Eat Your Veg!

I may never buy pickles again. It was so much fun to layer the different vegetable's colours and shapes in jars as I prepared for the Epitourists April lunch. Such a pretty result! The brine was simple: 200 grams sugar; 400 grams water; 200 grams white wine vinegar; thyme sprigs; mustard seeds.

The recipe was from Thomas Keller's Masterclass, the theme for the Epitourists this month.

Keller is such a pro, which is easy to spot in his technique and approach. Not a lot of high drama here; the man exudes such an easy confidence. Simple and straightforward explanations shared from decades of experience.

I was totally inspired by the care he took in his demonstrations as he prepared vegetables: raw, roast, boil, glaze, braise, puree, pickle.... 

For my Epi course I chose roasted beets, boiled asparagus, pickled veg and hard boiled eggs.  Too simple?

Done right, vegetables do take time to prepare, but the effort is well worth the prize. Amazing colour, fresh taste, endless variety. 

Keller had assigned a salt tasting for homework. From my cupboard I grabbed some sea salt, Himalayan, maldon, and iodized. I also prepped some cumin sea salt, stealing notes from Alice Waters' Masterclass: it's just two tablespoons of sea salt and one tablespoon of cumin (you just toast the cumin seeds lightly in a cast iron pan and then when they're cool, grind them together with a bit of salt). 

After one or two dabs of my finger in salt, truthfully I couldn't taste much difference, aside from the cumin-flavoured. However, I noted that the finer grinds of salt were easily absorbed into the vegetable. The finishing salt, Maldon, added extra crunch and visual interest.