I moved to Atlanta almost 17 years ago, and one thing I still don’t understand is the love of sweet pickles. For some reason everyone’s go to pickle is a bread and butter pickle and I have no room in my life for sweet pickles. Give me a tart, crunchy (perhaps even spicy) dill pickle and throw the sweet ones in the garbage. If you love sweet pickles, you can have all of mine. And while you’re at it, you can keep your vegetables out of my desserts. I’m looking at you carrot cake. I swear I’m not a picky eater. I just have strong feelings.
I love to “pickle” my own veggies at home. I use the term pickle lightly because I’m not going through the for real pickling/canning process. But marinating peppers, cucumbers, onions, carrots, etc in a vinegary brine is always good. They are a great addition of flavor to salads, tacos, burgers…pretty much anything. My Grandma Patty would make the easiest refrigerator pickles and I still use her method 30 years later. It is so simple, and so easy to customize. Change up the vegetables, use a different acid, add different spices. How you make your quick pickles, or quickles, is really up to you.
Some tips: The thinner you slice the veggies the quicker they will pickle and soften. I used a mandolin slicer to get really thin slices and it took about 30 minutes in the fridge. Thicker slices will take longer, or just be crunchier and milder after 30 minutes. I would also recommend making a small enough batch that you can eat withing a day or so. The longer they sit in the vinegar, the more the veggies will break down and only taste like vinegar.
Patty’s Pickles
Ingredients:
- 1/2 English cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1 shallot, sliced
- Zest+ Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 cup white wine vinegar, or enough to cover the cucumbers in your bowl
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper, or 1 tsp whole pepper corns
Steps:
- Add sliced cucumber and shallots into a bowl.
- Add the lemon zest, juice, salt and pepper. Toss
- Cover with white wine vinegar.
- Cover bowl and set in fridge for 30 minutes.
- The longer they sit in the fridge, the more tart they will get so be warned!
Ingredients:
Steps:
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