You may be baked out of ideas for what to do with your CSA share of veggies. Have you steamed, spiralized, roasted, grilled and baked it into a loaf cake and find yourself fresh out of ideas? I’ve got you covered. We are getting pickled!
It was a fresh and fabulous rye bread from a new, local CSB (like a CSA but Community Supported Bread) which inspired me to pickle some veggies. It was also the memory of a very surprising Soba Noodle Salad from Saucony Creek Brewery and Gastropub. When you see a Soba Noodle Salad on the menu, you always have low expectations but high hopes. Pickled veggies were tossed into the mix and I’d travel back just for this vegan salad!
Until I make the return trip to Saucony, I made pickled vegetables with help from Nan Reinert of Chubby Pickle Farms. She taught pickling classes at Weaver’s Orchard and her pickles rock!
My pickling menu plan included toasted rye bread, avocado, Swiss cheese, pickled veggies and hot sauce. You could add a fried egg. It makes for a perfect vegetarian summer lunch.
You’ll find three easy refrigerator pickle recipes below. Check out Nan’s Weaver’s Orchard video for refrigerator and hot water pickling methods and grab her recipes for Chow Chow and Dilly Beans.
Before we say adieu, the 2 Weird Hungry Girls recorded several pickling and canning episodes with Nan and nationally known and loved Marisa McClellan, of Food in Jars. Listen in!
Getting Pickled with Marisa McClellan
Jar Jamming with Marisa McClellan
Summer Jam Session with Nan Reinert
Happy pickling!
Pickled Radish
Recipe by Phoebe Canakis
Yields approximately two cups
Toss on chilled salads, tacos, roasted veggies, avocado toast or even in your potato salad.
Bringing the vinegar to a boil will be a bit odiferous. Just a fair warning; you’ll want to be quick about that step.
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of radishes
- 3/4 cup vinegar
- 3/4 cup water
- 2 tsp salt
- 1-2 Tbsp sugar
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4 dill heads
- Pinch of pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
Instructions
1. Wash and thinly slice the radishes. Pack into a 12-ounce canning jar with the garlic cloves and dill heads divided between the bottom and middle. Top with optional seeds or spices.
2. In a small sauce pan, bring the water and vinegar to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, add the sugar and salt, stirring to dissolve.
3. Pour the vinegar over the radish until covered. Wipe the rim, tightly seal, allow to cool on the counter then refrigerate for up to one week. Keep refrigerated for up to two months.
Basic Pickling Recipe
Recipe by Nan Reinert, Chubby Pickle Farms
Yields 1 quart
Note: Use any vegetables you’d like. Nan uses cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, onions or radishes.
Ingredients
- 4 cups vegetables
- ¼ - ½ tsp of whole dried spices (I use a blend of peppercorns, cumin, coriander, mustard seeds and caraway.)
- 1 cup vinegar, white wine or cider vinegar
- 1 cup filtered water
- 1 Tbsp kosher or any non-iodized salt
- optional: 1 tsp sugar
Instructions
1. Wash and cut the vegetables. Pack into a clean jar. Add the spices.
2. Combine vinegar, filtered water and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
3. Put your just-boiled brine over the vegetables in the jar.
4. Wipe any vinegar spills from the rim with a clean towel and put on the lid. Allow to cool.
5. Hide the jar in the back of the fridge for at least a week. Two weeks is better, three is best.
6. Keep them in the fridge for up to 6 months
Dad’s Favorites Bread and Butter Refrigerator Pickles
Recipe by Nan Reinert, Chubby Pickle Farms
Yields 4 quarts
Ingredients
- 5 cups sugar
- 3 cups white vinegar
- ⅓ cup canning salt (no impurities or iodine)
- 1 tsp celery seed
- 1 tsp mustard seed
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- 4 to 6 onions sliced thin (optional)
- Approximately 25 cucumbers sliced any way you like
Instructions
1. Slice up your cucumbers any way you like and pack them tightly into clean, sterilized jars. Twist them, turn them, jam them in!
2. Make the brine by heating up the vinegar (DO NOT BOIL) in a large pan — do not use aluminum or copper pans or utensils. (These metals react with the vinegar and give the brine a tinny taste.)
3. Slowly add the sugar, stirring until it dissolves. Add all the other spices to the brine; stir well.
4. Ladle the hot brine over the cold cucumbers into jars leaving ¼ inch headspace. Wipe the rim with a lint-free cloth dipped in boiling water, place a heated cap on the jar and screw on the ring.
5. Let all the jars sit on the counter for 24 hours and then place them in the refrigerator. Refrigerator pickles do not need to have an airtight seal like canned pickles. Refrigerator pickles will last a year.
