Pickled courgettes

There's a reason why there's a lot more cooking on this blog than knitting of late. The cooking has been very successful, the knitting less so.

The Nordic socks I've been making have been semi-stalled for a while because of other projects, and the possible imminent running-out of yarn. The latter is due to be resolved very shortly, however, due to the kindness of Ravelers, and I'll be reporting on it when it is.

The other projects have been mixed. A couple of pairs of Saartje's booties have been flying off the needles successfully for new arrivals, while a pair of mittens destined for a friend's birthday present have been a disaster. I'm not quite sure I'm ready to blog about those yet, the frustration is still too near the surface.

So instead, I've been finding more fun ways to deal with the glut of courgettes. Damn it, I don't even grow them but somehow they keep finding their way into my kitchen!

We've heard about the chocolate and courgette muffins, which are so delicious and frighteningly moreish. But this savoury solution is just as fabulous, if you like pickles. I've just tried the first mouthful this evening and I'm not sure the jarful is going to last long at all!

I used the Riverford organic recipe linked here. There's only one main adaptation - does ANYONE know where you can get yellow mustard seeds?

They obviously don't feature in Asian, African or West Indian cooking because our local high street, where these cuisines dominate, was a desert for the yellow version - plenty of brown ones however.

The cheese slicer shown above proved perfect for slicing the courgettes thinly, although not so effective on the onion, which I had to slice in the traditional way.



The slicing was about the most difficult part of the whole recipe, which is extremely simple and straightforward. Just make sure you put a bottle of tap water in the fridge the day before to soak the courgettes and onions in.



They are ready to eat 24 hours after pickling. The resulting mix is tangy, crunchy and has a lovely sweet and sour taste. Perfect to go with cheese and biscuits, slip into your burger, or add to salads.