Pickled Housewives
I love pickles…especially vegetable pickles other than cucumber. You know – dilly beans, spicy carrots, savory onions. Sometimes I think I could live on a diet of condiments and sides. Those are the culinary touches that lend a festive note transforming food to fete!
Lately, personal economics have curbed our dining out budget. But with our pampered pantry filled with treats we hardly even miss it! Well, I wouldn’t mind having someone else clean the kitchen…
Willi at work
Last week my friend Willi & I got together in my kitchen to put up a batch of Old-Fashioned Crock Pickles! Talk about easy!!! We even shared a bottle of lovely pink wine during the process…something I would NOT recommend with bubbling jam on the stove! Visit Willi’s delicious blog Diggin’ Food for her post on our adventure.
Today I put up a batch of pickled lazy housewife (beans) – Sounds like a one of those suburban wives from Mad Men! Here’s my recipe:
Pickled Housewives
To begin, thoroughly wash and dry 4 pint jars and their lids in hot soapy water.
In a large nonreactive saucepan combine:
3 cups while wine vinegar 1/2 cup sugar 1 T. kosher salt 1 tsp. black peppercornsBring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt.
cut to fit jar
“Top & tip” the green beans. In my case, Lazy Housewife Beans are nice and long so I’ll cut them in half to fit the jars.
Pretty, too!
I plan to add a sprig of dill and a tiny hot pepper and some sliced garlic to each jar before packing them with the trimmed out beans. Using a wide mouth funnel, carefully pour the hot vinegar over the beans to fill each jar. Secure lids and let cool to room temperature.
May be served at once or stored in the refrigerator where they will last (gaining in pucker-y strength) for weeks.
Variation: Slice 1 bulb of fennel to fit jars and include with beans substituting sprigs of fresh tarragon for the dill and omitting the hot pepper and sliced garlic.
This recipe, modified from Quick Pickles and the recipe for Old-Fashioned Crock Pickles are both found in my latest book, Canning & Preserving Your Own Harvest, from Sasquatch Books.
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Darlin, is that the name of the bean variety? Lazy Housewife? I am so all over that.
MA – Yep check out my post “Here come the Lazy Housewives”!!!
Mmmm. I want some lazy housewives. Or, I want to be a lazy housewife. Maybe someday I can have my beans and eat them, too.
So neat! I am always worried about pouring hot liquid into glass jars. You didn’t have any problems? Can you basically apply the base recipe to any veggie? Thanks for blogging about such simple but fun activities, keep being lazy!
Thanks Jessica,
I’ve never had any problems with breaking but I’m always using food grade jars that have already withstood heat. I’ve used other veggies and had great luck with radishes & shallots (blanch them first); cherry tomatoes went mushy – ick; carrots are deeee-lish and I best peppers would be good too.
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