Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Pickles are the Big Idea
Leave a CommentHow did Rick get his Big Idea? That’s what the writers at Big Think www.bigthink.com wanted to know during their interview last week. Read on for the inside scoop on Rick’s career 180, and the surprising similarities between pickling and TV.
******
What’s the Big Idea?
What do TV and pickle production have in common? There’s really only one person you can ask, and according to him, there’s a lot of overlap. At the height of his television career, Rick Field was writing, directing, and producing for VH1 and PBS’ Bill Moyers. Today, he is a highly successful pickle entrepreneur.
Do not even think of those flabby, luminous yellow spears that delis sometimes wrap up with your sandwich, making the rye bread all soggy. As CEO of Rick’s Picks, Field creates and markets tastebud-bending products like “Smokra” – pickled okra with smoked Spanish paprika and chili peppers, and “Phat Beets”– aromatic beet slices with ginger, rosemary, and lemon. The company has grown from a single stand in a New York City greenmarket to a nationwide supplier to specialty markets like Whole Foods and Dean & Deluca (which still operates greenmarket stands).
http://rickspicksnyc.com/pickle-anything/Ricks-traditional-Justin-Bieber-Hair-pickle-recipe
Why Pickling is Like TV Producing
Rick Field: A good producer basically takes an idea, gathers a bunch of people around it and generates enthusiasm for it to create an excellent product. That sort of energy and organizing is also applicable to pickle making, except now the challenge is “let’s figure out how we can make 2,000 jars of pickled beets with 6 people in 8 hours for an affordable price.”
Making champagne on a beer budget: When I was in television I was always in environments where money was a challenge. It was always a question of “how do you make champagne on a beer budget?” For lack of a better term, I would say it’s a scrappy aesthetic that I had in television, which carried over to the work in pickles, trying to figure out how to maximize whatever we have and do it in a way that was very frugal.
About seven years before he left the TV business, Rick started pickling as a hobby – recreating family recipes from his childhood:
Rick: I realized that the basic equipment required to make pickles at home is very minimal. The barrier to entry is very low. You don’t need a $400 blender or a $9 million stove. A couple of pots and a couple of very inexpensive accessories and you’re good to go.
And so the first thing I did was to replicate these sort of locked-in-time-and-space, mid-twentieth-century family recipes that were fairly staid and highly traditional, but really fun and for me connected very actively and dynamically to a potent set of family memories and personal history.
A Sign from the Pickle Deities
Seven years later, Rick’s Picks have arrived, carving out a mini cultural niche of their own in the American culinary landscape. While they aren’t yet commercial on the scale of a Vlasic or a Heinz (and may never be, since most are made by hand with expensive ingredients), they’re convincing chefs and food lovers nationwide that pickled beets, beans, and okra have evolved beyond those dubious paperweights gathering dust on your Eastern European Grandma’s basement shelf.
Hey, Don’t Mess With My Grandma’s Pickles.
Rick: A lot of people, whether they are from Poland, from Louisiana, from Japan – in most corners of the world there is a very vibrant tradition of pickle making in some form or other and people really resonate back to that. I call it “the heritage piece” and whether it’s a cultural thing that they experienced in their homeland or a family thing, it’s powerful.
One of the interesting things about starting to sell pickles professionally was the fact that you have a lot of customers who try your stuff and say “Well these are very good, but they’re not as good as my grandmother’s, sorry.” And it’s hard to argue with Grandma.
Ppppp…Peas, Potatoes and Pepi Pep Peps!
Green Market Sugar Snap Peas & Roasted Baby Potato Salad w/ Pepi Pep Peps Vinaigrette
Ever looking for the perfect BBQ PDQ accompaniment or a cool lunch on a hot day?!?! Try this fully loaded green market potato salad with its zesty Rick’s Picks Pepi Pep Peps Vinaigrette in lieu of Mayo.
Union Square is abuzz with gorgeous summer vegetables. I completely lucked out with the ubiquitous sugar snap peas. The ones I found had a depth of sweetness that begged for a raw application.
Very Important Side note: The vinaigrette makes a fantastic sauce for beef, chicken, or fish!!
The Ingredients – The Salad & Vinaigrette
1 c Rick’s Picks Pepi Pep Peps
¾ lb. Sugar Snap Peas
½ lb. Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes
2 lbs. Baby Potatoes
1 Spring Garlic
2 Tsp. chopped Chives
2 Tsp. Fresh Oregano
3 Tsp. Fresh Thyme
½ c. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
A generous pinch of Red Pepper flakes
Salt
½+ c of crumbled Queso Fresco
The Method – The Salad
- Preheat oven to 425°
- Wash and dry Sugar Snap Peas, Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes, Baby Potatoes, and Spring Garlic. Set aside separately
- Trim the ends and woodsy string from the Sugar Snap Peas: Take a small knife trim the top of the pea and pull off the tough string that runs along the length of the pod. Discard.
- Slice the Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes in half. Set aside.
- Slice baby potatoes in half. Combine potatoes with 3 Tsp. of extra-virgin olive oil, 1 Tsp. of Chopped Thyme leaves, and 1 Tsp. of Oregano leaves. Toss the potatoes and herb olive oil mixture with one entire stalk of spring garlic to coat. Place them on a baking rack, or lined cookie sheet. Place potatoes and garlic stalk on the center rack of your oven. Roast for approximately 20 minutes. Be sure to check them at 15 minutes, as ovens vary. Set aside, allow vegetables to cool.
- In a large Salad bowl combine trimmed Sugar Snap Peas, halved Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes, roasted Baby Potatoes, 2 Tsp. chopped Chives, 1 Tsp. of Chopped Thyme leaves, 1 Tsp. of Oregano leaves.
- Dress with Pepi Pep Peps Vinaigrette top with Queso Fresco.
The Method – Pepi Pep Peps Vinaigrette
- In your favorite food processor combine Pepi Pep Peps, 3 cloves of the roasted spring garlic, 4 Tsp. of Pepi Pep Peps brine, Red Pepper Flakes. Turn on your food processor, and stream in the extra virgin olive oil. Adding more or less according to taste. Finish with a pinch of salt.
- Pour vinaigrette in to a mason or reusable Rick’s Picks pickle jar to allow for individual dressing of salads!
Et Voilà, Your Salad has arrived!!
Cool Cucumber Soup…with Handy Corn!
Our terrific market maven Anna Bond shares her cool soup for the hot months ahead:
This soup harnesses Handy Corn’s sweet-and-sour complexity alongside the creamy tang of local yogurt to elevate seasonal vegetables and herbs into a refreshing soup that’s perfect for a light summer meal. No cooking required!
I bought my yogurt from Greenmarket stalwart Hawthorne Valley Biodynamic Farm (http://hawthornevalleyfarm.org/); all the other produce came from my Garden Of Eve Organics CSA box (http://www.gardenofevefarm.com/).
Handy Corn Cucumber-Yogurt Soup
To make Handy Corn bruschetta, grill or toast baguette rounds, brush with olive oil, and top with drained Handy Corn.
3 medium cucumbers (about 1 ¼ lbs.), stems removed, chopped into chunks
1 cup packed arugula leaves
1 scallion, white and green parts, chopped into large pieces
¼ cup fresh dill leaves
½ cup Handy Corn brine (about 1 jar’s worth)
1 ½ cups plain full-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon salt
Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Serve at cool room temperature, with Handy Corn bruschetta on the side. Enjoy!
Joanne’s Hotties Lamb Burger
Rick told me that the gang at Ricks Picks was going to be posting each day starting Friday with 7 different recipes using one of the pickles with one of the 7 ingredients: strawberries, peas, chives and green garlic, rhubarb, lamb, oysters and yogurt. This is a celebration of the Edible community.
I wanted in so here is what I created, using lamb as one of the ingredients.
Ingredients:
Grilled and sliced leg of lamb
Thin slices of goat gouda that will easily melt over sliced hot lamb
Mixture of Dijon mustard mixed with a few drops of Worchestshire sauce
A piece of Napa cabbage
Chopped handful of Hotties
Chopped handful of grape tomatoes
Soft bun
Cut the bun in half, scoop out the top half of the buns inside bread (makes for a better layered sandwich), slather the bottom half with mustard mixture, put in slices of lamb, top with gouda, top with chopped pickles, topped with chopped tomatoes and layer over a slice of Napa cabbage, put on the top…Voila. Nice tasty sandwich with a good kick from the pickle. Perfect lunch.
Announcing the Hotties Recipe Contest Winner!
Folks, the competition was fierce. Our mouths were on fire as we tested and tasted the recipe submissions from all the Hotties lovers out there. After much deliberation and countless gulps of water, we have a winner. Drumroll, please…
Grand Prize Winner of a year’s supply of Rick’s Picks is…
CLAIRE BISCHOFF!!! She is definitely hot for Hotties, submitting not one, not two, but THREE recipes that cover an entire meal from appetizer to dessert. Wow-za! Complete with some beautiful pics. Congrats Claire! Your efforts will be rewarded by some pickled goodness coming your way today.
Big thanks to all our fans who participated in the Hotties Recipe Contest. Stay tuned for more recipe contests in the future!
Here are Claire’s THREE winning recipes below as well as her sweet note:
I used to live in Brooklyn for a short while, so am very familiar with Rick’s Picks. When I heard there was a recipe contest with the new Hottie’s brand I jumped on the chance to win pickles for a year. Unfortunately Rick’s Picks are not available in Montana, so to get them for a year for free, yes please. I had my friend ship me a jar and mulled over what would be the winning recipe. I started talking to some coworkers (I work at a local bakery), and we all started brainstorming. We came up with some great recipes, but decided we needed to test them out on some people to see if they thought they were great as well. I run an underground restaurant, so we thought the perfect setting would be to do a themed pickle dinner to try them out.
The menu was a spicy pickle martini, a pickle deviled egg, spicy pulled pork sandwich with fried Hotties and spicy Asian slaw, and a chocolate pickle cupcake with candied pickle. The event was a success! There was not a dish they didn’t love, including the cupcake! Attached are our recipes as well as pictures of the dishes and the event itself. Thanks for your consideration!
Sarah Mohrmann
Claire Bishcoff
Sarah Gregson
Chicken Satay with Hottie Peanut Sauce
Peanut Sauce
6 cloves garlic
½ onion
1 T lemon zest
½ t minced ginger
½ T cilantro
¼ T cumin 1 t Rick’s Picks Hottie juice
¼ t coriander ½ c. chunky peanut butter
2 dried chilies 1 ½ c. coconut milk
4 Rick’s Picks Hotties 2 T fish sauce
¼ t nutmeg 1 T sugar
¼ t cinnamon
Roast garlic until soft. Sauté with onion in saucepan. Toast chilies. Add chilies and rest of ingredients. Cook until heated through. Puree in blender or with an immersion blender.
Chicken Skewers
½ cup coconut milk
¼ cup soy sauce
2 T cilantro
¼ cup Rick’s Picks Hottie Juice
1 T Sriracha
2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
Combine ingredients and pour over chicken breasts in a shallow baking dish. Let sit overnight. Slice chicken into strips. Skewer chicken onto soaked wooden skewers and grill until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Serve with room temperature peanut sauce.
BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Deep Fried Hotties and Spicy Slaw
BBQ Sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onions
4 cloves garlic
2 1/2 c. tomato sauce
3/4 cup water
1/4 t. chili powder
1/2 T. red pepper flakes
3/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 cup Rick’s Picks Hottie juice
2 T Worcestershire
1 1/2 chipotles in adobo
¼ cup brown sugar
1 T honey
White pepper-To Taste
Salt-To Taste
2 lbs. Pork roast
Small dice the onions and sauté with garlic in olive oil until they are translucent. Add remaining ingredients. Combine and heat through. Blend with immersion blender.
Add ¾ of the BBQ sauce to a slow cooker with the pork roast. Turn on Low and let simmer for 8-12 hours, occasionally pulling meat apart and adding more sauce if needed.
Deep Fried Hotties
1 qt. Canola oil
32 Rick’s Picks Hottie slices
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups cornmeal
1T Kosher salt
Heat Oil to 375˚ F. Pat Pickles slices dry. Mix cornmeal and salt. Dip pickles in buttermilk then cornmeal mixture, repeat. Fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes.
Spicy Slaw
½ cup Vegetable oil
¼ cup Rice vinegar
2 T Sesame oil
1 ½ T Fresh ginger
2 t. Soy sauce
2 T. Rick’s Picks Hottie Juice
1 T Sriracha
6 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage
6 Green onions cut on a diagonal
6 oz. Snow peas thinly sliced
1 lg. Red bell pepper thinly sliced
½ cup Toasted peanuts
Whisk together first 7 ingredients. Toss with vegetables until coated. Top with crushed peanuts. Season with salt and pepper. Cut 8 ciabatta rolls in half. Broil until lightly toasted. Top with a generous portion of pulled pork and 4 to 5 deep fried Hotties. Serve with Spicy Slaw on side.
Spicy Chocolate Cupcakes with Candied Hotties
1 cup Butter
1 ½ cups Sugar
3 Eggs
1 t. Vanilla
2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 t. Baking Powder
1 t. Soda
¼ t. Salt
½ cup Cocoa powder
1 cup Rick’s Picks Hottie Juice
12 oz Rick’s Picks Hotties- patted dry and chopped fine
Cream butter and sugar until combined and light in color. Add eggs and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together. Add alternately to butter mixture with Hottie Juice. Stir in pickles. Fill paper lined muffin tins 2/3 full and bake at 350˚F for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes clean.
Spicy Ganache
4 oz. Heavy cream
4 oz. Dark Chocolate
1 t. Sriracha
Heat heavy cream in a saucepan until it just starts to boil. Take off heat and add chocolate and Sriracha. Let sit 2 minutes and whisk together.
Candied Pickles
24 Ricks Pick’s Hottie slices
8 oz. Sugar
8 oz. Water
Extra water for blanching
Combine sugar and first quantity of water and bring to a simmer. Boil about 2 cups of water in a saucepan. Add pickle slices and boil for three minutes. Transfer to simmering sugar water. Keep at a simmer and let pickles cook for two hours, let drain on a cooling rack. Dip cupcakes in warm ganache and top with a candied pickle slice.
Bare Burger serves up Rick’s Picks
The RP team and Euripedes of Bare Burger
The Rick’s Picks team visited our newest restaurant customer Bare Burger last week to test out its all natural burgers. We were warmly greeted by the staff and later joined by the company founder, Euripedes. As our delicious sides (hello french fries and monster onion rings!), pickle assortment (Rick’s Picks Hotties, The People’s Pickle and Bee ‘n’ Beez) and delectable burgers arrived, Rick and I spoke with Euripedes about his mission to elevate the humble burger.
Rick Field, Jina Kim, Euripedes
J: How did you get involved in Bare Burger?
E: That’s a long story. I had a place in Brooklyn, in Clinton Hill/Bed-Stuy that I just closed down called Sputnik. It was a bar/live music/art gallery space. We started doing organic burgers, and they really took off, but it didn’t make sense to be in that setting. When the economy turned, that neighborhood took a serious turn for the worse. All the development stopped, the construction stopped, and the neighborhood started getting a little rough again, and this business went bad. And we said we have a group of people…
R: We’re in a burger moment though, the timing is good.
E: Yes. And there’s obviously a lot of competition out there, but we decided lets go open up a place in Astoria, our home town, that’s just about the burger, and the whole environment, and the place, and it just took off.
J: When did the Astoria location open up?
E: June 2009. We started off with just a small corner spot. The reason we opened there is because we all grew up in that area, all of us that are involved. In a matter of a year and a half, we took over the next door space, and we found this space (in Greenwich Village), which has worked out for us so far. I think this (Greenwich Village) space is more like a Spring and Summer spot, as you can see there is a deck. We had one nice day last week, and this place had a 40 minute wait. Right now our focus is on getting involved with the right people.
J: This is your second location (LaGuardia Pl.), and you have a third one now?
E: Yes, we have a third one in Murray Hill that just opened up a few weeks ago.
J: Are you the brainchild behind all of these, or are they franchises?
E: Yes, I’m the franchise (laughs).
R: So in 7 years, you are going to have 100 Bare Burgers?
E: Maybe in 4 (laughs). We are actually building two in Brooklyn right now. One on 7th Avenue and First Street in Park Slope, right on the corner, great spot. And I think we are signing a lease in Williamsburg very soon, in a matter of weeks.
J: Why the healthy angle?
E: The reason why the organic focus is that I was getting my meat from all the regular meat purveyors, and we started doing our research on how these animals were raised, what they eat, how they are slaughtered, what they live in, and it was really disgusting. Really really disgusting. So we found an awesome purveyor of meats in Montana, they do a lot of business throughout the country, and we decided to get our meat from them.
R: So you get everything from them?
E: I get a little bit of everything from a lot of different people. For what we have in mind, for doing big stuff, we try and stay as local as possible.
J: So are you a healthy eater yourself?
E: I’ve been eating Bare Burgers for the last 2 ½ years. I’ve gained about 20 pounds, but it’s alright.
J: So you’re bigger, but healthier.
E: Yes, as my wife would like to say, the same thing.
J: What are you most proud of with this franchise?
E: Honestly, it’s the people that are jumping on board. I’m a bit of a romantic in a sense – the money is sort of secondary, I just want to build a really good company. Good people involved, really strong relationships with distributors and purveyors, people that are interested in the same food movement that we’re in. But like I said, the most amazing thing to me right now, besides the concept, and the food, and the whole environment, is that I have friends of 20 years that are stopping everything they are doing to open up a restaurant. To me, that means more that anything. And there is a lot of responsibility that comes with that, but that is what I am most proud of, the direction that we are going in.
And you guys seem like you have a nice team of people here too, very diverse.
The man with the healthy burger mission
Rick's Picks pickle plate with Hotties, Bee 'n' Beez and The People's Pickle
The verdict on the burgers…aaaaaa-mazing! With so many different kinds of meat (beef, lamb, bison, turkey, plus vegetarian options) and toppings to choose from, this is a true made-to-order burger. We left full and satisfied, minus the greasy burger belly.
Bare Burger locations:
Astoria
33-21 31st Avenue
Astoria, NY 11106
718 777 7011
NYU area
535 Laguardia Place
NYC, NY 10012
212 477 8125
Midtown East
514 3rd Avenue
NYC, NY 10016
212 679 2273
Green Dreams
Three Picklers and a bin of Rick Pedersen's finest.
There’s a lot of gray this time of year, which is why I thought it would be nice to reflect on what is in front of us. This photo was taken on the loading dock of our production facility in Kingston, NY by Jennifer May of Edible Hudson Valley. The cukes in the bin come from Rick Pedersen of Seneca Castle, NY, who for five years has been our sole source of kirby cucumbers. These babies were made into buckets of Kool Gherks about half an hour after this picture was taken… that’s Luc Roels and Jim Hyland n the picture with me. They run the production facility. Think green in all ways, people. It’s coming.
#2 Pickle Gifting Tip: Gifting Opportunities
Whether you’re searching for the perfect gift for stocking stuffers, gift swaps/exchanges, secret santa or a holiday party, pickles are a sure-fire way to say show you care. An healthy and tasty option for a co-worker or best friend that won’t break the bank. Just be ready for everyone to fight for your gift during the gift exchange!
Mix and match any of our 15 pickle varieties, check out our Pickle Personalities blog post for more ideas.
#3 Pickle Gifting Tip: Test it Out
Now that you’ve slightly narrowed down your pickle selection, host a party and serve up an array of pickles. Before you surprise friends with the gift of pickles, have your party guests taste the different varieties and have them rate their favorite. They won’t suspect that you’re using them as guinea pigs before you do your holiday shopping.
Plus, it’s a great excuse to throw a party!
Rick's Picks Cocktail Party Pack
#4 Pickle Gifting Tip: Shopping Strategies
Post your wrapped pickle gift on our Facebook wall
Market Season until End of the Year
Union Square Greenmarket
Grand Army Greenmarket
Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene
Brooklyn, New York
Gifted presented by the Brooklyn Flea
Dec 15 – 23, 11am – 7pm
One Hanson Place (at Ashland Place)
Brooklyn, New York
Unique gifts from over 100 vendors
New Amsterdam Market
Sundays
South Street between Beekman Street and Peck Slip- near the old Fulton Fish Market
NYC, New York
New York, NY
10 Columbus Circle (at The Time Warner Center)
New York, NY
Tues 12/7, 4-7
Whole Foods Market – Chelsea
260 Seventh Avenue (corner of 25th Street)
New York, NYWeds 12/8, 5-8pm
Provisions Greene Grape
765 Fulton St
Brooklyn, NY
Sat 12/11, 4-7pm
Union Market
754 Union Street
Brooklyn, NY
