pickled carrot sticks
Seeing that it is a whole eleven days into aught-eight, I’m going to stagger a guess that you’re sick of carrot sticks by now. But I don’t want you to feel bad about it. We all hit that wall between our ambition and the reality that being good all of the time is no fun from time to time. Hey, some of us walked right past the gym last night and proceeded to go shopping instead. I’m just saying.
But since carrot sticks are inherently good, and good for you things, I see no reason to throw them out with the resolutions bathwater. Because what if that, uh, bathwater was bright and tangy? What if had a buttery dill vibe? What if it had a kick of garlic? What if you pickled your carrot sticks? If you were me, you would not be able to keep your tongs out of the jar. I had one of those “oh, let me try one and see how they came out” moments before I went to work Thursday morning. Then I tried another one. And another. Um, I had pickled carrot sticks for breakfast–I am gross. But these are not.
Be warned, however, the brine is so good it’s going to get you thinking “what can I pickle next?” Alex has been on the pickle prowl for a couple days now and I see him eying the leeks in the fridge, the beans in the pantry. I don’t like the way he looks at them. I hid the rest of the purple potatoes. I’m sleeping with one eye open.
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Pickled Carrot Sticks
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine
1 lb carrots, cut into 3 1/2- by 1/3-inch sticks
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup cider or plain vinegar (the former makes a sweeter, milder brine)
1/4 cup sugar
2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
1 1/2 tablespoons dill seeds*
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
Place carrots in a heatproof bowl. Bring remaining ingredients to a boil in saucepan, then reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. Pour pickling liquid over carrots and cool, uncovered. Chill carrots, covered, at least 1 day for flavors to develop.
Carrots keep, chilled in an airtight container, 1 month.
* From my own experience, and from comments I have received, I’ve learned that dill seeds aren’t always the easiest thing to find. Mine are from McCormick, but they were also the only bottle I could find in the two different stores I went to. If you can’t find them, use fresh or dried dill instead. You can put the dried dill in with the brine as you boil it. If fresh dill, I would drop it in the container your are storing the carrots in, just before you put them in the fridge.
deb, have you ever tasted dilly beans? i am hoplessly addicted to them and rather than have a 6 dollar a jar addiction to add to my long list of other food addictions, i was thinking of making them myself. i was going to give your brine a shot, but was wondering if i should use the same weight in green beans as you would use in carrots.
Ah, pickled carrots do sound good. Molly from Orangette has a great recipe on her blog that she made at her wedding. Nice post.
These sound wonderful! fyi - I have had good luck getting dill seeds and other hard-to-find spices from Penzeys - http://www.penzeys.com/. They have a huge selection, shipping is relatively minimal (especially if you are ordering multiple items) and the quality is fantastic, as long as you can wait a week or so for your pickle fix.
simply recipes just did a post on pickling onions today — great minds think alike i guess! i have quite a bit of unused vinegar sitting around in my apartment, i will definitely give this a try! pickled leeks actually sound kind of good, i think! lovely carrots, btw!
do you think you could process these in a hot water bath and have them be shelf stable for a while?
Hillary — I had forgotten about that! Great minds. I loved her pictures from them (I was struggling so much getting carrot pictures in the evening.)
Rachel — I definitely think you could however (big however) I am not an expert in food safety and when in the past I have made canning suggestions I’ve been corrected more than once. However, if you follow the proper safety procedures, I can’t imagine why these guys wouldn’t last.
Looks delectabulz! Deb’s all Om Nom Nom…(Oops, C.O. speak invades every aspect of my life now! Enh!) Anyone else having problems with the full post not showing in their feeds? I use Google Reader, and it only showed the very beginning of this post, which is unusual. :(
A few more site things: If you notice small wonky things going on in the next couple days, it is because we are upgrading to the latest Wordpress and (and!!!) moving to a new server this weekend. Finally! This genius I hired feels confident he can do it with no downtime. How amazing is that?
And yes, we are *auditioning* partial feeds. For now. Please don’t revolt.
Whoops — yes, those partial feeds are WAY too partial. I’m putting back the full ones for now. Sorry about that!
Auditioning partial feeds? Do they have to bring their head shots to the audition? A prepared monologue?
Oh! I love pickled things! I’ve recently fallen in love with pickled radishes but am definitely giving this a try this weekend!
Man, do I hate Partial Feeds.
Mostly because it means that I’m forced to decide whether I want to read an article or just go to the next one. I often as not just go to the next one, rather than open up another window to read.
We put the full feeds back the second we noticed it in our RSS. I’m flattered that so many people noticed!
I’ll give these pickled carrots a whirl. They look delicious. Recently we tried pickled okra and it was great (I said tried, not made.) But then again, we’ve been on an okra kick since last fall. It was plentiful at the farmers’ market and we sort of became addicted.
P.S. I love the cut glass bowl in your first (and last) photo(s). It’s beautiful!
There’s nothing gross about eating pickles for breakfast. The kimchi nation does it all the time. Putting something pickled and garlicky in your mouth first thing is one of the top five nice ways to wake up.
I think that fresh squeezed orange juice can’t hold a candle to kosher pickle brine as a breakfast drink.
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Yum… I love pickled anything, but carrots, with their crisp sweetness, are just so perfect for a good old bath in brine. I made these this afternoon, and they are less than the prescribed 24 hours refrigerated, but they taste great already. I made my brine with dried dill (since, as predicted, I didn’t have dill seed handy) and I used 1/2 cup white vinegar and 1/2 cup cider because I was feeling indecisive.
I made these not 20 minutes ago, while procrastinating the class preparations I’m supposed to be doing. The brine smells lovely! I too used dried dill (since the Thriftway didn’t seem to have dill seed) and I made them with baby carrots (which I halved and quartered) because I only have small jars, but I’m sure they will be delicious anyhow.
They’re cooling on the counter. I’m impatient!
when im putting my pickled lovelies in jars, should i be putting them in with the brine? yes?
ive pickled two pounds of carrots and a giant bag of baby cukes….. complete success, with the only downside being the loss of the tip of my finger.. ouch!
I’ve been eating these all week. They are so very good. I, too, have been fantasizing about what else I could give a bath in the yummy brine.
OK - I’m way behind on your blog and catching up… but for a little kick try adding a hot pepper in there. Try a fresno for very mild spice and good flavor; a bulgarian carrot pepper for more spice and a really interesting flavor; and a serano if you really like it hot :) I avoid jalapenos as I’m bored of their flavor and have a particular disdain for them pickled… but that’s purely a personal bias :)