Picked radish ~ Side

Have you ever been given some fruit or vegetables from a friend or in your weekly fruit and vegetable box and you have either no idea how to use it or you can't possibly use them all up at once? By the time you conger up the courage to use the fruit or vegetable you find it at the back of the fridge wiltered and horrible and the only thing you can do is put it in the compost. Sometimes what happens to me is that I have eaten something so often during its season that I couldn’t possibly eat it again in its traditional form and I get so sick of it that they are left in the back of my fridge out of boredom. The next time you see the fruit or vegetable is when you go out for brunch and see the ingredient on the menu. You order your meal and when it arrives you see it on the dish and think. Wow that looks so simple.

If you can not use up a fruit or vegetable a great way to use it for later is preserving, pickling or bottling them for later use. Often the method of preserving can give the fruit or vegetable a different flavour profile and gives the item a new lease of life and many other uses other than its original form. Chances are that sometimes preserving is simpler than it seems. Preserving seems to be put in the too hard basket, it’s a mind block when we hear the word preserving. We possibly think that’s what my grandmother did, I can't do that, or simply think you are too busy to do it. Think again! Especially when it comes to pickling. The process of pickling can be hot or cold. When you use a hot pickle you are slightly cooking the vegetable whilst locking in flavour. It is as simple as boiling water for pasta and chopping up veggies for a salad. If you can do that, you can pickle. You may have heard of 'giardinara' an Italian method of pickling a selection of vegetables, that you can get from your trendy deli that cost a pretty penny, they are simply pickled. Vegetables that are good for pickling include; radish, cucumbers, zucchini, daikon, carrots, beans, beetroot, garlic, capsicum, cauliflower and believe it or not watermelon rind. If you think about it watermelon rind has similar characteristics to daikon or cucumber. I have never pickled watermelon rind before so if you do pickle it then please let us know how you go.

My current conundrum is radishes. I like the peppery note to a radish. When I use them fresh I generally just add them to a salad, but after 5 radish salads in a week I am all radished out! Pickled raddish has so many uses. Many cultures including Asian, Western and Middle Eastern use the vegetable in the pickled form to enhance, cleanse the pallet or accompany dishes. They are also a great addition to a salad when you only have boring lettuce and tomato in the fridge and to a grazing board or a ploughman's platter to accompany a cheddar instead of using gherkins, for example. I have also used them to accompany terrines. The sharpness of a picked raddish cuts through the fatty and rich flavor of a terrine perfectly.

The below guide can be used to pickle many vegetables, if you are pickling fruit I would reduce the vinegar content and possibly add a little more sugar.

Guide

~ 1 bunch of radish

~ 2/3 cup of vinegar

~ 2/3 cup of water

~ 2 tbs of something sweet - i.e. honey, coconut sugar maple syrup

~ 2 tsp of salt

~ Herbs, seeds and spices of your choosing. Pick 2 or 3 i.e. Rosemary and peppercorn, garlic and rosemary, bay leaves and thyme. I have used mustard seeds and chives in this pickle.

Preparation

~ Chop the tops of the radishes off and either pop in the compost or use in a salad or saute with garlic for a side dish.

~ Wash and scrub radish if required.

~ Slice the raddish as thinly as possible and pop in a bowl.

~ Using well cleaned jars place approx 5cm of piled radishes, layer with herbs and spices of your choice and continue the layering process till the jar is filled.

~ Place in a saucepan the vinegar, water, sweetener and salt until its reached boiling point.

~ Take saucepan off the heat and pour slowly into jars.

~ Seal the lids well and place the jars upside down on a wooden chopping board or anything you have that is heat resistant. This will preserve and seal the lids.

~ Store and use whenever you little radish heart desires.

So next time you are out to brunch or dinner have a look on the menu and see how many different items are preserved, the result may surprise you. If you have a grandparent still alive ask them about preserving. They may tell you that it was a way to eat things throughout the year as things were not available all year round. It could also be that the only way they could store things was to preserve them as they didn’t have a fridge. Now we don’t have those issues of storing food or seasonality, however your asserting and sophisticated pallets will appreciate the process of preserving as well as being a bragging point for your friends at the dinner table or as food porn on social media.

Words By

Anita La Forgia

Life learner, multipotentialite, lifestyle elevator and creator

A treechanger who cooks to elevate life. Anita is passionate foodie using local, quality and seasonal ingredients. Living in the Macedon Ranges in Victoria she frequents the local farmers markets each week, with her beloved luggy. Her grandparents instilled the life skills of sustainable living, before sustainable living was a buzz word. She grew up in a restaurant and completing her International degree at César Ritz colleges in Switzerland, the heart land of hospitality, food and service.

RecipeFika StudioJanuary 7, 2018Nourish, Seasonal, Sides