03 Jul courgette pickles
We love recipes that can straddle the seasons while making the best use of the ingredients to hand. Our courgette pickles are that kind of recipe. Plan ahead by bringing a bit of summer to your autumn by brining and jarring your loveliest courgettes.
We adore these on hot dogs and hamburgers but they’re also lovely with hard cheeses or stuffed into a soft sambo. These will keep for one to two months in sterilised jars but they also taste great after a few days.
What you need for a forkful of courgette pickles
For the pickling bit:
2 or 3 lovely courgettes
2 tablespoons of salt
A jug of iced water
For the brine:
500ml good quality cider vinegar (we used David Llewellyn’s amazing stuff)
150g caster sugar
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon of turmeric
2 cloves of garlic, finely grated
Thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, finely grated
Wash and very finely slice the courgettes. Lay out as flat as you can in a large dish. Sprinkle with the salt and cover completely with the iced water. Leave to soak for one hour.
Meanwhile, put all of the brine ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sugar is dissolved. This will only take 5 minutes. Leave to cool.
When the courgettes have had an hour soaking, drain them and dry them really really well with kitchen towel.
Mix the courgettes into the brine (you want the brine to be warm but not hot) before pouring the mix into sterilised jars.
Store in your fridge for up to 1 month at least. Best served alongside a BBQ. Even if it is an autumn one.
Thanks to little xs for eyes for the use of their tune Summer Never Comes as remixed by Fearsome Floors.
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