Gordy's Cherry Pepper Spread Galette

A few years ago while both teaching at the New England Literature Program (NELP) and fresh off of reading Sandor Katz' Wild Fermentation, my friend Ryan and I started a club. A pickle club, dubbed "Fermental Health." Late at night we'd enlist students to abandon their Walden and join us in the industrial kitchen to help finely chop and tamp huge buckets full of cabbage for sauerkraut and kimchi. We employed the meat slicer to make petal-thin pickled beets and cukes, and tried our hand at a carrot-ginger slaw. 

Ryan and I still fantasize about opening a fermented foods grocery store someday under the Fermental Health moniker (don't steal it or we'll send a plague of live and active cultures upon you), and I remain a brine devotee through occasional home pickling, happily eating leftover deli pickles my luncheon companions leave behind, and in my stance that a good night is always topped off with a pickleback (or two).



All of that's to say-- I love pickles! And I've long wondered how to incorporate them into a pie. Enter Gordy's Pickle Jar-- a D.C.-based, woman-owned, handcrafted pickle company that's been garnering acclaim and winning all sorts of awards for their briney delights. When my friend Morgan, who runs their social media, asked if I wanted to collaborate on some recipes, I knew this was my chance.

Armed with this Sesame Street animation as our theme song and a super secret Pinterest board (SSPB), we developed a pair of recipes for Thanksgiving side dishes featuring Gordy's products. This Cherry Pepper Spread, Goat Cheese & Caramelized Onion Galette highlights the bold spice of Gordy's Cherry Pepper Spread, tempered by creamy goat cheese and sweet caramelized onions. It would be fantastic as an appetizer with a relish or charcuterie plate, or as a side dish. It also makes for a fantastic brunch or lunch, paired with a leafy green salad.



Gordy's Cherry Pepper Spread, Goat Cheese & Caramelized Onion Galette
Serves 6-8

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie crust, halved
1 medium onion, sliced
4 oz. goat cheese
1 tsp. fresh rosemary
1/2 c. Gordy's Cherry Pepper Spread
2 Tblsp. olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions
1. Prepare half of Nothing in the House pie crust as per the directions (save other half in the fridge or freezer for a future pie). Chill dough at least 1 hour before rolling out into a 10-11-inch circle on a sheet of parchment paper. Return rolled crust to the fridge while you prepare the filling.

2. Prepare the oven to 375 degrees F. Add 1 Tblsp. olive oil and sliced onions to a cast iron skillet and place over medium heat. Stir to coat onions with olive oil. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until translucent. Sprinkle onions with salt and pepper and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook 25-30 more minuted until onions are caramelized.

3. Remove crust from the fridge and brush with 1/2 Tblsp. olive oil. Scatter the caramelized onions over the crust, leaving a 1-inch edge. Crumble the goat cheese and spoon Gordy's Cherry Pepper Spread evenly over the onions. Sprinkle with rosemary. Fold the edge of the crust over the top of the filling and seal. Drizzle remaining 1/2 Tblsp. of olive oil over the entire tart and sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper over top.

4. Bake tart for 35-40 minutes until crust is golden brown. Enjoy as an appetizer or side dish to your Thanksgiving feast.

For our accompanying recipe for Brine Roasted Potatoes and Spears, and additional pics, words, and more recipes featuring Gordy's products (think pickle juice cocktails!) head over to the Gordy's blog. Big thanks to Morgan Hungerford West of Panda Head for these beautiful photos and infectious creativity, positivity, and jokes.

Related recipes:
Ham, Gruyere & Caramelized Onion Galette with Fried Egg
Swiss Chard & Goat Cheese Galette
Tri-color Potato, Caramelized Onion, Goat Cheese & Rosemary Galette

Photos by Morgan Hungerford West

Pickling & Preserving Party!

A few weeks ago there was a post on Food52 about National Can-It-Forward Day. I had never heard of such a day, but they were offering coupons for free Ball jars for folks who were interested in hosting pickling and preserving parties on Saturday, July 14th. I love canning, I love pickles, and I love parties, so I decided to cast my name into the hat. Sure enough, a week or so later, a FedEx envelope with 6 coupons for free Ball jar sets arrived on my doorstep. Score!

So on the morning of the 14th, three friends and I, Andy, Annie, and Lars met at up at the Mt. Pleasant Farmers' Market, checked out what produce looked the best, and planned our attack. We decided to do vinegar cucumber pickles, dilly beans, and pickled okra, a peach-jalapeno jam, and a blueberry-basil jam. We were able to find almost all of our ingredients at the market, thanks in a large part to the very friendly farmers at Earth Spring Farm who had herbs and jalapenos, pickling cucumbers and okra.


We headed to Bestworld to get the rest of our ingredients, as well as some beer and lunch fixins, for we needed to fuel up for our day-long kitchen activities. Next stop was the hardware store for jars...we were able to get one set at the adorable Old School Hardware in Mt. Pleasant. Then we tried the Ace in Takoma Park, but unfortunately they did not take manufacturer's coupons, so we ended up having to buy our jars. No worries, though--I'm sure the coupons will be put to use at some point 'cause we'll definitely be doing this again.

Back home in the kitchen, we spread out our bounty. Andy went to work on our open-face quesadilla (open faceadilla) lunch, Annie put on some summer jams and then we all tied on aprons, cracked beers, and started peeling peaches, stringing beans, and chopping basil.

It was a collaborative process, with everyone helping with each item...prepping produce, stirring jam pots, and sealing jars. Though we're still waiting on the pickles (they need 6 weeks to "pickle"), the blueberry-basil jam was probably our favorite. And since this is a pie blog, I'll say that it would go great on this lemon goat-cheese tart (replace the blackberry preserves with the blueberry-basil jam) or in this almond crostata (replace the marmalade with the jam). Here's the very easy recipe we used, adapted from Rustic Kitchen.

Blueberry-Basil Jam
Adapted from Rustic Kitchen

Ingredients
8 c. fresh blueberries
5 c. sugar
about 1/2 c. minced purple basil (to taste)
5 Tbslp. lemon juice

Directions
Pour fresh, washed blueberries into a large saucepan. Stir in sugar, purple basil, and lemon juice. Boil, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reads 225 degrees F on a candy thermometer and coats the back of a spoon. Once the mixture is ready to can, pour into sterilized jars and seal (make sure to follow proper instructions for sterilization and canning--you can find some on the Ball jar site). Makes about 3 pints.


In the end, we had almost 50 jars of pickles and jams and spent a lovely overcast Saturday sharing skills and stories, listening to tunes, and making deliciousness-in-jars from our local farmers' market bounty. Many thanks to Andy, Annie, and Lars for being such awesome pals and picklers. And thanks to Food52 for inspiring us and donating the jars-- even if we didn't get to use them this time, we'll definitely be having another pickling & jam party soon.