Giardiniera and Messy Cabbage!

Still on a mission to build my stock pile for The Fat Cat's first Sugar and Spice event I purchased some 8oz jars - twice the size of the chutney jars I've been filling. I was going to try and fill them with sauces, Puttanesca for example which is easy to throw together and never fails to impress. However, I am unsure as to how well puttanesca sauce will keep with no natural preservatives in the jar. The pickles and chutneys are obviously preserved using vinegar and copious amounts of sugar in some cases and I can rely on them to be good for 6 months to a year...plenty of time to get them nice and 'brewed' and also sold!!

So, what to put in the jars? Pickled asparagus was an idea - 'natures swizzle stick' perfect for cocktails. Do I know many cocktail drinkers? Well, yes, but none who would make them at home...cocktails are for special occasions or when we happen upon a nice cocktail bar! (Not an easy feat in Hull I can tell you!)



It was then I remembered an old favourite of mine from when I lived at home; pickled red cabbage. Ideal with potato ash or meat pies, great with steak and chunky chips - real comfort food! Plus I had nearly 3 litres of spiced vinegar left from the pickled onions so off I went to the grocers to pick up some red cabbages. I bought two because I had no idea how far they'd go and following a recipe guideline I'd found online I cut them into strips and layered them in a large dish with coarse salt. I guessed that this was to remove any excess moisture and low and behold, once left in the fridge overnight, there was some very purple water at the bottom of the dish! I'm hoping the salt also keeps the strips of cabbage crunchy once immersed in pickle. I prepare pickled onions in pretty much the same way - in a brine - and that is so that they remain crunchy!



The strips of cabbage were then drained and popped in the lovely 8oz hexagonal jars I had heated in the oven to sterilise and then covered in the vinegar! (I made sure I removed the chili seeds and peppers before covering the cabbage). Isn't it a delicious colour?? (you can also see a few of the honey chutney jars in the back ground.)





My next job was the Giardiniera - Italian Mixed Pickled Vegetables. Ideal for anti-pasti. I bought some cauliflower, carrot batons, green beans and mushrooms. These were cut into pieces which would fit into the 8oz jars (except the mushrooms which I left whole). All the vegetables were brought to the boil in the spiced vinegar I had left over from the pickled onions AND the pickled cabbage! I only boiled for 5 minutes, I wanted to keep the veg slightly crunchy. I then drained the veg to make it easier for me to divide it between the jars and for additional flavour I popped a peeled garlic clove in the bottom of each jar. The vegetables were crammed as tightly as I could into jars and covered in vinegar. Voila! Pickled vegetables!!! I shall be testing those out on my Polish friends as they are the experts apparently on pickled vegetables and they have already given me rave reviews of the Fiery Tomato Chutney!!!

Both of these jars will be fiery as well which is an interesting slant I think? The vinegar has been sat for a month already full of chilies and mustard seeds...I'll make sure that they are well labelled otherwise someone may get a very hot shock!!!

Portuguese Liver the Finale…

I had an interruption in service last week in so much that my busy social schedule got in the way of me cooking up and gobbling up the Portuguese Liver dish that I prepared last week (see earlier post). It ended up in a plastic box in the freezer patiently waiting for another day…that day was yesterday!!!

Once defrosted I drained the marinade from the liver and kept it to one side; I have to tell you the smell was just so rich and zingy and I was really looking forward to testing the dish out! The liver was then fried for a couple of minutes in a dash of hot oil, turning occasionally. Usually when I fry liver it spits all over my kitchen and the clean up operation is extensive – because the liver had been in sauce and was not as dry as unprepared liver the spitting was minimal and didn’t make as much of a mess as normal…which I was quite pleased about because I had to go out almost immediately after wolfing down my dinner! Then I threw the marinade / sauce in and turned the heat up so that the liquid could boil and reduce for 10 minutes. I served with ordinary boiled long grain rice!

All in all the liver was a success, there was perhaps too much for me and as it’s such a rich meat I found myself spooning mouthfuls of rice and sauce and avoiding lots of the actual meat at once. The sauce itself is more citrusy than I expected and I’m more of a fan of it because of that fact! It dawned on me after eating the dish that there was no vegetable content whatsoever upon serving and this disturbed me somewhat! I was sat trying to think of what vegetable(s) I could serve with liver and rice and I’m still at a bit of a loss. Mushrooms perhaps? How nutritional can mushrooms be though? I’m pretty confident they are mostly water! Maybe some peas? However I’m not sure they would compliment the dish perfectly. Answers on a postcard please…..!!!!