Thursday, June 9, 2011

What's for Dinner?

Hamburgers, french fries and pickles...now that's it's unofficially summer, the grill has been put to work.  Hamburgers are a quick and easy meal be it veggie burgers, turkey burgers or beef burgers.  It's all good and the boys gobble them up, no complaining about these meals.  We are not big fans of pickles and have always happily left them out until last summer...I had an overabundance of dill and didn't know what to do with them.  The only pickles I like are half sours and when I came across this post/recipe, I just had to try it.  I made a batch and fell in love with them...last week, with dill ready for harvesting, I made the pickles again and shared with the ladies at our Just Scrappin' in Sturbridge crop.  Everyone loved it and wanted the recipe...so here it is.


Dill Refrigerator Pickles

Ingredients
* 1 small sweet onion (such as Vidalia or Maui), thinly sliced
* 2 pounds medium pickling cucumbers, scrubbed, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds {I used 3 regular cukes}
* 1 large bunch dill, coarsely chopped (stems included) {fresh from my garden}
* 1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
* 2 teaspoons whole white peppercorns {only had seasoned pepper}
* 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar {used half apple cider, half white vinegar}
* 1 cup water
* 1 cup sugar
* 3 tablespoons coarse kosher salt {used coarse sea salt}
* 2 teaspoons dill seeds {didn't have any so left it out}


Preparation
* Divide sliced onion between three recycled smuckers jelly jars. Pack cucumber slices horizontally in jars. Top each jar with dill.
* Using mortar and pestle or resealable plastic bag and mallet, crush mustard seeds and peppercorns together. Place crushed spices in medium saucepan. Add vinegar, water, sugar, coarse salt, and dill seeds. Bring mixture to boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.
* Ladle mixture evenly over cucumbers. Leave jars uncovered and chill 24 hours in fridge.
* Cover glass pickle jars tightly with lids. Do Ahead: Can be made 1 week ahead.
* Keep refrigerated.

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