Pictured above are preserved lemons, pickled red onions and pickled cucumbers with garlic.
About once a month I choose a vegetable from the farmers market to pickle. I try to find vegetables that are in season and look freshest. So far I've successfully pickled cabbage, beets, daikon and daikon greens, cucumber, and onion.
Having lived in Japan, I really appreciate a good pickle and I'm pretty happy to eat them every day, with every meal, and as snacks. I love just plain pickled cucumbers, but my very favorite are salt preserved lemons.
Preserved lemons are a staple in Moroccan and Mediterranean cuisine. They are wickedly simple to make, and the process of preserving the lemons dramatically intensifies their flavor.
Here is the process:
1 (or more) large glass jars, such as a mason or ball jar 10 (or more) lemons 1 tablespoon salt per lemon
First be sure to clean your mason jar well with soap and hot water. It is best to sterilize it by running it through the hot water cycle of your dishwasher, although it is my understanding that this is not strictly necessary.
Next, scrub the lemons well with a vegetable scrubber and dry with a clean towel. Set in a clean bowl or cutting board.
Add several tablespoons of salt to the bottom of your jar. Now, take a lemon and cut it as if you were quartering it, but don't cut all the way through the bottom. Rub as much salt as you can into the center of the lemon and then carefully fold the quarters back together. Place the lemon into the jar. Repeat this process until your jar is full of lemons.
With your clean hand, squash the lemons down into the jar as much as you can. Juice should come out of the lemons.
Last, pour lemon juice into the jar until the lemons are completely covered.
Place a lid on the jar, and invert jar several times to mix the juice and salt. Let the jar sit on your counter for 3 weeks, inverting it once or twice daily to mix the contents.
After 3 weeks, your lemons are pickled. Store them in the refrigerator indefinitely.
About once a month I choose a vegetable from the farmers market to pickle. I try to find vegetables that are in season and look freshest. So far I've successfully pickled cabbage, beets, daikon and daikon greens, cucumber, and onion.
Having lived in Japan, I really appreciate a good pickle and I'm pretty happy to eat them every day, with every meal, and as snacks. I love just plain pickled cucumbers, but my very favorite are salt preserved lemons.
Preserved lemons are a staple in Moroccan and Mediterranean cuisine. They are wickedly simple to make, and the process of preserving the lemons dramatically intensifies their flavor.
Here is the process:
1 (or more) large glass jars, such as a mason or ball jar
10 (or more) lemons
1 tablespoon salt per lemon
First be sure to clean your mason jar well with soap and hot water. It is best to sterilize it by running it through the hot water cycle of your dishwasher, although it is my understanding that this is not strictly necessary.
Next, scrub the lemons well with a vegetable scrubber and dry with a clean towel. Set in a clean bowl or cutting board.
Add several tablespoons of salt to the bottom of your jar. Now, take a lemon and cut it as if you were quartering it, but don't cut all the way through the bottom. Rub as much salt as you can into the center of the lemon and then carefully fold the quarters back together. Place the lemon into the jar. Repeat this process until your jar is full of lemons.
With your clean hand, squash the lemons down into the jar as much as you can. Juice should come out of the lemons.
Last, pour lemon juice into the jar until the lemons are completely covered.
Place a lid on the jar, and invert jar several times to mix the juice and salt. Let the jar sit on your counter for 3 weeks, inverting it once or twice daily to mix the contents.
After 3 weeks, your lemons are pickled. Store them in the refrigerator indefinitely.