Piccalilli

So my chutney making continues! This time it's picalilli. My Mum gave me the contents of her fridge before she went on holiday a couple of weeks ago and so I decided to use it up in one swoop. I'm not sure what this tastes like yet as it needs to rest for 4-6 weeks but it smelt gorgeous.

Picalilli (from River Cottage Handbook Preserves by Pam Corbin)
(makes 3 340g jars)

1kg washed, peeled veg - choose 5 or 6 from the following: cauliflower or romanesco, green beans, cucumbers, courgettes, green or yellow tomatoes, tomatilloes, carrots, silver skinned onions or shallots, peppers.
50g fine salt
30g cornflour
10g tumeric
10g English mustard powder
15g yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp crushed cumin seeds
1 tsp crushed coriander seeds
600ml cider vinegar
150g granulated sugar
50g honey

Cut the veg into small, even bite-sized pieces. Place in a large bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Mix well, cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave in a cool place for 24 hours, then rinse the veg with ice cold water and drain thoroughly.

Blend the cornflour, tumeric, mustard powder, mustard seeds, cumin and coriander to a smooth paste with a little of the vinegar. Put the rest of the vinegar into a saucepan with the sugar and honey and bring to the boil. Pour a little of the hot vinegar over the blended spice paste, stir well and return to the pan. Bring gently to the boil. Boil for 3-4 mins to allow the spices to release their flavours into the thickening sauce.

Remove the pan from the heat and carefully fold the weel-drained veg into the hot, spicy sauce. Pack the picle into warm sterilised jars and seal with vinegar-proof lids. Leave for 4-6 weeks before opening. Use within a year.

Pickled Onions

My Mum gave me some tiny onions from her garden and I used them to make some pickled onions. I have no idea what they taste like as I need to leave them for a month to develop flavour!

Pickled Onions (from Vegetable Expert)
(Makes a 1 litre jar)

450g baby onions
600ml water
50g salt
400ml malt vinegar
1 tsp pink peppercorns
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tbsp caster sugar – for sweet pickled onions

Dissolve the salt in the cold water and put into a large bowl. Cut a thin slice from the base and top of each onion, ensuring that it will remain intact, and remove the outer skin. Drop the onions into the brine as you peel them. Leave the onions overnight (or up to 24 hours) to draw out moisture. In the morning, tip the onions into a colander and pat with kitchen towel to dry out as much as you can. 

Prepare the pickling vinegar. (If you'd like to include additional spices such as bay leaves, cardamom or chilli, go ahead - ensuring that you use no more than 1tbsp of spice in total.) Put the spices, sugar and vinegar in a pan and bring the mixture to simmering point. Turn off the heat, strain through a sieve to remove the whole spices, and let the vinegar cool for a while.

Prepare the jar. Wash in warm, soapy water and put them into a warm oven (120 degrees C) for 5 mins to sterilise them. Take out of the oven and leave for another minute or two before packing the onions into the jar. Pour in vinegar as you go, topping up after halfway and finishing with enough vinegar to cover the top layer of onions. Put the rubber seal onto the jar and seal. Turn the jar upside down to cool.

Whopping Potato Salad

Lovely tasty potato salad with a variety of flavours. It used up the last of the potatoes I brought back from the States, lovely red, white and blue mini potatoes. I used salami instead of pastrami. the origainl recipe suggest that you could also swap in peas, ham, toasted pumpkin seeds, diced red onion and chives. It would also be nice over a green salad. 

Whopping Potato Salad (from A Salad for All Seasons - Harry Eastman)
(Serves 4)

500g new potatoes
2 large eggs
30g wholegrain mustard
50g mayonnaise
1/2 tsp malt vinegar
salt and pepper
4 spring onions, finely chopped
150g thinly sliced pastrami, ham or salami
70g gherkins, finely chopped
small bunch dill, chopped

Boil the potatoes until just tender. Add the eggs to the pan around 8 mins before the end of the potatoes cooking time.

Drain the potatoes and eggs, then run the eggs under cold water to cool. Peel the eggs and set them aside.

Mix the mustard with the mayonnaise and vinegar. Taste and season.

Cut the cooked potatoes into halves or quarters depending on how big they are, then toos in the mayonnaise mixture.

Roughly chop the eggs and add to the mixture, along with the spring onions, pastrami, pickled gherkins and dill. Refrigerate until needed and serve at room temperature.

Hot Pickled Herring with Dill Pickle and Egg Potato Salad

I finally found someone to fillet herrings for me! There's a nice man on Borough Market who does it and so I bought three. He filleted them right there in front of me! I thought I'd do something interesting with them so I went for pickling which preserved the flavour and went perfectly with the potato salad.

Hot Pickled Herring with Dill Pickle and Egg Potato Salad
(from Lavender and Lovage)
(Serves 4)

For the potato salad

450g new potatoes, halved if large

dill, finely chopped

parsley, finely chopped

chives, finely chopped

1/2 red onion (peeled and cut into very thin rings)

6 large dill pickles, sliced or diced

2 eggs, hard boiled, and cut into quarters

3 tablespoons mustard mayonnaise

1 tbsp dill pickle juice

salt and white pepper

 

For the herrings

4 herring fillets

150ml dry white wine

150ml water

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

juice of 1 lemon (lemon then cut into wedges)

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 red onion, peeled and sliced into rings

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp peppercorns

1/2 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp salt

 

First make the potato salad. Boil the potatoes for about 10-12 mins until soft. Drain the potatoes and leave to cool.

Mix the mayonnaise with the dill pickle juice and then stir in the chopped herbs.

 

Next pickle the herrings. Place all of the ingredients except the herrings into a saucepan with a tight fitting lid, bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. 

 

Turn the heat down low and then add the herring fillets, put the lid on the saucepan and simmer gently over a low heat for 8 to 10 mins. Then turn the heat off and allow the herrings to sit in the pan for 2 to 4 mins. Drain the fish.

When ready to serve, spoon some of the potato salad onto each plate and place the eggs and onion rings on top. Top with the fish.

Tuna, Macaroni and Dill Pickle Salad

I made this to use up a half can of tuna I had leftover from something else. It was really tasty and punchy with the pickles and capers, which were a perfect compliment to the tuna. It's also really nice with some hard boiled eggs on top.

Tuna, Macaroni and Dill Pickle Salad (from Kalyn's Kitchen)
(Makes 4-6 servings)

250g macaroni
2 tins tuna in spring water, drained
4 large dill pickles, chopped
4 spring onions, sliced
2 tbsp capers
salt and pepper

For the dressing
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp dill pickle juice
1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
4 tbsp low fat mayonnaise

Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the macaroni according to packet instructions. When the pasta is done, drain and rinse with cold water. Drain well.

Meanwhile, mix the olive oil, lemon juice, pickle juice, and Old Bay seasoning, then whisk in the mayonnaise to make the dressing.

Put the tuna into a large bowl and break tuna apart with a fork, keeping it in chunks. Mix in the pickles, spring onions, and capers, then gently mix in the macaroni.

Mix in the dressing and season to taste with salt and pepper, serve or put into a lunchbox.