Spicy zucchini pickles

Texans love pickles. For instance, it’s the rare gathering in Texas that doesn’t have a pickle plate on display. This platter of tangy vegetables and fruits is not only a satisfying way to get the party started, but also an excellent way to share the bounty of what you’ve put up in the past year.

Though it’s not just on social occasions that Texans enjoy pickles. Nope, Texans eat pickles all the time, as a pickle’s tangy, crisp nature is the perfect foil for many Texan dishes, anything from smoked brisket to chili con queso. Matter of fact, The First Texas Cook Book, which was published in 1887, has two whole chapters devoted to the subject.

While the season for eating pickles occurs year round, the best time to make them is in the summer, when your garden is overflowing with things that need to be eaten or preserved. Typically, when people think of pickles the first thing that comes to mind is a pickled cucumber, which is the most ubiquitous type of pickle. Of course, it has a reason for being so prominent in that a cucumber makes for a fine pickle with its tough skin and firm center. It absorbs the brine beautifully, managing to be crisp and juicy at the same time.

That said, one can pickle just about anything and if you’re like me, this time of year your refrigerator is overflowing with various jars stuffed with things that have been preserved in a brine—sometimes spicy, sometimes sour, and sometimes sweet. When it comes to pickling, I’m an equal-opportunity pickle maker.



If you’re a fan of cucumber pickles and you find yourself with an abundance of zucchini, allow me to present to you these spicy dill zucchini pickles, a fine way to use up some of the squash that is everywhere this time of year. You may be thinking that zucchini is too soft to pickle and I will admit that they are indeed not as firm as their cucumber counterparts. But don’t worry; zucchini pickles are still crunchy and refreshing with that familiar tangy bite.
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Pinto bean and hominy salad

Since I don’t have a backyard in New York, I’ve always had to rely on the kindness of others when it comes to outdoor dining. Fortunately, however, I have friends with yards who enjoy inviting people to their homes for smoked briskets, sausage, and ribs. Since you can’t arrive empty handed I have long learned that a good side dish is always welcome, and this time of year I’m making them often.

While I do have my old favorites that are always appreciated, I’m always looking for new ones to keep things interesting for both my friends and me. While I have a lot of recipes to choose from, sometimes I’ll find myself throwing stuff together at the last minute, hoping that it works. But this is the beauty with salads—as long as the components complement each other, it’s hard to go wrong.

One dish I love is a Texan standard made with black-eyed peas, peppers, and tomatoes. It’s commonly known as Texas caviar, a name bestowed upon it by the late, great Dallas chef and cookbook author Helen Corbitt. Last summer, however, I saw a black-eyed pea salad made with hominy, an addition that isn’t usually found. Since you don’t often see hominy in a cold preparation, I was intrigued.



That said, I soon learned that this wasn’t a completely new thing as hominy salads have been on record since the 1800s. In old cookbooks you’ll see hominy salads made like a potato salad, where instead of said tubers you toss the hominy with the dressings, aromatics, peppers, and eggs. Cold hominy salads mixed with proteins such as boiled chicken or lobster were also popular back in the day, as well.
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Blueberry buttermilk pie ice cream

First, let me say that it’s not my usual style to eat a whole pint of ice cream in one sitting, let alone contemplate how long it would take to make another batch of this particular flavor so I could have more of it that same evening. Yet the other night I did just that with this refreshing new flavor I’d made—blueberry buttermilk pie ice cream.

Now, before I explain how I found myself on the couch scraping the edges of my container with my spoon in an attempt to get the every last bit of ice cream, let me say that this flavor was inspired by many things—namely pie and ice cream. Of course, with a name like blueberry buttermilk pie ice cream you’re probably nodding your head and saying, “Of course it was.” But here’s the thing—I set out to make a pie but ended up with ice cream. How often does that happen?

A few weeks ago, I spotted a recipe for blueberry buttermilk pie. Like all buttermilk pies, it was a custard-based dessert made with buttermilk, eggs, and sugar, but this one was dolled up for summer with a couple of handfuls of blueberries added to the mix. It sounded lovely. That said, this time of year when it’s sweltering outside, I prefer to eat cold things instead of hot. So instead of baking a pie, I wondered how the combination would taste if I turned it into ice cream instead.



It took a couple of experiments, but ultimately my hunch proved correct. Sweet and juicy blueberries, tangy buttermilk, and cinnamon-sugar flecked pieces of piecrust all frozen into a creamy cool treat make this a very satisfying summertime dessert. Not to mention, you don’t have to worry about having your oven on for hours. And when it’s this hot outside, that can be the very best thing.
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