Pickles Pickling and Salmon Curing

Another perfectly fall day spent in the kitchen, windows wide open, walls dappled by golden September sunlight. We stopped off at Sherman Cafe for breakfast before heading to the farmers market to browse this week's selections. I ordered the Little English, a home baked English muffin sandwich filled with boiled egg, ham and mustard, and an iced coffee, of course.

I can't help but to feel overwhelmed when I first arrive at the farmers market. So many possibilities, so many recipe ideas that I have a hard time making up my mind and sticking to it. I don't want to over do it of course, buying everything that suits my fleeting fancy, because I  know that on some days there's no time for a homemade meal. There's nothing more depressing than discovering a sad bunch of wilted kale, unintentionally fermenting in the produce bin of the fridge. But after my initial hesitation, I knew I was destined to spend the day pickling vegetables. I grabbed a bunch of radishes, prickly Brazilian cucumbers, white carrots and some fresh dill. Oh, and an acorn squash, not to pickle, but to roast, and one fat, juicy tomato to eat raw, maybe with a dash of salt and a hearty grind of black pepper. Afterward I stopped off at the Market Basket to buy a fresh salmon fillet for the cured salmon recipe I've been dying to make for quite some time now.

The rest of the day was all chopping, slicing, crushing and tea drinking. And I must say, pickled veggies are a sight to behold. I love the look of the colorful veggies and dill through the glass of a nice old mason jar, glimmering in the sun like a jar full of precious jewels. I'm thinking that by monday I'll have the fixings for a nice little rustic plate of cured salmon and pickled veggies, or maybe a sandwich on country white, slathered with rich butter and piled high with my salty treasures.

Quick and Easy Garden Refrigerator Pickles

Ingredients 
Makes about four 29 ounce jars of pickles
I used empty jam jars of various sizes and eyeballed spice quantities depending on the jar size.

8 cups of fresh, crunchy vegetables of your choice. I used...

1 bunch radishes (washed and speared)
1 bunch white carrots (washed and speared)
1 bunch Brazilian cucumbers (washed and speared)
10 or so fresh dill sprigs
1-2 thinly sliced shallots
6-7 cloves of fresh garlic
4 tsp black peppercorns
2 tsp celery seeds
5 cups distilled white vinegar
5 cups cold water
6 tbs sugar
4 tablespoons kosher salt
3-5 mason jars (depending on size)

Radishes and Brazilian Cucumbers

Brazilian Cucumber

Preparation

Prepare a nice clean surface on which to do your chopping and jarring. Prep all of the veggies to desired size and shape and set aside. In large pitcher, prepare the brine by mixing water, vinegar, salt and sugar.

Thoroughly wash and dry the mason jars. Place 2-4 sprigs of fresh, rinsed dill in the bottom of each jar. Then sprinkle about 1 tsp peppercorns and 1/2 tsp celery seeds into each jar. Use the flat side of a knife to crush the garlic cloves and facilitate skin removal. Coarsely chop the crushed garlic and thinly slice the shallot and divvy them up amongst the jars.

Fill each jar with vegetables. Pour brine in last, before sealing the cap onto the jar and placing it in the refrigerator for 48 hours. These pickles should keep for a few weeks.

I am sure you're also wondering about the cured salmon I mentioned. Do you mind waiting just a day or two for this recipe? It's getting late, my eyes are starting to glaze over, and I still have to post some photographs of my pickles for you. I promise to post the cured salmon recipe this week, and I'll tell you how the pickles turn out. Deal? Deal.