Small Batch Spiny Gherkin Pickles & Doin' All The Things.

to old friends and new. 

Small Batch Spiny Gherkin Pickles

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Doin' All The Things.

(also, i'm kinda famous now.)

garlicky brine is always the answer.

I stumbled across these Hmong Farms-grown maxixie cucumbers at the Brookline farmers' market last week. After excitedly staring at them for a good two minutes I picked out what looked like a good bunch (?) and brought them to the cashier. My gleeful confusion was not exactly mirrored by the guy who sold them to me, but I would not be deterred. I had no idea what they were or what to do with them but was absolutely certain that they needed to be mine. Find a strange, vaguely Seussian variety of gherkin while doing your weekly produce shopping? 

The only option is to pickle the hell out of it. 

Garlicky Small Batch Spiny Gherkin 

(Maxixie Cucumber) Pickles

(makes one quart or two pints)

1 bunch spiny gherkins (also know as maxixe cucumbers), about 8

1c apple cider vinegar

1/4c water

4 garlic cloves, smashed

1 large head of dried dill, or 2 teaspoons dill seed

1Tbsp kosher salt

1tsp unrefined sugar

1/2tsp brown mustard seeds

Add garlic, mustard seeds and dill seeds to a clean quart canning jar, 

or distribute evenly between two pint jars.

Wash and thoroughly scrub gherkins, then cut lengthwise into quarters or eighths, 

depending on your pickle thickness preference.

Whisk together vinegar, water, salt and sugar until dissolved.

Stuff cucumber slices into jars, pouring water and vinegar mix over top until covered.

Cover jar(s) tightly, give them a good shake, and refrigerate.

The longer they sit, the more the flavors will develop.

all the pickled things.

quick pickled watermelon radishes and fennel

pretty pink picklemania.

Quick-Pickled 

Watermelon Radishes & Fennel.

anxiety-inducing seasonality be (ever so slightly) damned.

Sometimes spring and summer produce gives me anxiety. Truthfully, sometimes most things give me anxiety, but we're here to talk about vegetables. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE summer (and all of the radishes, cucumbers, corn, tomatoes, etc. that come with it) but sometimes that "love with a capitol L" leads to irrational excitement which leads to overbuying and that overbuying leads to panic.

Or the excitement leads to panic and that panic leads to overbuying....

How on earth am I going to eat all of these ______ 

*fill in the blank with seasonally appropriate produce* before they go bad? 

How can I keep eating said seasonally appropriate produce 

even when it is no longer seasonally appropriate???

I CAN'T/ WON'T GO BACK TO A LIFE WITHOUT RADISHES.

Quick pickles are the answer.

A little vinegar, a little spice.

Seasonality temporarily upended,

(vegetable-based) anxiety alleviated.

And the picklemania? Totally manageable.

pretty pickle therapy.

bounty.

Quick Pickled Watermelon Radishes 

& Fennel.

(will fill one quart jar)

1 bunch watermelon radishes (about 3-4)

1 large fennel bulb with stalks and fronds attached

1/2c unseasoned rice vinegar

1Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

1/2tsp sea salt

2tsp organic sugar

2tsp freshly ground coriander seeds

2 star anise pods

2Tbsp toasted sesame oil

Quick Pickled Radishes

always dance with the one that brung ya.
Quick Asian-Style Pickled Radishes 
and Sweet Onions

Layered sliced radishes and sweet onions, soon to be pickles.

It always comes back around to the pickle. If you're a regular reader you know all too well that I've been on a radish tear of late. With the exception of dessert, they've made an appearance in nearly every dish coming out of my kitchen this summer. Yes, even breakfast; salted radishes on toast, anyone? But I always return to my first love, the one that brought me to the radish party in the first place, the pickle. More specifically, the quick pickle- a ridiculously simple (and tasty) way to preserve these beautiful little roots . This is a slight modification of my earlier recipe for pickled watermelon radishes, using instead spring/summer radishes (such as champion or french breakfast) and sweet onions. Leaving the radishes unpeeled will give the finished pickles a gorgeous pinkish hue, the perfect pop
of color for summer salads and slaws.
Now you go and try this recipe while I get to
work on this whole radish dessert thing...

Fresh coriander in the mortar and pestle.

Quick Pickled Radishes and Sweet Onions
(will fill one 8oz jar)

You will need a clean glass jar
with a tight fitting lid

1 small bunch of radishes, scrubbed and sliced into thin discs
1/2 sweet onion,
cut into 1/8" slices
1/4c unseasoned rice vinegar
1/2tsp sea salt
1/4tsp ground pepper
1tsp organic sugar
1 1/2tsp freshly ground coriander seeds
2tsp extra virgin olive oil





Layer sliced onions and radishes in a clean glass jar.
Sprinkle ground coriander seeds over top of layered vegetables.
In a separate bowl, whisk together rice vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar and olive oil.

Pour vinegar mixture over radishes and onions.
Seal jar tightly and give it a good shake.
Refrigerate overnight, allowing flavors to develop.
Will keep in the fridge for up to a month.

The gorgeously pink finished pickles.