Pickled Vegetable Antipasto

Last summer I pickled and canned a bunch of vegetables; cauliflower, carrots, beets, pearl onions, dill pickles, green beans, you get the idea. And while I have been enjoying having all of these jars in my cellar, Spring is upon us and I'l have to get on a whole new batch of pickled vegetables and so I had me a little epiphany one day-hellooo antipasto.

I've told you about my love for snacking so it should come as no surprise that a cracker and cheese platter is one of my favorite things on earth. I find few things better than a spread of meats, pate, cheeses, crackers, bread, jalapeno pepper jelly and antipasto. I usually buy antipasto but with all of these pickled vegetables at my disposal I figured I would try to make my own. There are two ways to make this; first you can buy jars of pickled cauliflower mix, green beans, carrots etc., but that would be quite pricey therefore making it a better option to just buy the premade stuff or in lieu of having a cellar full of pickled vegetables, follow the pickling brine below.

Recipe:

Antipasto:
1 large carrot, diced
1/4 head cauliflower, chopped into rough dice
6 green beans, chopped into 1/4" pieces
4 pearl onions or 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
6 small button mushrooms, diced
1 dill pickle, finely chopped
6 black olives, pitted and finely chopped
1 can tuna (omit for vegetarian version)
1/2 cup ketchup (if you have time, homemade ketchup is fantastic here)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar

Pickling Brine:
1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
1/8 cup pickling salt
1 tablespoon pickling spice
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions:
1. Bring pickling brine ingredients to a boil. Place the carrots, cauliflower, green beans onions and garlic in the brine. Simmer together for 10 minutes. Allow the vegetables to cool in the brine, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
2. Mix the remaining ingredients together with the pickled vegetables and refrigerate overnight.

Makes about 2 cups.