Something Pink in the Kitchen

As the only female in our home, there aren’t a whole lot of pink things floating around the house. Pink isn’t even one of my favorite colors (despite the fact that my 4 year old insists that as a girl, I am required to have pink or purple as my favorite color), in fact, it is noticeably absent in most rooms, especially when compared to my friends with daughters.

Even in cooking, aside from artificially dyed foods, pink is rare.  Other than certain fish and meat, pink is not a common food color.  But it was with delight that I made pink pickles last week.  Let me explain...

One of my good friends has a sweet, sweet little two year old little girl.  Her older brother is good friends with R and G, and recently she tagged along with her big brother for a play date.  I was in heaven:  I was able to do all sorts of girlie-girl play, stickers, coloring (my boys like to draw, but coloring, not so much) and the like.

Inspired by having a girl with which to create in the kitchen, I had her help me make something new:  pink pickles.  Not actually cucumbers, these pickles are made out of radishes.  Since our Community Supported Agriculture Cooperative (CSA) has brought us dozens of radishes this year, and I have been struggling to use them all, pickles seemed like a fun idea.

We took the radishes from the CSA and gave them a quick bath and scrub in the sink:


Sliced them and added them to a jar I had on hand, and mixed them with the simple pickling recipe below.  Oh.  my.  goodness.  These pickled radishes exceeded any expectation of good.  They are crazy good.  

Pickled Pink Radishes

2 bunches radishes
½ cup rice vinegar
¾ cup water
1 tablespoon kosher salt
⅓ cup white sugar

Rinse and dry the radishes.  Slice them into quarter-inch slices.  Place them into a jar or bowl.

In a microwave safe dish or glass pyrex measuring cup, pour the vinegar and water together.  Microwave on high for 1 minute.  Add the salt and sugar, and stir until they are dissolved.

Pour the liquid over the radishes.  



Stir.  Cover and refrigerate, at least one hour, or until they begin to turn pink.

Eat.  Oooh and ahhh.  Repeat.

Makes about 2-3 cups pickled radish.

Will keep in your refrigerator for 3-4 weeks, but ours were gone in mere days.

Something pink!
SPC