RECOVERED RECIPE (Giardiniera, originally posted July 31, 2024) –
As many of you know, in September 2024 I lost the prior eleven months of melinmac cooks posts (November 2023 through September 2024), and I’m now trying to rebuild what I’ve lost. This is one of those posts. Luckily I saved all of the pictures on my hard drive, but the content of the lost posts, including recipes, are not recoverable. At this point I’m not trying to recreate anything more than the recipes with pictures. Hopefully I’ll build it all back over time. Thanks for being here!
This recipe is for brined Giardiniera, a type of quick pickle. This Giardiniera is fantastic, but if you have the time and inclination, try my recipe for Fermented Giardiniera. It’s even better!
Giardiniera
Equipment
- 3 pint-sized Mason jars
Ingredients
VEGETABLES
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 4 carrots
- 2 stalks celery
- 4 banana peppers
- 1 serrano pepper
BRINE
- 2 cups distilled white vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 1 T kosher salt
- 1 T sugar
OTHER
- 3 bay leaves
- ½ t whole black peppercorns
- 3 T olive oil
Instructions
- Prep the veg – Separate the cauliflower into bite-sized florets. Trim and peel the carrots, and slice them on the bias into 1/2-inch slices. Trim the celery, halve lengthwise if they stalks are very large, then slice them across into 1/2-inch slices. Destem and deseed the peppers. Slice the banana peppers. Chop the serrano pepper into a fine dice.
- Make the pickling brine – Add the water and vinegar to a large saucepan. Stir in the salt and sugar, and warm over medium heat to dissolve, then bring the brine to a boil, and boil for 3 minutes. Remove the brine from the heat.
- Steep the veg in the brine and prep your jars – Add the vegetables to the brine, cover, and steep for 1-2 minutes. Scoop the vegetables out of the brine into a large bowl. Add the bay leaves and peppercorns to the jars.
- Fill the jars – Tightly pack the vegetables into the jars, the cover with the brine, leaving about 1/2-inch headspace. Spoon 1 T oil into each jar, cover, and refrigerate.
Notes
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