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Pickled Onions with Sweet Bell Peppers

Although used with onions and bell peppers here, this pickling brine works wonderfully well for any type of vegetable you want en escabeche, a common preparation in Mexico. In late summer in New Mexico, as the days begin to shorten and nights get cooler, home cooks will often pickle the remaining abundance of their kitchen gardens to enjoy throughout the winter.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    makes 4 cups

Ingredients

8 whole black peppercorns
2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano, toasted (page 161)
2 bay leaves
2 whole cloves
3 cloves garlic
2 cups water
2 cups distilled white vinegar
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 red onions, very thinly sliced
1 sweet red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 sweet yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded, and thinly sliced

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    To prepare the pickling liquid, place the peppercorns, oregano, bay leaves, cloves, and garlic in cheesecloth and tie into a pouch. In a saucepan, place the seasoning bundle, the 2 cups water, vinegar, salt, and sugar and simmer over medium-low heat for 30 minutes. Remove and discard the seasoning pouch. Add the onions and bell peppers to the pickling liquid and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat when the liquid comes to a boil. Transfer to a container.

    Step 2

    The vegetables will keep in the liquid for about 1 month in the refrigerator.

Tacos by Mark Miller with Benjamin Hargett and Jane Horn. Copyright © 2009 by Mark Miller with Benjamin Hargett and Jane Horn. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. Mark Miller is the acclaimed chef-founder of Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has started and owned thirteen different restaurants on three continents from 1979 to 2008. He is the author of ten books with nearly 1 million copies in print, including Tacos, The Great Chile Book, The Great Salsa Book, and Coyote Cafe. Mark currently works in International Culinary Consulting and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Benjamin Hargett is a travel-loving chef who has cooked in Europe, the Carribean, Mexico, and the United States, where he worked with Mark Miller at the Coyote Café for many years.
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