In a pickle: some easy winter pickles

Annalena has moved on. Yes, indeed she has. Now sort of ensconced in her new digs, as she brings bread crumbs to work every day and figures out where things like the facilities are, and that as a matter of principle, the firm does not have plastic spoons (how WILL the girl eat her yogurt?), etc, etc, she begins to settle in. THe word is to "give it three weeks." We shall see. Perhaps it will be less, and I hope so.
It is against this backdrop that this recipe was "born." See, when stressed, Annalena buys groceries and she cooks. Sometimes. Sometimes, the groceries just aren't used, and they tend to spoil in the fridge, as Annalena doesn't get to them.

Several weeks ago, I had bought a huge bag of shishito peppers from Nevia, the vegetable goddess. Now, I thought it was not possible to have these, during the winter. The miraculous Nevia, however, managed to find a way to grow them in her greenhouse.

Nothing comes without a price, however, and these peppers were up there at 10 dollars a pound, sitting there, waiting to spoil, because I wasn't cooking them. What to do?

Remember "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers?" Well, I wasn't picking them, and I just wonder how I could adapt a rhyme for Annalena, but the fact is, I had 'pickled peppers' on my mind. And, I remembered that in one of Alice Waters books, she provides guidelines for making easy, quick pickles. You do have to refrigerate these guys: they're not storage pickles, so make a small batch, and then when you're done, make it again.

You need about a pound of small vegetables. Now, when I say small, I mean you can take a larage one, like a cauliflower, and break it up into florets. So, too with broccoli, or take carrots and slice them, and so forth. For the shishito peppers I used, I just left them whole.

make your bring by combining 1.5 cups each of vinegar and water. The vinegar can vary, but I suggest you choose one that is light colored, so your vegetables don't discolor. Most suggest white wine vinegar, but I prefer apple cider. Then mix 2.5 tablespoons of sugar with this, and a bay leaf. Also, add a few, say 4-6 sprigs of thyme and a bit of hot pepper. As it happened, one of our Green Market guys, Dave, had just given me a bag of home dried cayenne peppers, so I used on of them. You can use red pepper flakes, or powder, and you can change this quantity if you like a spicier vegetable. Also, about half a teaspoon of coriander seeds. This is kind of essential, and you will be surprised how "flat" your pickles will taste without them. Also, put in salt. Here, you be the judge. There's a lot of liquid here, and you may want more salt than your neighbor, and so forth.

Bring all of this to a boil. When it's at a boil, pour it over your vegetables. Leave them alone, until they cool down, and then put them in a container.

I let mine sit at room temperature for a day or so, in order to get the pickle flavor into the flesh a bit. You don't have to. I will tell you that the hot liquid will cause the chlorophyll in green vegetables to deteriorate, so you won't have a bright green color. What you WILL have is something you can put on your plate to spice things up a bit. Something with hot dogs, for example, or a hamburger, or just to "tide you over" as it were.

Make them. And then make them again, using a different vegetable. They will all be good. And then, change the seasoning. And tell Annalena how you changed them, because she wants to know.