A couple of weeks ago we harvested our entire shallot crop from the allotment. They have since been drying out and taking up quite a bit of space on the dining table in a large bowl.
Last week at work, Liz our cleaner, who is always keen to taste my new pickles and curds etc, asked me if I was planning on making any pickled onions for Christmas. Now, Christmas is something that has been playing on my mind a little bit recently. Although it is still August and Christmas seems a million miles away, it is just around the corner really, and if pickles are required then they need a bit of time to mature. So I had better get my skates on! I asked Liz if she fancied pickled shallots for a change, instead of onions, and she said that would be marvellous!
So this morning I soaked the little clusters of shallots in boiling water briefly to loosen the skins and then rinsed in cold water to refresh. I then started arranging my kitchen worktop into a one man production line. A big bowl full of the clusters, another bowl for the topped and tailed separated shallots, another bowl for the skinned shallots and a food recycling bag for the waste.
An hour later, with eyes watering like made and really sore fingertips and thumb nails, I have half filled my favourite bowl, which I inherited from my nan, with peeled shallots, which are now sitting in the fridge with a covering of salt, ready for rinsing and bottling tomorrow. I reckon I can get two good sized jars out of this little lot.
The jar for Liz will be spiced vinegar, black peppercorns and dried red chillies, and the other will be pickled in a piccalilli mustard sauce for my own consumption. Yum! I just hope that they will be delicious enough to warrant my having to walk around today with the overpoweringly strong smell of shallots wafting from my vigorously scrubbed fingertips!
No comments:
Post a Comment