Cooking demo June 7 part 2 Pickles like you've never had them before and a touch of sweetness for dessert.

These pickles turned out so good I even surprised myself.  They can be eaten as sweet pickles or I chose to use them as topping with goat cheese on a lettuce leaf.  They are pretty as well.

Sweet Strawberry and Cucumbers with Curried Mango Vinegar Refrigerator Pickles

7 cucumber pickles slice 1/8 inch

1-½ pints large strawberries sliced across

1 cup Leslie Elizabeth Mango Balsamic Vinegar

1 cup white vinegar

½ cup Stonewall Kitchens Curried Mango Sauce

3 leeks sliced into rings

6 large spearmint leaves

1 large bunch of parsley

1 cup sugar

½ teas mild curry powder

1T salt

Place sliced strawberries and cucumbers in a colander and sprinkle with the salt. Allow them to sit for 15 minutes.  In a non-reactive pot add the vinegars, sugar, curried mango sauce and curry powder.  Heat while stirring and bring to a boil.  Using sterilized jars, put 1-2 spearmint leaves crushed and 2 T chopped parsley in the bottom of the jar.  Fill with strawberries, pickles and leeks to the top.  Top with another spearmint leaf and chopped parsley.  Pour the liquid to within ½ of the top.  Put in refrigerator for min 48 hours.  They can be eaten as pickles or served over goat cheese or ricotta cheese on a lettuce leaf as salad.  This recipe made 2 qts

This was a perfect dessert.  It was sweet but not too sweet and the honey added a richness to the taste.

Cheese and honey stuffed Dates

12 dried dates

1 cup ricotta cheese

½ cup whipping cream

2 T Savannah Bee Honey for Cheese

Sliced strawberries

Savannah Bee Honey comb

Slice dates down one side and remove the pits.  Blend the ricotta until smooth.  Add the whipping cream and honey and blend until smooth.  Fill each date with the cheese mixture top with a piece off strawberry a small mint leaf and a small piece of honey comb.

Cooking June 7-

Kale is in season so I decided to make a dish with it.  The Vegetables can be eaten as a side dish or used as a topping for the meatloaf burgers.  The recipes for the remaining dishes on the plate will be in the next post.  Enjoy!

Meatloaf Cheese Burgers with Kale and Kohlrabi topping

1.5 lb. ground beef

1 egg

1 chopped onion

½ cup regular oat meal

Parsley

Oregano

Sage

¼ c red wine

½ teaspoon Sabrosa Cumin Cinnamon Seasoned salt

Mix all ingredients together and roll into small patties about 2 -3 inches. 
Sprinkle additional salt over the top and bottoms of the burgers.  Cook until brown then add the red wine to deglaze the pan. Serve on French bread rolls with a slice of Cajun cheddar and Kale and Kohlrabi vegetables.

Kale and Kohlrabi with apricot mustard sauce topping

One large bag of Kale

1 large Kohlrabi

12 dried apricots

2 leeks sliced into rings

8 pieces fresh ginger

Olive oil

½ cup Stonewall Kitchens Apricot Mustard Glaze

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1T sugar

Peel fibrous outer layer from the Kohlrabi and slice in Julienne style.  De-stemthe kale and remove the large veins from the leaves.  Place into a pan with olive oil and sugar. Add the leeks and fresh ginger and cook until the vegetables are semi-soft.  Add the mustard gaze and pecans and chopped apricots.  Serve as side vegetable or on top of the burger with a slice of Cajun Cheddar cheese. For a vegetarian burger use a shitake mushroom instead of meat.