As I started exploring recipes for things I had always bought and never made, my favorite women’s magazine, Real Simple, provided a super simple recipe for just such a thing: pickles!
Bread and butter, dill, garlic, gherkins…I am pretty much a fan of all pickles. I always thought pickling would require special jars, tedious processes, sterilization…
But Real Simple set me straight. No special equipment and I even fudged some of the ingredients and the pickles still came out yummy. Very crisp and flavorful when I let them marinate for 3 or 4 days.
Here is the link and the recipe and a great way to use up some summer cucumbers:
Almost Hands-Free Dill Pickles
Makes 16 spears Hands-On Time: 05m
Ingredients
- 4 Kirby cucumbers (about 1 pound), quartered lengthwise (I used non-Kirby cukes)
- 3/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 1/4 small sweet onion (such as Vidalia or Walla Walla), thinly sliced (I also didn’t have any onion to add…)
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon dill seed
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1 bay leaf
- kosher salt
Directions
- Place the cucumbers in a 1-quart jar or some other container with a tight-fitting lid.
- In a bowl, combine the vinegar, onion, garlic, sugar, dill seed, peppercorns, bay leaf, 2 teaspoons salt, and ¾ cup hot tap water. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Pour the vinegar mixture into the jar with the cucumbers, cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 day before serving. The pickles will last up to 1 week.
By Sara Quessenberry, August 2010
