Giardiniera

Vegetables blanched in the vinegar itself, not in water, then jarred.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 1 cauliflower, in small florets
• 4 carrots, in batons
• 4 celery sticks, in short lengths
• 2 peppers, in strips
• 200 g pearl onions, peeled
• 1 litre white wine vinegar, the pickling liquid, which is not eaten
• 500 ml water
• 60 g salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• bay leaves, peppercorns, cloves

Method

1. Cut everything to a similar size so it cooks at the same rate, and keep the pieces small enough to spear.
2. Bring the vinegar, water, salt, sugar and spices to a boil.
3. BLANCH THE VEGETABLES IN THE VINEGAR ITSELF, in batches, by hardness: carrots and onions 4 minutes, cauliflower 3, celery and peppers 2. Lift each batch out with a slotted spoon.
4. Blanching in water and then pouring vinegar over is the usual shortcut and it gives a vegetable that is cooked on the outside and raw within, which goes soft in the jar within a fortnight.
5. Spread the drained vegetables on cloths and let them cool and dry completely. Wet vegetables dilute the vinegar in the jar and shorten the keeping.
6. Pack them into sterilised jars and pour the boiling vinegar over to cover completely, leaving no vegetable above the surface.
7. FORK THE VEGETABLES OUT OF THE JAR TO SERVE. The vinegar is the preserving medium and is not eaten -- it stays behind, which is what keeps the rest of the jar for a year.
8. LEAVE IT A MONTH before opening. On the second day it tastes of raw vinegar and nothing else; a month in, the vegetables have taken the spice and given back their sweetness. It keeps a year unopened.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes