I am still settling into my new kitchen, slowly re-acquiring all my kitchen supplies & gadgets from the old storage unit on the east coast (ask me how you can contribute to the kitchen supply shipment fund!). Meanwhile, beautiful friends of mine gifted some of the most beautiful deep, dark red Swiss chard my way, and I knew I finally had to make this brilliant recipe for pickled chard stems.
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| Luscious |
I modified the recipe a little, ate all the pickled chard stems (my friends helped) with a quickness, and then pickled sliced cucumber in the same brine! After I ate through all the cucumbers (in one sitting), I pickled sliced beets in the same sweet sweet brine. I'm dirty like that.
I have to preface this recipe with a quick story: I am currently teaching a cooking class - how to prepare and cook in-season produce, and we made fresh salsa. It was totally fantastic, but the students I had that day are super anit-tomato :( C'est la vie.
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| Fresh tomato salsa & corn, avocado, basil salsa |
The tomato salsa was super juicy. The recipe was simple: tomatoes, fresh-squeezed lime juice, cilantro, red onion, garlic, jalapeño, and salt. With so much extra juiciness, the salsa was slightly unappealing and hard to eat, so I strained the liquor out, but then I couldn't just pour it down the sink -- what a tragic waste that would be. Tangy, sweet, spicy... it would be oh so delicioso in some kind of crazy pickle concoction!
Sweet & Spicy Pickled Swiss Chard Stems
- 1 large bunch of chard stems, leaves mostly removed
- 3/4 cup unfiltered apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 rounded Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp sea salt
- 1/8 tsp coriander seed
- 1/2 jalapeño, sliced crosswise, pith & seeds removed
- Approximately 1/3 cup salsa liquor
Rinse the chard stems well and slice into batons to fit into whatever glass container you're using. I don't have any Mason jars, so I used a Pyrex storage container.
Blanch & shock the chard stems prior to pickling. This will give them a longer shelf life in the refrigerator if you're not canning them. I reserved 1/2 cup of the boiling water, post-blanch, for the pickle recipe.
Combine the vinegar, water, salt, sugar, and coriander in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt.
Stack chard stems in your clean glass container and cover with brine. Add the sliced jalapeño and the salsa liquor.
Allow to marinade in the fridge for at least 24 hours, in a sealed container.Last step, invite me over when they're ready. You might actually want to double the recipe if you are going to share with me (or any other pickle lover). They are completely fabulous right out of the jar and they're utterly brilliant in a salad.
