Nigel Slater’s kitchen diary: gherkins and gooseberries add a tangy kick

Photography by Jonathan Lovekin

This week’s haul from the market included fresh gherkins – fat, stubby little cucumbers, ridged with soft spikes and perfect for preserving. Back at home, the air now crisp with vinegar and aromatics (a blend of cider for its fruit and malt for a good kick), I wedged the gherkins into a glass jar, a few sprigs of dill tucked among them, a pair of bay leaves and three whole cloves of garlic. Then I filled the jars almost to the brim with the pickling liquor. Lid on and sealed by its rubber ring, the pickles will go into the fridge for a couple of weeks and emerge sweet, sharp and bracing.

I also made a quicker pickle for instant gratification (sometimes you just need the slap of something sour on your plate), the sort you can knock up for lunch. Long, emerald cucumbers, lightly peeled and thickly chopped, left to soften under a snowfall of sea salt, then dressed with mild rice vinegar and basil leaves. The cucumbers relax yet retain a pleasing crunch, then you toss them and their dressing with what you will, in this case steamed mussels, plump, orange ones used straight from the pot, their flesh still warm and juicy. I could have easily used prawns or pickled herrings.

The lightly pickled cucumber, without the mussels, will keep for a day or two in a sealed jar, and will perk up any sandwich, but particularly those of smoked fish, such as trout or salmon. I am also fond of bread-and-butter pickles, slices of small, Lebanese cucumbers preserved with onions, fennel seeds, turmeric and mustard seeds. The mustard seeds lend a slight heat that makes them an irresistible addition to a sandwich of cold, rose-pink beef. You can use the recipe for the gherkins (below), introducing thinly sliced red onions to the pickling liquor. Use the piquant slices of cucumber in a burger, sandwiched between the hot meat, a slathering of mayonnaise and maybe crisp ribbons of cos lettuce.

As well as pickling, I have been stocking the freezer with gooseberries while the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it season is here. You can pickle these, too, but I’d rather eat this tart fruit in, on or under some sort of sweet crust. They do not make the prettiest of tarts to be honest, so I put them under a sweet pastry crust or drop them into a cake batter. We are now climbing aboard the roller coaster of summer berries – blood-red raspberries, sharp blackcurrants and, for the lucky few, the joy that is a ripe loganberry.

The recipe also works with cucumber, cut thick, and with radishes. I have kept the pickles lightly piquant and aromatic, getting a little warmth from the mustard seeds. If you like a hotter gherkin, add a couple of small, dried chillies or a pinch of dried chilli flakes (a brief caution though: even a pinch of chilli flakes will go a long way). Makes 1 x 1.25ml storage jar. Ready in a week or two.

gherkins or small cucumbers 500g
sea salt 2 tbsp
garlic 3 cloves
bay leaves 3
coriander seeds 2 tsp
black mustard seeds 1 tsp
black peppercorns 10
caster or granulated sugar 50g
white malt vinegar 250ml
cider vinegar 250ml
dill 6 bushy sprigs

You will need a 1.25-litre Kilner-style jar. Sterilise it by washing thoroughly, then pour boiling water into it from the kettle. Carefully empty the jar and leave to dry. Wash the gherkins. If they are small, leave whole. If more than a couple of centimetres in diameter, cut in half lengthways. Put in a stainless-steel or glass bowl, sprinkle with the salt, then toss to lightly cover each gherkin. Set aside in the fridge overnight.

Peel the garlic and drop into a saucepan with the bay leaves, coriander and mustard seeds, black peppercorns and sugar. Pour in the vinegars and 250ml of water and bring to the boil, then remove from the heat.

Put a kettle on to boil. Brush the salt from the gherkins. Pour the boiling water over the gherkins and leave them for 15 minutes. Drain the gherkins, then pack them into the sterilised storage jars. Tuck in the sprigs of dill. Carefully pour the hot pickling liquor into the jars, making certain that the gherkins are fully covered. Seal and set aside somewhere cool and leave for at least a week before eating.

A simple seafood salad for a calm summer’s day. Serves 2. Ready in 30 minutes, plus 30 minutes marinating.

cucumber 1, medium
sea salt 2 tsp
rice vinegar 3 tbsp
caster sugar 2 tsp
basil leaves 5g, plus 12 leaves to finish
mussels 1kg

Peel the cucumber and cut into pencil-thick lengths. Put the cucumber in a sieve over a bowl, sprinkle with the salt, toss together, then set aside for half an hour.

Make a dressing with the vinegar and sugar, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Tear 5g of basil into small pieces and mix in. Season lightly with black pepper.

Give the cucumber a rinse, then pat dry. Pour the dressing over the cucumber and leave for 30 minutes.

Scrub the mussels, removing any beards. Pile the mussels into a saucepan, pour in 50ml of water, covered tightly with a lid, and bring to the boil. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the shells have opened. Immediately remove from the heat and let the mussels cool for 10 minutes.

Pull the flesh from the open shells, drop it in with the cucumber and toss gently with the remaining whole basil leaves. Eat immediately, while the mussels are still plump and juicy.