Pickled Peaches

Almost a year ago my boyfriend and I were visiting the fair city of Boston and true to character, the first restaurant on our to do list was known mainly for its burger. (jmCurley, if you’re interested in that kinda thing)

First, we ordered some of the tastiest whiskey cocktails we’ve ever had. Then, in lieu of a typical bread basket, what arrived to the table on the house was bacon grease popcorn. We could have stopped right there and I would have been satisfied with the entire excursion. But then in logical “we’re on vacation” YOLO fashion we went on to order an appetizer.

What showed up to our table went beyond all of my expectations. A luscious ball of burrata, surrounded by teensy toasts, prosciutto, pickled peaches, and microgreens all drizzled with a balsamic reduction. It began my head over heels love affair with burrata and introduced me to the pickling of peaches which completely blew my little mind. The burger, mind you, was also completely amazing and lived up to its reputation. But what I went on talking, thinking, and dreaming about for the next six months was that appetizer.

It became an immediate goal to figure out the secret of the pickled peaches. I imagined it might be hard, possibly involve a pressure canner or other unwieldy things that I may or may not have room for in my tiny NYC apartment or time for in my packed NYC schedule. So last year, peach season slipped right on by before I could attempt my hand at adding vinegar to sweet summer peaches and creating pickling magic.

The moment peach season arrived this summer, there was this little voice in my head poking me, tapping me on the shoulder, whispering into my ear as I stood over the peach bin at the farmers’ market. “Hey! Hey you! Don’t forget to pickle some peaches this summer!”

Turns out that it might be one the easiest things I’ve undertaken in the name of this blog. Completely easy and totally worth it. Now I just have to go get myself a big ole’ ball of burrata and re-live that appetizer from heaven experience.

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Pickled Peaches

adapted from this Kinfolk recipe

Ingredients:

¾ cup white vinegar

½ cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup water

1/2 cup of maple syrup or brown sugar

3 cinnamon sticks

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

1 teaspoon whole cloves

1 whole vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

4 ripe but firm peaches, pitted, peeled and cut into eighths

Directions:

In a small saucepan, heat white vinegar, cider vinegar, water, maple syrup, cinnamon sticks, whole peppercorns, whole cloves, vanilla bean, and salt over a medium heat. Stir to combine. Bring mixture to a boil and then let simmer for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile put prepared peaches into a heat safe container. When pickling liquid is ready, pour over the prepared peaches to cover. Let peaches and liquid sit until room temperature. Then cover and keep refrigerated.

Yield: 1 quart of pickled peaches. Will keep in refrigerator for approximately one month.

Pickled Carrots

Remember how I said everything should be pickled? Well, everything should be pickled.

And thanks to Food52 ---- who teach me the right way to do lots of things, I pickled some carrots. Some very purdy purple carrots from my CSA.

I have this strong urge a lot of the time to resist in consuming certain things because of how beautiful or shortlasting they are. Which I realize, is downright crazy and counterproductive. But sometimes, I still figure out ways to prolong their demise. Like pickling them or baking them into something.

Now pickling carrots isn’t so much of a novel idea, although it’s relatively new to me. Before this summer, I didn’t really realize you could pickle more than...pickles. (What a wretched life I led before coming into the good graces of vinegar.)

Obvs, I discovered things like Pickled Red Onions. But then on an outing to a fancy restaurant in SoHo, in lieu of the usual bread basket, the waiter passed around complimentary red grapes and pickled carrots. Everyone was thoroughly pleased with the combination and it was interesting and different to boot, even among the foodiest of foodies.

((To briefly veer off course a bit, can I tell you about the complimentary bacon grease popcorn I ate this weekend? Um, what? Yes. Exactly. It’s everything you’re thinking right now. This was at the same restaurant of Pickled Peach fame. Pickled peaches, yet another revelation.))

Okay so getting back to business. These carrots were so gorgeous, at first I wasn’t sure what to do with them. Eating them raw seemed just too boring but roasting or cooking them seemed too harsh an out.

However, preserving them in a fabulous magenta pickling liquid to last at least another couple weeks seemed perfectly appropriate.

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Pickled Carrots

as guided by this Food52 article

1 pound carrots, trimmed of their tops, scrubbed, and halved

2 cups white wine vinegar

⅔ cup water

⅓ cup honey

2 ½ tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon peppercorns

Place the halved carrots in a large glass mixing bowl.

In a small saucepan bring the vinegar, water, honey, salt and peppercorns to a boil. Once boiling remove from heat and pour the hot pickling liquid over the carrots. To keep carrots submerged in the brine, place a plate on top of them.

Let carrots and brine sit and cool completely.

Once cool, place carrots and brine in a sealed container. 

Will last 3 weeks to a month in the refrigerator.

Makes about 1 quart

Pickled Red Onions

Is it too late for an easy, quick Fourth of July condiment recipe? I know it’s practically over, but due to the East Coast’s complete wash out of a Fourth, perhaps some of y’all will be celebrating tomorrow? That’s what we’re doing and I will be sharing this love then. On all the burgers and all the hotdogs. Bunless, they might be. Tasteless, not so. 

As previously mentioned yesterday. I had time to do no things this week. I am le worst. So all those lovely veggies I lugged home from the market last Saturday have yet to meet their true destiny as the picnic salads I had planned to get done pre-July 4th. Gah! Even if you did celebrate today, this quick topping will hopefully elevate that cold burger you sneak out of the fridge at midnight.

I’ve only suddenly, recently, begun to adore red onions. With foods and me, it’s like a switch. One day I will hate something particular, the next day -- oh hey! You like this now! It happened with pickles, hot dogs, olives, AVOCADOS! For the life of me I can’t believe I went so long not eating avocados. I’ve thoroughly made up for lost time with those, let me tell you. It’s interesting how our palates change. So now, all of a sudden, like two weeks ago, I’ve been like -- I want all the red onions! Put them in all the salads, burrito bowls, on top the burgs!!! Charred or raw, doesn’t matter. I don’t know what hit me. So after inhaling a burger at a local restaurant that had a pickled red onion relish on it, the next logical thing to do was figure out how to pickle them at home.  

They're terribly easy to make, and definitely worth it. This is an all summer recipe really (maybe even all year), and I plan to have a jar of them on hand indefinitely.

Pickled Red Onions

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon salt

1 tsp whole peppercorns

1 1/2 cup water

1/2 red onion, sliced

In a small saucepan, bring vinegar, honey, salt, peppercorns, and water to a boil. Add in the sliced red onion and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 3-5 mins, then remove from heat and let cool.

Place in a sealed container. They will last for about two weeks in the fridge.

Put on everything.