls for hot tap water, but I like my method better). Then you just pour over the vegetable(s). These were eaten right away, but they get even better in the fridge after each day and keep for about a week. You could use cucumbers, cauliflower, beets, carrots, daikon, fennel, ect. Momofuku even suggests cherries or watermelon/cantaloupe/watermelon rind!