Giardiniera - Italian Pickled Vegetables

Giardiniera is an Italian style pickle that is the perfect way to preserve whatever vegetables you may have in abundance, be it in the garden or in the bottom of the crisper. The word Giardiniera is a derivative of the Italian word giardino, which means garden, and has for many years been the way in which Italians would preserve their garden's glut. The beauty of this recipe is its simplicity and versatility, you can use many different vegetables, and have a different spin of pickle every season as the bounty changes. The only real rules as to what vegetables to put in are; making sure you use firm vegetables (so that rules out any leafy greens), and stick with things that don’t need to be cooked e.g. potatoes, pumpkin etc. The key is in utilising a mix of vegetables in the one pickle to create a vibrant arrangement of colour whilst also getting different textures, it makes for fun eating. In this batch I used cauliflower, carrots, celery, green beans, red onion, fennel and zucchini. Feel free also to vary the herbs and spices to suit your taste. The finished product can be stored for up to 6 months (good luck trying not to eat them all before then!) and is great on a cheese-board, chopped up in a sandwich, on the side of your morning eggs, or as an accompaniment to literally every meal like I do.