You, too, can be a renegade

Some of you wanted to know just how one makes these renegade pickles, and who could blame you?  They really are capital.  Below you’ll find my take, adapted from my friend John‘s recipe.  I found some wonderful cucumbers and breakfast radishes at a local farmers market and made the pickles that evening.  I can’t stress it enough, pickle only the freshest ingredients; something that’s starting off a little worse for wear may do the same to you once pickled.

Renegade Pickles (aka Cucumber and Radish Pickles)
Yield: 1 quart

Ingredients:
2 cups rice or rice-wine vinegar (I used a combination of the two… not on purpose)
1 cup water
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. coarse salt
2 Tbsp. red chili paste
1 Tbsp. coriander seeds
3-6 Kirby cucumbers, sliced and/or quartered
6-8 breakfast radishes, trimmed and quartered
fresh cilantro
extra-virgin olive oil

Stir together the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, chili paste and coriander seeds in a large saucepan; bring to a boil.  Pour the hot liquid over the vegetables and store in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.  I like to throw everything into a mason jar and store it that way; make sure the lid is tight and maybe give the jar a turn or two every few hours.

When ready to serve, drizzle with olive oil and toss with your cilantro leaves.

2 Comments to “You, too, can be a renegade”

  1. growingcurious 3 October 2010 at 3:16 pm #

    This looks wonderful. I think there's a lot of value in using chili paste sometimes instead of whole dried chilies or flakes — and not just for the beautiful color it gives your pickles.

  2. Matty Sterenchock 5 October 2010 at 2:00 pm #

    Thanks, I totally agree! I'm looking forward to using chili paste in many more recipes–indeed adds a beautiful color and a good amount of kick.


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