Pickles

There has been, I'm afraid, a distinct lack of pickles in our household since the Great Deprocessing of Aught Ten, which has struck some of us as a deep and abiding tragedy. So when Delikatesse cucumbers appeared in our produce box along with a suggestion to pickle them, we insightfully remarked, with our typical culinary eloquence: "Ooooh, pickles!"

I had pictured pickling as some involved, painstaking process involving special jars and effort and jets of steam (not sure where I got the steam idea, but it's definitely in my inner mental pickling picture). Turns out it involves none of these, takes less than ten minutes, and produces absolutely delicious, crunchy, tart, delightful pickles.

Make them. Eat them. Promise yourself that you'll bring some to your friends. Delight in your generosity. Eat a pickle to celebrate it. Sorrowfully notice that you seem to have no pickles left. Make more.

Ingredients (recipe adapted from our produce box insert)
About 6-8 crunchy, short-and-fat cucumbers, cut lengthwise into halves or quarters
1 cup good quality white wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup chopped spring onion (could sub red onion, or a little less shallot)
Big handful parsley, chopped
2-3 tsp sugar
1 tsp pink peppercorns (optional but highly recommended)

Pack the cucumber spears into a glass tupperware or other container. Combine the rest of the ingredients except the peppercorns in a pot and bring to a boil, then turn off the heat. Pour over the cucumbers, add the peppercorns, and let sit for about half an hour to cool. Cover the container tightly and stick it in the fridge for at least three days.

After 2-3 days, you can taste one and adjust the salt or sugar if needed (ours were a bit too acidic and so we added a bit more sugar...this will depend on the sweetness of your vinegar).

We assiduously and selflessly tried our pickles every day for a week, in the name of Science and also in the name of that deep, primal, and no doubt universal "Ooh! A pickle!" response upon opening the refrigerator door, and concluded they were best on Days 5 and 6. But you should probably conduct your own tests, just to be sure.