This
post is sort of a continuation of my last one, which should probably be called
"Too Hot to Cook!"
I
watch too many cooking shows. Iron Chef, Top Chef, America's next whatever (I'm convinced there are at least
three Gordon Ramsay clones because no one person could possibly do as much as
he does), Chopped—I'm there,
collecting ideas.
Recently
I've noticed that when the eager chef-testants describe the dishes they are
presenting, they often say, "then I made a quick pickle for some
brightness" or something like that.
Quick
pickle? For some reason I had it in my
head that pickling was a long and tedious process that involved boiling a lot
of stuff and putting it in jars that had to be sterile (more boiling). Not for
me! Certainly not in the middle of a hot summer, which unfortunately is when
all the good stuff is ripe for pickling.
But
I have now proven myself wrong. There are
plenty of quick-pickle recipes. The
beauty of them is, you can use more or less whatever vegetables you have on
hand, as long as you cut them into fairly small pieces so the dressing can
penetrate and work its magic.
ASIAN
QUICK PICKLE
½
cup rice vinegar (you can substitute white vinegar)
2
Tblsp. sesame oil
2
Tblsp. soy sauce
1
Tblsp. light brown sugar
1
Tblsp. minced fresh ginger
1
Tblsp. Thai fish sauce
Whisk
the ingredients together in a medium saucepan and bring it to a boil. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, then add
your vegetables and toss. Let cool, then cover
and let stand at room temperature. Taste
before serving and add salt if you think the dish needs it.
I
had a lovely batch of organic radishes from our local farmers market, and I
liked the contrast of the red skin and white interior, so I made matchsticks of
those. Then I also made matchsticks of
some pretty yellow carrots (note that the pieces were all roughly the same
size). I had some sugar snap peas as
well and thought the green might be a nice contrast, so I sliced them into
narrow strips and added them.
You
can use almost any vegetable you like. Thin slices of
bell pepper (all and any colors) would work well. Cucumbers. Zucchini. (Not mushrooms, though—they'd go slimy
fast.) And of course, you can add thinly
sliced cabbage (add that last), to make it a more traditional slaw.
And
all those chef-testants are right: a side
dish like this adds sharpness and crunch to your meal. It's a nice change from
traditional cole slaw for an outdoor picnic.
Fermented pickles don't use any heat at all! :)
ReplyDeletei love this, Sheila. What fun to have quick pickled vegetables. My mother was a canner back in the day, but I'm terrified of poisoning people. I understand it's not as hard as I think. (Oh, sure!)
ReplyDelete~ Krista
This sounds wonderful!! Thanks, Sheila!
ReplyDeleteAnyone know a good sub for fish sauce? Vegie Worcestershire sauce? Hmm. Will scour the internets and report back. :)
Aha - either more soy sauce or something called "Golden Mountain Sauce" ... which I now must find. :)
ReplyDeleteI seem to be a sauce junkie, or at least I have a strangely varied collection, thanks in part to my daughter. Golden Mountain Sauce? Sounds intriguing! (I'm still wrestling with Golden Syrup.)
ReplyDelete