Garbage Pickles Recipes

Steps:

• Trim both ends of each radish and cut them into quarters. (If you leave the radishes whole you won't be able to pack the radishes in tightly and there will be too much room for brine in the jar. The pickles would then be far too salty).
• Pack the radishes as tightly as you can into a jar, spacing the garlic cloves evenly around. I recommend using a small-mouth pint jar, but a bag of radishes is not made to fit exactly into a jar of a particular size, so use your judgement on how many bags of radishes and jars you want to use. Cover the radishes with brine and cap the jar. Turn it upside down and place it in the fridge for 3 weeks to pickle. You will notice that very quickly the vinegar starts to break down the red skin on the radishes, making the pickle juice and the radishes each uniformly pink.
• About that brine recipe. I make mine with a gallon of water, 1 cup salt and 1 cup vinegar as my Grandma taught me, but have cut the measurements down for folks who may not use so much. I keep this brine in a gallon jar and whenever I have something around that might be good to pickle (green tomatoes, string-beans, baby carrots, cauliflower ect.) I just grab a jar, pack it with veggies and seasoning (garlic, dill, curry, italian seasonings etc.) and pour on the brine. I always have some very good pickles in my fridge! Makes a good gift as well, if you seal them.

Steps:

• In a large pot, combine 6 cups stock with the carrots, celery root, parsnip and potatoes. The vegetables should be covered with stock, so add more as needed. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Rapidly simmer until all the vegetables are fork tender, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
• While the vegetables are cooking, coarsely grate the pickles. You should have approximately 1 cup densely packed grated pickles. Melt the butter in a small frying pan over medium heat until it starts to brown. Stir in the garlic and bay leaves and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the grated pickles and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and cook, stirring once, until the pickles become softer, 8 to 12 minutes.
• Add the pickle mixture to the pot with the vegetables, along with 1 cup of the pickle brine. Taste, then season with salt and pepper. The soup should already be salty from the broth, pickles and their brine, so add salt carefully. Add up to 1/2 cup more brine if you want a more sour taste. Remove and discard the bay leaves.
• If using sour cream, temper the cream so it doesn't curdle: In a cup, mix the sour cream with 1 to 2 tablespoons of cold water, stirring well after each addition, then repeat with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the soup. Add the tempered cream to the pot. Bring to a simmer and heat through, about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.
• To serve, ladle the soup into bowls. Top with chopped dill and black pepper.