Taquería Carrots (Zanahorias Escabeches)

These spicy pickled carrots — quick and easy to make — are crunchy, tangy, zingy and addictive. Just the thing for a happy hour lift, or to serve with tacos, they’ll keep a week or so refrigerated, but we sincerely doubt they’ll last that long. I like them best with serrano chiles; start with two; if you’re having trouble getting them, use jalapeño. And if you don’t have any fresh hot chiles, improvise — drop in some dried chile flakes, crumble up tiny Asian dried red chiles, or even some slices of pickled jalapeño, tasting for heat level as you go along. At the L.A. taquerías where I first fell in love with them, they’re spicy, but not killer.

It seemed silly not to make a pound’s worth of carrots, but a lot of vinegar is required to cover them completely. Feel free to scale up proportionally, and play with the proportions if you like — it’s a very forgiving recipe.

Ingredients

1 cup white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

2 bay leaves

10 or so black peppercorns

3/4 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal about 1/2-inch thick

2-3 serrano chiles, sliced into thin rounds (including the seeds; you can substitute jalapeños)

1/2 a smallish white onion, sliced (or substitute yellow onion)

Instructions

1. Combine the vinegar, 1 cup water and salt in a medium-small saucepan with the garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns. Bring to a boil and add the carrots. If the carrots are not completely submerged, add equal parts of vinegar and water to cover. When the contents come back to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook briefly — about 3 minutes — until carrots are crunchy-tender.

2. Remove the pan from the heat, transfer the contents to a deep bowl just large enough to hold them or a wide-mouth jar, and add the serrano chiles and onion slices.

3. Let cool and eat immediately, or refrigerate in a covered jar or other covered container.