I’ve developed an aversion to the big supermarkets in our area – they increasingly sell ‘prepared meals’ rather than ingredients. I put Waitrose on the emergency only list after a very unsatisfactory outing and their seeming commitment to virtue signalling over customer service. Their offering of spices, baking ingredients and the like got narrower and more expensive on a per unit basis. This has cut the Davinator off from his favourite provider of piccalilli. Putting my principles on the line – I have start making piccalilli for him. In Davinator land piccalilli is more like salad than a condiment so I’m developing a semi-industrial process.

A key component of Davinator piccalilli is teeny tiny onions. He (rashly) promised to help with peeling the teeny tiny onions but it would be more realistic to ask a bear to do needlepoint. My ability to produce piccalilli is limited by my patience for the onion peeling. The recipe below uses 1.5 total kilos (3 lbs 4 ounces) of combined vegetables to the amount of pickling sauce and makes 2 litres (8 1/2 cups) by volume of piccalilli. I prep the vegetables: a cauliflower, one or two courgettes, green beans and the teeny tiny onions and then weigh them to know how much pickling sauce to make and how many jars I will need. And technically I think those are tiny shallots and I buy them from the local Middle Eastern grocery store which is a great source of spices as well.

For the impatient among you this is a ‘hurry up and wait’ recipe. Prep the vegetables, brine them and wait for hours. Put the piccalilli in the jars and wait for at least 6 weeks.

Let’s cook.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 large cauliflower, cut into small florets

2 courgettes, cut into small chunks

200 grams of green beans, trim and cut into small pieces

300 grams of miniature shallots or tiny pearl onions

1 litre white or malt vinegar

5 tablespoons mustard powder

1.5 tbsp coriander seeds

3 tbsps black or yellow mustard seeds

3 tsps cumin seeds

1.5 tsp turmeric

6 tbsps plain flour

300 grams caster sugar

4 bay leaves

Instructions

1. Prep your veg, including the teeny tiny onions. Do the onions last. My top tips for the onions: pour boiling water over the onions, leave it for a minute or so and then add some ice cubes. The onions will peel more easily. If the onions are giving off powerful vapours, run your extractor fan and light a candle – it helps but be prepared to shed a few tears in the service of your cooking.
2. Put all veg in a bowl, toss with 3 tablespoons of sea salt or kosher salt. Cover with plastic film and leave for at least 4 hours. I leave mine overnight. When you’re ready for the next step, drain and rinse well under cold water.
3. Get your jars ready – I sterilise mine in the oven, keep the lids, jam funnel and tongs in a pot of boiling water on the stove once I’m ready to star jarring.
4. Put the mustard powder, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, turmeric and flour in a bowl. Add 200 mls of vinegar to make a paste.
5. Heat the remaining vinegar in a large heavy pot with the sugar, bay leaves and a pinch of salt. Heat until the sugar dissolves then pour in the mustard vinegar mix, simmering and stirring for 5 minutes or until the mixture thickens.
6. Add the rinsed vegetables to the pickling sauce and heat them through without cooking them. Remove from the heat and pack into the sterilised jars. I reuse jars so I put wax circles on the top of the piccallili to ensure the acid from the vinegar doesn’t interact with the jar lids.
7. Seal and leave in cool dark cupboard for at least 6 weeks. Once open, keep in the fridge and use within four weeks. It’s recommended to eat the piccalilli within 3 months of making it. I’ve never had that problem so not I’m not sure about the shelf life.
8. As always be careful with homemade preserves and if it smells or seems strange – err on the side of caution and don’t eat them.

Tags: cauliflowercourgettespiccalillipicklespreservesvegetableszucchini