Pickled Fairy Tale Eggplant
• foodinjars.com• Course: Appetizers & Soups • Diet: Vegan • Season(s): Summer
Ingredients
- 1 quart of fairly tale eggplant
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 lemon
- 3 cups red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup basil leaves, torn
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
- 2 empty canning jars, pint size
Instructions
Trim away the stem end of eggplant and slice each into four wedges. Place in a bowl and toss with kosher salt and lemon juice. Let sit for 1 hour, then rinse. Using your hands, gently press out as much liquid as you can without entirely smashing the eggplant. Pour vinegar into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Put eggplant into the boiling vinegar. Once the vinegar returns to a boil, let eggplant cook for 2 minutes. Remove eggplant from the saucepan with a slotted spoon and put it aside (keeping the vinegar hot). Add torn basil leaves, minced garlic, and black pepper, and stir to combine. Funnel the eggplant into two prepared pint jars. top with the blanching vinegar, leaving 1/2 inch of head space. Using a chopstick, remove air bubbles and add more vinegar if the head space levels have dropped. Wipe the rims of the jars with a damp paper towel. Apply heated lids and rings and lower jars into a small boiling water bath and process for 10 minutes. Carefully remove jars from the canning pot to cool. When they are cool enough to handle, remove the rings, check seals, and wash jars to remove any remnants of spilled bring. Give at least 1 week to cure.