The Communal Skillet

M:  In an earlier post, we talked about the abundance of yellow squash around these parts in the summertime.  Now here we are coming into October and summer squash can still be found, but first frost can’t be too far off.  While sautés and casseroles are always a great way to make satisfying use of the crop, how does that help in those hungry winter months? Canning, my friends, is the way to go.  And pickling is a great place to start.  There are few better ways to preserve your harvest.  Fun fact: Canning was developed when Napoleon offered a prize to anyone who could develop a method of extending the shelf life of military rations.  A couple of decades later, Nicholas Appert claimed the prize.

My expectations weren’t high for this one.  Not because it isn’t a nice recipe, but because it is much sweeter than I normally go for and a bit off my preferred flavor trail. . Consequently, I tweaked to my taste a little, cutting back on the sugar a bit and increasing the salt (as noted in the recipe).  In the end, I liked this pretty well.  Still sweet, but with enough tang to keep me interested and wandering back over for a little more.  The author says serve it with everything and with this alluring color it would look right at home in one of those fancy crystal relish dishes alongside some gherkins or pickled beets, but I mostly just ended up eating it out of the jar a forkful at a time standing in the kitchen.  Don’t look at me like that.  At least I had a fork.

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