Pickled - Part 2

 If you can slice a cucumber and own a microwave,

you can make these bread & butter pickles.

I totally trusted Bev that this was a good recipe, but when I saw this comment posted yesterday (the same day that I posted the recipe) I knew I had to make them. Soon.

goodnightgram

I have already made a batch of the pickles today. They are delicious!!! They are crispy. The flavors are subtle and the perfect proportions. Easy peasy! I will make them again. I agree that the onions would be the perfect addition to potato salad. I am thrilled!

Goodnightgram does not exaggerate.

Yes. Bev's pickle recipe I posted yesterday is indeed easy enough to make with a 4-year-old dancing and singing around me as I work. And a baby who stayed right under my feet, hoping I'd drop something for her to pick up and put in her mouth. But, it did take me two days to get to the "cooking" part.

Yesterday afternoon I washed the cucumbers from the garden. I found the onion. I set out all the spices and the vinegar. I was going to make the pickles after everyone went to bed. That didn't happen. I fell in bed as soon as I read a bedtime story to Little Sister.

This morning after I got back from the dentist, I was determined to get the pickles made before the cucumbers were beyond using. I used my mandoline* to slice my cucumbers quickly. (It probably took me as long to find the safety release on the mandoline was as it did to make the pickles.)

Bev is right. Once you find the right size dish, this gets even easier. I used my postal scale to weigh cucumbers. I learned that three cucumbers from the garden weighed roughly one pound. So I sliced nine cucumbers and measured them---just about 8 cups. I used a 2-1/2 quart Corningware casserole for the cooking part. It looked like it was nearly too small when I added cucumbers and the onion (had to leave out a few cukes.) But as they cooked in the microwave, they started to cook down.

 This dish was full to the top before the microwaving and cooling.

When the microwave part was done, we had lunch while they cooled on the counter. By the time lunch was over, there were a couple of inches left at the top of the dish. Next time I'll slice my onion into that dish, then slice cucumbers in until the dish is full. No weighing. No measuring.

So thank you, Bev for the recipe. And thank you, Goodnightgram, for the encouragement to do these today. These are as good as the ones my mother used to make. And much easier. I am so happy to have this recipe.


*The only accident related visit to the ER I've ever had was years back when I sliced my finger badly as I was slicing vegetables with a mandoline. Use a mandoline with GREAT CAUTION.


Please stop by Goodnightgram's Blog and say hello! She's also a grandmother and a knitter and lives in a very different part of the country from me. I love seeing what life is like in the far north.