three best bites: pickled fruit and potato salad

It’s still strawberry central around here, in the sense that I spent most of the week coming up with ways to use the end of my gallon bucket of berries before they became mush. That meant a big batch of strawberry-balsamic jam and an experiment in quick pickling.

the berries at the beginning of their pickling journey

pickled strawberry toast: Pickling the strawberries was the most fun science experiment I’ve conducted in the kitchen lately, and it was super simple. I based my recipe off of this one, from Food 52. Here’s the gist: Bring ½ a cup of white wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons of champagne vinegar, 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons of sugar, ¼ a cup of water and 1½ teaspoons of kosher salt to a simmer, and stir to let the sugar and salt dissolve. (This will happen pretty quickly.) Turn off the heat, add ½ a teaspoon of pink peppercorns and 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds, and let the mixture cool until it’s room temperature.

Meanwhile, hull and slice strawberries until you have about 8 ounces of fruit ready to go. (Quarter-inch slices seem like the way to go to me, but you don’t have to be precise.) Cut 2 sprigs of thyme in half, and mix them in with the strawberries in a bowl or container; you want to make sure the strawberries only take up about half or a little more of the container, so you have room for your pickling liquid. Once that liquid is cool to the touch, pour it over the berries, cover the container and pop it in the fridge for at least three days. When you’re ready to serve the strawberries, drain the liquid and discard the peppercorns, herbs and seeds.

I served mine on toasted slices of French baguette with soft cow’s milk cheese and basil.

I’m all about savory strawberries after trying this appetizer