Prepping cucumbers to make pickles
It is so hot here at the Rubin Rodeo, there is little or no cooking going on. We do not have central AC in our home, just a large number of ceiling fans, portable fans and a stand alone portable air conditioning unit. Turning on the stove or oven is just not an option!
Combine the heatwave with our CSA share* and its time for some new recipes. A head of cabbage = cole slaw. Cucumbers? Either eat them as is, a naturally cooling food, or make them into pickles.
Not just any kind of pickles, refrigerator pickles which don’t require turning the stove on.
This version has an Asian twist and utilizes one of my favorite ingredients: toasted sesame oil.
Asian Ice Box Pickles
Cole Slaw and Pickles. Chilling out in the refrigerator.
Ingredients:
1 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and sliced (or ~ 6 kirbys)
1/2 small red onions, thinly sliced
pinch of red pepper flakes or Asian hot sauce (optional)
Procedure:
Slice cucumbers lengthwise
Using a metal spoon, scoop the seeds out of each half of the cucumber and slice the cucumber halves into semi circles.
Thinly slice the red onion.
Whisk the vinegar, soy sauce and sugar in a medium bowl until the sugar is dissolved.
Whisk in the sesame oil and the (optional) pepper flakes.
Add the cucumbers and onions and toss it all together into a class jar or container with a well fitting lid.
Refrigerate.
Keeps up to one week.
