Category Archives: Mass Ave.

Preserving the Season: Dill Pickles.

An early peek at my dill pickles.

At EVOO, we always had big buckets full of dill pickles. At lunch, we served them as a side on our sandwich plates; we also used them in whatever recipes called for dill pickles, such as roasted pepper-pickle relish, which we sometimes served with grilled meats. I also remember an olive-pickle compote that paired very well with grilled striped bass. Another favorite is potato-pickle salad, which I still make regularly. Of course, we would use these delicious dills in tartar sauce. We would also serve them as an accompaniment to many of our homemade charcuterie items, such as smoked bluefish pate, country pate, and liver mousse.

I miss these pickles.

That’s why I decided it was about time to make them at home.

I figured if I bought about 8 lbs, that would be sufficient to get me through until next year’s harvest.

Once again, I headed off to my local farmers’ market; the Arlington Market is my go-to on Wednesdays. I picked through the bin of pickling cucumbers; I favor the small to medium-sized firm cucumbers. In my opinion, they make the best pickles. If they’re too big, they tend to be soft and seedy. I like to pick cucumbers all around the same size, so that they all pickle evenly.

The first thing that I did was to trim the blossom end off of the cucumbers. There are some enzymes in the blossom end that will soften the pickles; I like firm, crisp pickles.

Be sure to rinse the cucumbers thoroughly under cold water.
All the ingredients are divided into 2 each 8 quart containers. Well, almost all the ingredients are in there; I still need to add a couple of grape leaves to each container. The grape leaves are tannic and will also help keep the pickles crisp and firm.
The Pickles are all set to be placed in the back of my refrigerator for at least a month before I give them a try; this I am looking forward to.

An added bonus to this recipe is that the onions and garlic are delicious pickles in their own right. At EVOO, we often batter and fry the pickled onion rings. I also recall making pickled garlic aioli that we used on several different dishes, including on a few versions of our “Burger of the Week” as well as an accompaniment to fried seafood. The pickled garlic is also great sliced thin and put on salads; the pickling takes the hot bite out of the garlic, leaving a nice crisp, flavorful garlic pickle.

Preserving the Season, Poblano Peppers

Poblano peppers.

I love poblanos! Their mild earthy bitter pepper flavor is something I look forward to every summer. Every so often you may find one that is quite spicy, however that is not the norm.

For many years, at the height of the season, late summer, I have bought several pounds of poblanos to process them for use throughout the year.

Red and green poblanos on the grill.

Here’s what I do: on my outdoor gas grill set to high heat, I char the peppers, blistering the skins, which loosens the skin so that I can peel them, as well as cooks the peppers. After charring them, I let them sit covered, at room temperature, this step steams them a bit, which also helps loosen the skin for easier peeling. I then peel, de-stem and de-seed the peppers. From there I separate them onto small ziplock bags and freeze them for later use.

Separated into small bags and frozen poblanos

They are quite versatile, and I use them in several ways; this year, I have already made a batch of corn-poblano chowder. Throughout the year, I will use them in salsas, on salads, as a topping for baked potatoes, in enchiladas, and in chili. I also pick the nicest, most intact ones to use for making rellenos; for this dish I leave the peppers whole, making a slit from the stem to the tip, so that I can remove the seeds. I then stuff the pepper with whatever filling I choose at the time; chicken, beef, roasted butternut squash, and cheese are some of my favorites.

A blast from the past, a dish that was on EVOO’s autumn menu back in 2021: Poblano Chili Relleno with creamed corn and fresh tomato salsa.

With not too much effort, poblanos can be a year round staple in your local kitchen too.

New Awnings

This winter was tough on our old worn out awnings.

Worn and torn.

In 2004, the year we opened for business, we had the original awnings installed, in 2006 a truck backed into the awning on Milton Street, requiring us to replace that awning and to place a planter on the sidewalk to prevent future truck mishaps.

An older photo showing the original awnings

The awning on Milton Street, gets the most sun and wind and had the most damage done to it this winter. It was completely torn apart. The other awnings had various amounts of wear and tear happening, none of them seemed like they would be able to withstand another rough winter, so we decided it was time to replace them all.

After a few unanswered calls and emails to the company that originally manufactured and installed the awnings, I figured the awnings lasted 20 plus years, the company did a good job and deserved my long awaited repeat business. However, their lack of follow up led me to the internet in search of a highly reputed awning company. A very quick search led me to the Google 5 star rated local company Lafuente Sign and Awning. I emailed them and Andrew, the owner called, me back within an hour. He came by later the same day did some measurements and sent me a quote the next day.

We were quickly put on their schedule, his crew came by and removed the old awnings and took them to their shop where they would clean, seal and paint the frames before adding the new fabric and graphics.

Pre-painting.

I took advantage of the awnings being down by painting the exterior walls behind where the awnings would hang, I also rewired and repositioned our outdoor speakers, which hadn’t worked in a couple of years.

Post-painting.

All and all it was a quick seamless process with good communication from Andrew and his crew. A couple of weeks after the awnings were removed the new ones were put in place and are looking better than ever.

The new awnings.

The old girl got a facelift.