Man oh man, it's nice to be home. I can do stuff like make pickled onions. Road trips on the other side of the world and all but .. homemade pickled onions!

I honestly don't know why people buy condiments and pickles when it's this easy. And the beauty of this one is that you don't need to wait long - overnight is fine. I mean, a week is better but hey. Let's focus on the quick!!

First of all, don't be shocked or anything, but you need to slice onions. I like the red ones. Just fill a jar with them. Crying can be avoided by wearing goggles or bribing someone else to do it. It is worth the tears.

Then, make a brine. Any vinegar is fine, just not cleaning vinegar. ACV is awesome as it's so good for you, and if you want to retain the nutrients, don't boil it. The mother won't be happy. In fact you don't need to heat the vinegar at all - just mix one cup with one cup of water, dissolve some sugar (any kind, about two tablespoons) and two tablespoons of salt. Taste. Pickely? Then that's it - pour it into the jar. Shut jar. Be patient. Wait. Eat pickle. Nom nom.

However, I decided to go traditional and heated the vinegar before pouring it in. I added a few pinches of peppercorns and some bay leaves. I had malt vinegar which is a lot cheaper than ACV and I think it's nice with pickled onions. It's milder. If you don't do sugar you could add honey, maple syrup or agave.

On a side note, my tenant left behind a jar of shop bought bay leaves which I thought was hilarious. I mean, I do have a massive bay tree in the garden. She's an apprentice chef as well. Anyway I used fresh.

Fast forward 24 hours and I made a cheese and onion pickle toastie - pan fried are the best. Look how red the pickles are already!!!! Now the trick is with a good toastie is lashings of butter on the outside, low to medium heat and a lid on so the cheese melts well. It'll take about four minutes on each side but I promise you it'll be worth it. Oh, and each to his own, but white sourdough is my pick for this. If I had a rye sourdough and some Gouda, well, that'd be pretty freaking awesome too. But one has to work with what one has.

Dudes, go cut some onions!

With Love,

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