First, a warning. You’re going to get lots of pickle recipes this year. Not sure why, but I’m on a pickling binge. And you can pickle anything. Really. These are going to be refrigerator pickles – really just seasoned vegetables that you can keep refrigerated for up to a month or so. Lots of health benefits from pickles and fermented vegetables, so I hope you’ll enjoy them.
Justin Burdett of Miller Union demonstrated this recipe at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market just about a year ago. Put up some of those pretty green onions you got today. Won’t be long before they’ll just be a fond memory.
Justin called for champagne vinegar, which sounds a bit more decadent that it really is. It’s pretty reasonably priced, but you could substitute white wine vinegar or even apple cider vinegar and still get good results. He also cools the brine before pouring it over the vegetables – that keeps the green onions from turning olive green right away and preserves the fresh flavor a little more. Since the green onions are tender, they don’t need even the little bit of cooking that happens when you pour boiling liquid over your vegetables. And it also means these are absolutely, positively refrigerator pickles. No sitting around at room temperature for these savory bits.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups champagne vinegar 1 1/2 cups water 1/4 cup granulated sugar 2 tablespoons kosher salt As many green onions, trimmed, as will fit into a 1-quart mason jar 1 sprig thyme 1 teaspoon fennel seed 1 teaspoon coriander 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 bay leaf
Preparation:
In a medium saucepan, bring vinegar, water, sugar and salt to a boil. Take off heat and allow to cool.
While vinegar is cooling, put onions, thyme, fennel, coriander, black pepper and bay leaf in your clean jar. Set aside.
When the liquid has cooled to room temperature, pour it over the vegetables. You may have extra brine. You can save it for your next batch of pickles.
You can serve these pickles in about an hour, but they benefit from an overnight stay in the refrigerator, and they should keep about a month. Use them in place of onion slices on your next burger!