Made by Yours Truly

I don’t believe that I’ve posted this recipe for sweet chilli courgette/zucchini before. My apologies if I have done so, but a friend asked and I can’t find any other entries on this subject.

These delicious jars of green crunchiness are very versatile. The courgettes can be cooked, or they can be added raw to various meals. The pickling solution alone would make an ideal viniagrette for a salad.

Ingredients:

500g courgettes/zucchini

3 shallots, finely chopped

2tbsp salt

Pickling Liquid:

500ml cider vinegar

140g golden caster sugar

1 tsp mustard powder

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp celery seeds

1/2 dried chilli, crumbled (or, if you like it hot, a generous helping of dried chilli flakes)

1tsp ground turmeric

Method:

Thinly slice courgettes with a knife, mandolin or food processor. Put in bowl with shallots and sprinkle over the salt – mix well. Cover with cold water, stir to dissolve the salt and leave – covered – for one hour.

Drain courgettes and shallots and wrap in a tea towel to absorb as much liquid as possible.

Meanwhile, place all pickling ingredients into a pan and bring to a simmer. Bubble for 3 minutes, making sure the sugar has dissolved, and leave to cool until warm but not hot. Add the courgettes/zucchini and shallots and stir.

Scoop in to sterilised jars. Seal and leave for a few days in the fridge. Kept chilled, these will keep for a couple of months once opened.

Recipe by Jamie Oliver; slightly adapted by me. He calls it “Crunchy Courgette Pickle”, but this isn’t a pickle and so I call it “Sweet Chilli Courgettes”.