I keep coming back to these pickled chillies.

The weather is miserable out there and no one feels like serious cooking. We have tacos to make some quesadillas, so alongside cooking some beans in a tomato sauce, I will be knocking up a simple salsa (30g coriander leaf,  3 garlic cloves, 4 tomatoes, 1-2 chillies, all pulsed together in a processor).

Layer a taco in a dry frying pan and top with cheese, beans, avocado or pickled chillies – basically whatever you fancy on your tacos.

When the cheese melts and the topping looks warmed through, fold the taco in half to complete cooking. Store in a warm oven until all of your quesadillas are ready to eat.

If you want them to look “authentic” then skip the folding, top with another taco and slip out onto a plate, flip and cook the other side. Today it just seems like too much faff so I’m going with semi-circle simple.

Since I found plenty of chillies in the fridge, I’ve pickled some to add to our plates…

Pickling brine:
500ml water
750ml white vinegar
75g salt
75g sugar
red & green chilli peppers from mild to hot bonnets
1 small onion finely sliced (optional)

To make a pickling brine bring to the boil vinegar and water (3:2) together in a saucepan. Add sugar and salt (about 60g per litre of liquid of both) and simmer until ready to use.

Slice the chilli peppers and cram into preserving jars. You can also add thin slices of onion with the chillies.Fill the jars with the hot brine and seal.

They can be used after a couple of days just like fresh chillies. The vinegar will also add something to roasted vegetable or rice/couscous. Like most pickles they will keep well for about a year. After opening a jar, keep topping off the chillies or brine as they get used up until the jar gets too murky or spicy.