While depresso yesterday, I made some fridge pickles. One batch was a zucchini pickle from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook. Here is the recipe:
1lb zucchini or patty pan squash
2 tbsp salt (a little more if using kosher salt)
1-1/2 tsp crushed yellow and/or brown mustard seeds
Scant 1 tsp ground turmeric
Wash and trim the zucchini, then slice 1/16 inch thick on a mandoline. Slice the onion very thin as well. Place together in a large but shallow bowl, add the salt, and toss to distribute. Add a few ice cubes and cold water to cover, then stir to dissolve the salt.
After about 1 hour, taste and feel a piece of zucchini--it should be faintly salty and softened. Drain, making sure to remove any remaining ice cubes. Dry very thoroughly between towels, or spin, a few handfuls at a time, in a salad spinner. (Excess water will thin the flavor and spoil the pickle.) Rinse and dry the bowl.
Combine the vinegar, sugar, dry mustard, mustard seeds, and turmeric in a saucepan and simmer for 3 minutes. Set aside until just warm to the touch. If the brine is too hot, it will cook the vegetables and make the pickles soft instead of crisp.
Replace the zucchini in the bowl and add the cooled brine. Stir to distribute the spices.
Transfer the pickle to jars, preferably ones that have “shoulders” to hold the zucchini and onions beneath the surface of the brine. Cover and refrigerate for at least a day before serving to allow the flavors to mellow and permeate the zucchini, turning them a brilliant chartreuse color. These keep indefinitely refrigerated.
I don't have a mandoline, so I sliced everything by hand. (If anybody wants to be my sugar meemaw and buy me a Benriner...)
I'm not confident I crushed the mustard seeds very well. I only have a tiny mortar and pestle. I really want a molcajete :/ and a big-ass regular mortar and pestle :/ also a suribachi (Sugar meemaw, if you're out there...)
I just stuffed everything in a deli container which seems to be working fine, although I might redistribute to smaller containers later.
I tasted a piece of zucchini this morning after I put the pickle in the fridge last night. It's very tangy and sweet, with some earthiness and a tiny, subtle hint of heat from the mustard. I'm going to give it another 12-24 hours and see if more heat develops, and if not, I'm going to chop up a chile and add it because I think the flavors are asking for more spice.
