This is my go-to quick pickle base recipe for when I either need to use up those rapidly aging vegetables in the crisper drawer before heading to the farmers market or I’m wanting to have an extra easy vegetable addition to meals that’s quick to serve alongside a rich protein. They are delicious alongside roast pork, silverside with all the trimmings, sausages, chicken or pork schnitzel or on a platter with a hard mature cheese, ham and rye bread. This pickle base is particularly good for winter root and brassica vegetables. The important thing to remember is to make sure the vegetables are cut into slices or shapes that roughly have the same cooking time so they’re uniforming the same light crunchy texture.
Ingredients
500 g mixed vegetables e.g carrots, baby turnips, radishes, kohlrabi, cauliflower
½ litre apple cider vinegar
½ litre water
250 g white sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp caraway seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp dried dill
½ tsp dried chilli flakes (optional)
3 fresh or dried bay leaves
Method
- Prepare the vegetables by peeling, cutting into slices or sticks or cutting into florets.
- Bring the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, caraway and coriander seeds, dried dill, chilli flakes and bay leaves to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Place the root vegetables in the simmering pickling juice and cook until just starting to tenderise.
- Add the less hard vegetables and turn off the heat.
- Leave to cool before transferring to a container and then refrigerate.
- Serve alongside richer cold and roasted meats or sausages, hard cheeses or on an open rye sandwich.
