Summer is nearly over… To extend it, let’s put our summer fruits in a jar… Peaches, apricots, cherry tomatoes burst with sunshine…

Just for fun, I also made pickled radishes, per

fect for aperitif or to go with meat.

For the tomatoes :

It can be ‘normal’ tomatoes, cherry tomatoes… Wash the tomatoes, cut them in half or quarter, place them on a baking tray covered with greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven for a few minutes and cook the tomatoes for 15-20min according to their size. They just have to be a bit sear on the top (no need to leave them in the oven for too long as they would lose their flavour).

Sterilize your jars by boiling them in water for 10 min (make sure that they are all well submerged). This stage is not essential as tomatoes will be covered with olive to avoid mould.

In a bol, mix the tomatoes with garlic, herbe de Provence (if you can’t find any herbes de Provence, thyme will be perfect too) salt, pepper and fresh basil. Put everything in the pot without waiting and cover with olive oil to the top.

For the pickled radishes :

– 1 bunch of radishes

– 3cm of fresh ginger

– ½ tsp of coriander seeds

– 1 star anis

– 1 little hot chili, seeded and finely chopped

– 2 tsp of sugar

– 4 tbsp of white vinegar

– ½ tsp of salt

Wash and chop finely the radishes (ideally with a mandolin being very careful to your fingers !) in the lengthwise and cut the ginger in little sticks. Mix them both together.

Put the spices in a pan on medium heat for one minute and add the chili, sugar, vinegar and salt. Simmer slowly till the sugar dissolve. Pour your preparation on radishes, cover and put it in the fridge if you want to eat them straight away. To keep them longer, follow the same sterilization process as the tomatoes and put them in a jar. If there is not enough liquid, double the proportions when you make your sauce in order to cover the radishes. They will last then for a few weeks in the fridge.

 

Peaches or nectarines :

Make a syrup by boiling some water (around 800ml) with 100g sugar till the sugar dissolve. Leave it for 2 min on low heat. Sterilize your jars with the same process and pour the syrup on peaches peeled and placed beforehand in your pot, the cavity down. Cover the peaches completely to avoid the ones on the top to get dark.

The syrup can be made more or less sweet according to your taste. The recipe has been tested to obtain a very light syrup to keep the fruits’s flavor.