At $2, I couldn’t resist this basket of red serranos I found in the stalls behind Canino’s on Airline. My usual recipe for pickling jalapeños calls for 15, but since the serranos were around half the size, I used 30 of them. The escabeche came out very hot with a little of that ripe red chile sweetness.
Just the thing with an Easter ham and Easter egg salad sandwich.
Recipe after the jump:
Red Serrano Escabeche
Makes about 1 1/2 pounds (drained)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onion, 7 ounces, sliced thick
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and quartered
30 red serrano chiles, approximately one pound, rinsed
1 pound carrots, peeled, rinsed, and sliced 1/2 inch thick (approximately 2 cups)
1 1/4 cup white vinegar, plus more as needed
1 tablespoon pickling salt, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano, or more, if stronger oregano flavor is desired
4 bay leaves
Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add the onions and sauté for 3 minutes, then add the garlic. Continue cooking another minute or two until the onions are soft. Add 8 cups of water and bring to a boil. Make a small slit in each chile pepper to allow the brine to penetrate. Add the peppers and carrots to the pot and cook for 5 minutes or until slightly softened.
Add 1 1/4 cups white vinegar, 1 tablespoon of salt, Mexican oregano, and bay leaves and simmer for another minute. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Remove the jalapenos, carrots, and onions with a slotted spoon or tongs and place in several glass pickle jars. When the cooking liquid has cooled, cover the vegetables with liquid until the jars are 3/4 full. Add a tablespoon of pickling salt to each jar and fill to the top with white vinegar. Keep in the refrigerator.