Pickling: Simple & delicious!

If you have extra vegetables around this spring summer, consider pickling them! There's the quick way, done with a simple brine of salt, spices, and vinegar. Another more gut-healthy option is making your own lacto-fermented slaw with these veggies.

Pickled vegetables are easy to make at home, and spice up any meal as an appetizer, cocktail adornment, and adds a delicious flavor-boost to any salad or rice bowl. In short, it makes you feel creative with minimal effort and expense!

Here's what you need:

A watery vegetable like: red onion, shallot, radish, cucumber, or carrot*. Use a mandolin slicer (BE CAREFUL, please) or sharp chef's knife to slice the veggie as thin as possible. Follow a basic recipe as follows:

INGREDIENTS:
2 Shallots, peeled  and very thinly sliced
3/4 rice vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Pinch of red chili flakes (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
1) Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan
2) Bring mixture to a boil, turn off heat, steep mixture for 10 minutes. Once cool, drain the shallots of the liquid and place in covered container in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
3) Consume within 1 week for best taste; 1-2 tablespoons is a recommended serving.

Here are my quick-pickled shallots over a bed of lettuce and green kale with goddess dressing (Trader Joe's is vegan and our fave at the moment: http://www.traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article/1221).



For more recipes and ideas, check out this fantastic article from the Natural Gourmet Institute on Vegan Charcuterie: https://naturalgourmetinstitute.com/a-plating-palate-vegan-charcuterie/.

Now if you are interested in making your own slaw and fermented sauerkraut, stick around! I learned how to make them last summer in a cooking lab with Chef Myra Kornfeld (http://myrakornfeld.com/). She has done everything in the healthy cooking world, starting as a raw vegan chef and is currently promoting aspects of the Westin-Price philosophy of eating and nutrition (http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/dietary-guidelines/).  I learned a lot in the lab, and have taken away this easy and extremely beneficial-to-your-gut-health skill of making Lacto-fermented sauerkraut.

*To avoid toxins from the peel of nonorganic produce: Peel the radish, cucumber, and carrot if they're not organic, and make sure to peel off the first two layers of the onion or shallot to avoid consuming pesticides.

Let me know how your quick-pickling adventures go!

In Health,

Meghan