Our Giardiniera recipe.
Our giardiniera recipe has a perfect balance of tart/salty/a bit of sweet, so please do not change the ratios of vinegar, sugar and salt unless you want to experiment. We were inspired by some aggressive giardiniera at Palm City Wines in San Francisco which lists ingredients as “Cauliflower, Peppers, Fennel, Carrots and Celery”. For spices, we used juniper berries which we had detected in that prep and a few other things we had on hand, but you’d be fine with any “pickling spices” mix. This is designed to fill one giant (1 gallon) kimchi jar though of course you could spread it out in multiple jars. You could also do a water bath canning but our technique for the brine assumes you will refrigerate then eat it fresh.
Veggies, enough to loosely fill a gallon jar. We used:
Fennel: 1 bulb, cut crosswise into 1” rings
Celery: 4 stalks, cut into 1” pieces on the bias
Bell peppers: ½ red and ½ green, cored and seeded and cut into 1” squares
Carrot: half a pound or so, peeled and cut on the bias into 1” pieces
Cauliflower: 1 lb package of florets from frozen foods section
Green beans: ½ lb trimmed and cut into 1” pieces
Shallot: 1 medium, peeled and cut lengthwise into 4 wedges
Red onion: 1 small, peeled and cut lengthwise into 6 wedges
Spices:
1 t coriander seeds
1 t yellow mustard seeds
1 t juniper berries
½ t whole cloves
½ t black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
4 cloves garlic
For the brine:
3 c water
3 c white distilled white vinegar
2 T sugar
2 T Kosher salt
Method: bring water, vinegar, sugar, salt and spices to the boil and simmer for a few minutes to develop flavor. Fennel and carrot are tougher than the other veggies so add them first and blanch for a minute or two. Add all other ingredients, turn off the heat, and allow the veggies to macerate in the brine till it cools to room temperature. Transfer to one large or several small jars and refrigerate overnight before enjoying. Will keep at least a couple of weeks and probably longer.
