This pickled black carrot recipe was the result of carrot neglect. I had bought the most beautiful black carrots from my neighborhood marché in Montparnasse, Paris one winter Saturday and subsequently kept them on the kitchen counter cornucopia in an unconscious "they're too pretty to eat" mind frame. And then the culinary devastation of realizing they had shriveled into bendy aged roots before I knew it. That's when you realized just how processed American foods are–even vegetables–when you see first hand just how much faster French produce and products expire. So I cut off the soggy bits, peeled the black carrots into strips–simultaneously discovering a knew natural lip stain–rolled them into roses, fixed their shape with copper wire and placed them in a sterilized mason jar with a balsamic vinegar mixture in the fridge to infuse. The pickling brought the most delicious flavor and allowed the carrot roses to keep their shape. It's a perfect side to offset the rich flavors of meat or fish, or as an hors d'oeuvre or pickled appetizer salad.
Ingredients
Black Carrots, 2-3
Balsamic vinegar, about 1 cup
Herbs de Provence: thyme, oregano, basil
Honey, 1 tablespoon
Recipe
- Peel carrots into ribbon strips (if you don't have a peeling tool, make very thin slices with a knife.
- Roll carrots into roses, fix with metal wire (copper preferably) or string.
- Boil vinegar, herbs, honey, S+P together until infused.
- Sterilize jar (boil or bake in oven for 10 minutes), add carrots and then pour with vinegar mixture, filling the jar until the very top.
- Seal jar and store in refrigerator for ideally 1 month (but can also be left overnight for light pickling or over a few days).