Piccalilli...
Piccalilli is a great way of preserving some of the big hitters of late summer. It has a tremendously zesty colour and, if you grow your own, it's a really satisfying thing to produce from your own land...
100g of salt, half a head of cauliflower, 50g courgette, half a cucumber, 1 small onion, 5 shallots
First, pour a litre of boiled water over the salt and dissolve it, then add all the veg chopped to cm squares and placed a plate over the top, keeping the veggies submerged for 24 hours.
The following day boil up 175ml of pickling vinegar with 75g of caster sugar and a clove of garlic crushed with half a teaspoon of coriander seeds, before adding the veg (strained and patted dry). Simmer for 10 mins, then mix 1 and a half tbsp of plain flour with 1 of mustard powder, a desert spoon of turmeric, a sprinkle of chopped, dried chilli and a tsp of ground ginger. Then whisk in 175ml of cider vinegar and simmer the lot, adding in the earlier vinegar solution slowly until it turns to a thick and rich gold sauce. Add the veg and decant into sterilised jars.
Pickled Shallots...
100g salt, 500g shallots, 375ml of pickling malt, 50g brown sugar, 1/2 tsp of peppercorns, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 2 cloves of garlic, Dried chilli flakes, mulling spices, 1 bay leaf.
As with the piccalilli, prepare the shallots and then put in brine solution of 1 litre of boiled water and salt and leave over night, weighed under by a plate. The following day, heat up the vinegar, sugar and spices in a stainless steel pan. I used mulling spices to give a wintery taste when the pickles are ready to eat in November. Leave the heated vinegar to cool for two hours, drain and pat the shallots dry, place in a large kilner jar and pour over the vinegar with the bayleaf and a few peppercorns. Leave both pickles for at least two months, if you can resist.