Giardiniera - Italian Pickled Vegetables
Indulge in the vibrant flavors of Italy with our homemade Giardiniera recipe. This tangy and spicy condiment, packed with pickled vegetables, is a beloved staple of Chicago-style cuisine. Elevate your dishes with this versatile and irresistible addition!
Equipment
- Cutting Board
- Bowl
- Scale
Ingredients
- 125 gram Red / Yellow / Green Bell Pepper ~ 1 large pepper, cored and seeded
- 120 gram Cauliflower ~ 1 cup, cut
- 24 gram Jalapeno ~ 1 Jalapeno, cored and seeded
- 64 gram Serrano ~ 5 peppers, cored and seeded
- 100 gram Carrot ~ 1 medium sized carrot
- 100 gram Celery Stalks ~ 2 celery stocks cleaned
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 64 gram Green Olives, Sliced
- 100 gram Kosher Salt
- 112 gram Olive Oil or Alternative see notes
- 360 gram White Vinegar
- 4 gram Italian Seasoning (found on this site) 1 tbsp
- 6 gram Mustard Seed, Whole 1 tsp
- 1.8 gram Black Pepper, Butcher Grind if available 1 tsp
- 1 gram Celery Seed 0.5 tsp
- 1 Bayleaf, Whole if desired
- Cold Water to cover
Instructions
- Wash, peel, and core all of your vegetables thoroughly before making this recipe.
- Cut the cauliflower florets from the head of cauliflower. These should be about 1cm x 1cm (1/2"). Cut remainder of your vegetables into roughly 1cm to 2cm sq. (0.5" or 0.75") put them all into a bowl. DO NOT INCLUDE: olives or garlic at this point.
- Pour the salt over the top of the vegetables and mix in well. Once blended pour enough cold water to cover your vegetables. Stir to mix. Let this mixture site for 12 - 24 hours in the refrigerator.
12 - 24 hours later
- Remove vegetables from fridge and drain the brine that it has been soaking in overnight. You do not need to reserve the brine. Place vegetables in a strainer and rinse well with fresh cold water removing most if not all of the salt.
- While waiting for the vegetables to completely drain mix your oil, vinegar and spices together. Include the bayleaf if it is desired.
- If you would like olives and garlic in your mix vegetable blend do that now. We leave them out due to a sensitivity to garlic.
- Stuff the vegetable mix into a clean 1L (1quart) mason style jar. Pour your Vinegar / Oil / Spice blend overtop of your vegetable mix. Use a wooden skewer or a chopstick to remove any air bubbles that may be present.
- Wipe the rim of the mason jar and seal well. Place in fridge and turn over making sure it doesn't leak every day or so. The vinegar and oil will separate during this time. Leave in fridge for at least 48 hours before use.
Notes
You will need our Italian Seasoning Recipe to complete this recipe, or use one you already have.
Olive oil will generally harden when cooled, we will heat this slightly in the microwave to loosen it up after being in the fridge. The way around this is to use an alternative oil like Canola oil that will not harden in a fridge.
You can virtually use any type of pepper you want. Don't like heat at all, use bell peppers for the entire recipe, like more heat throw either more jalapeno's in or maybe use habanero peppers instead.
We left out things we couldn't use, or didn't like. I have a garlic sensitivity and have a dislike of olives so they were left out. Although the next time I will make it with olives as the saltiness of an olive would be good.