Dorothy’s Potato Salad from Casbeer’s is an old-fashioned treat with mustard and mayonnaise.

Dorothy’s Potato Salad

8 large russet potatoes cut into 1-inch dice
4 ribs celery, diced
1 cup diced dill pickles
1 large onion
1 4-ounce jar minced pimentos
1 cup French’s yellow mustard (no substitution!)
1 (32-ounce) jar mayonnaise, any brand
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Cook potatoes in 4 quarts water until very tender. Drain and cool (they do not need to be cold, just easy to handle.)  Stir in, one ingredient at a time, celery, pickles, onion, pimentos, mustard, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. This will cause the potatoes to become creamy, resembling very lumpy mashed potatoes.

Makes 16-20 servings.

Source: Steve Silbas

Pickled Red Onions

Serve Pickled Red Onions with cochinita pibil, pulled pork or your favorite sandwich to give it a little extra tang. You can find it at Guajillo’s at Blanco Road and Loop 410.

1 pound red onions (about 2 medium or 1 large), thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar, or less to taste
1/2 cinnamon stick
5 cloves
1 bay leaf
1 star anise
Dash red pepper flakes

Optional extra spices: fresh ginger slices, allspice berries, oregano, garlic, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, coriander seeds

Blanch red onions in a saucepan of boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain in colander. While the water is heating, in a separate saucepan combine the vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf, star anise, red pepper flakes and any additional spices of your choice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add blanched, drained onions to the vinegar mixture. Simmer for 1 minute.

Transfer to a glass jar. Allow to stand until cooled. Will keep several weeks refrigerated.

Serve this with cochinita pibil, pulled pork or any kind of roasted meat., from chicken to beef. You can use it on hamburgers, in salads or a small condiment.

Makes 1 1/2 pints.

Pickled Red Onions in a Jar

Adapted from www.elise.com.

Red radishes can bleed color when pickled.

If you use red radishes to make this pickle, the color will run. Don’t worry, the flavor is still great.

3 pounds radishes, small whole ones or large radishes cut in half, cleaned and stemmed
12 large sprigs fresh dill
4 cloves garlic, sliced
Fresh grape leaves or fig leaves, optional
3 cups white wine vinegar
5 cups water
1/4 cup kosher or fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seeds

Divide radishes, dill and garlic evenly in layers in sterile quart glass jars, beginning with radishes, then dill, then sliced garlic. Place grape leaves between layers, if desired. Set aside.

Mix vinegar, water, salt and coriander seeds in large nonreactive pot and bring to boil over high heat. Immediately pour this over the vegetables, filling the jars to the top. Make sure an equal amount of coriander seeds are added to each jar.  Set aside to cool completely; then cover and refrigerate overnight before using. The pickles will keep in the refrigerator for several months.

Note: Save any extra liquid to top off jars after the ingredients have cooled and settled, so the jars are filled right to the top.

From “The Olive and Caper” by Susanna Hoffman

Cucumber Apple Pickles

Judy Baum had never made pickles before Easter of this year.  All that work sterilizing jars, fussing with boiling water and second guessing whether the lid actually sealed was too much for her.

And why put up pickles when there’s only one at home?

But she ran across a recipe for Cucumber Apple Pickles on the Internet during one her routine recipe searches. And she just had to try them.

This difference is that these were fresh pickles,  small batches of pickles you make up and eat within a couple of days or weeks. You don’t have to seal the jar. You don’t even have to sterilize it, though if you’re reusing a jar,  it might help to wash it out. You wouldn’t want any leftover peanut butter tainting the flavor.

Baum, who lives in Live Oak, stayed away from making pickles because too many of the recipes called for a gallon of this or a bushel of that, far too much for a single person to think about.

Plus, fresh pickles take no longer to make than any other side dish. And they can add plenty of tangy flavor.

What can be pickled? You’re limited only as far as your imagination, of course. You can make pickled beets or chowchow, green tomatoes or piccalilli with cauliflower.

Pickled green beans can be used as on a relish tray or in a Bloody Mary.  Cabbage is the basis or a tart curtido, or Salvadoran slaw, like the one you find at the various La Playa restaurants in town.

Pickled red onions, as most Mexican food fans know, are great with cochinita pibil. One place you’ll find this flavorful treat is at Guajillo’s on Blanco Road at Loop 410.

Even if you have a bountiful harvest, you may want to think of fresh pickles for some of it, because you are able to cut back on the amount of sodium and sugar, both of which are used as preservatives, and without sacrificing any flavor.

Raw food fans out there, you can also do raw pickles if you like, using agave nectar instead of sugar for pickled cucumbers, onions or radishes.

Play with the recipe to suit your needs. For her Cucumber Apple Pickles, Baum used small cucumbers and cider vinegar, which she found a great match for the apple.

“I combined the brine in a baggie, then added the squeezed-out cucumbers and apple, put the baggie in a bowl and turned it around several times,” she said.  “I also used more than a pinch of the red pepper threads.  It didn’t seem to be too much heat.”

She served the pickles at Easter dinner, and her friends ate most of them that evening. The rest were gone by the end of the week.

The pickles may be gone, but Baum’s hunger to make more remains.

Links to Recipes:

• Pickle Recipe: Curtido, or Salvadoran Slaw
• Pickle Recipe: Pickled Red Onions
• Pickle Recipe: Pickled Radishes
• Pickle Recipe: Cucumber Apple Pickles

Cucumber Apple Pickles

Cucumber Apple Pickles get a little kick from Korean hot red pepper threads, which can be found at Asian markets. The pickles remain fresh for 5 to 7 days.

1/2 pound Japanese or small cucumbers – unpeeled
1 teaspoon salt (kosher or sea salt), or to taste
1/2 Granny Smith or Fuji apple, unpeeled
2  cups water
1/3 cup unseasoned rice vinegar or cider vinegar
1 tablespoon thin peeled ginger or minced ginger from a jar
1/4 cup sugar or agave nectar, or to taste
Pinch Korean hot red pepper threads or red pepper flakes

Slice cucumbers 1/8 inch thick or use box grater or food processor.
Toss with salt and let stand 30 minutes.  Then rinse well and squeeze out water with your hands.  Halve apple lengthwise and cut out core.  Slice slices 1/8 inch thick.
Combine water, vinegar, ginger, sugar and hot pepper threads in a glass jar or baggie, mix well.  Add cucumbers and apple.  Refrigerate for a day, then eat!

Adapted from epicurious.com.