This festive season, try your hand at these Italian pickled vegetables that will go perfectly with your Christmas meals or even as a snack with crusty bread.
Ingredients
- 1 liter white wine vinegar
- 500 ml white wine
- Salt
About 2 kg of chopped vegetables
- Zucchini slices
- Green beans pieces
- Celery slices
- Capsicum pieces
- Fennel pieces
- Mushrooms sliced or buttons
- Cauliflower small florets
- Carrots batons
Extras and aromatics
- Peeled garlic cloves
- Small chilies
- Peppercorns
- Dried herbs oregano, bay leaves
- Sunflower oil for pickling
Instructions
- In a large pot, simmer the vinegar and wine with a large handful of salt. Blanch the zucchini, beans, celery, capsicum, fennel and mushrooms for about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove from the pot, drain and blot dry on a clean towel.
- Add the cauliflower and carrot to the same pot. Simmer for 5 minutes. Repeat the previous steps. Transfer all the blanched vegetables into a large bowl.
- Half fill sterilized jars with the blanched vegetables. Pop in your preferred aromatics. Pour over the sunflower oil to cover the vegetables. Use a spoon to push down around the vegetables and fill any air pockets with oil.
- Pack the jars with the remaining vegetables, leaving about 1 inch of space from the rim, so the contents have room to expand. Top with more oil, just enough to cover the vegetables ensuring you leave some space from the top. Clean any spills from the jar and tighten the lids.
- Place the jars upright in a large deep pot. To avoid the jars overheating at the base of the pot, you may like to first place a folded towel at the bottom. Fill the pot with room temperature water, covering the tops of the jars by about an inch.
- Slowly bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat. Leave the jars in the pot and remove once the water has cooled. Over the next 24 hours, check the lids have sealed correctly.
- Store the pickled veg in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight. Once opened, store in the refrigerator.