Easy Refrigerator Pickles

My 4 year old, Carson, has a thing for pickles. He eats them at just about every meal except breakfast (and, yes, the boy would totally eat them with his waffles if he could!). He’s such a pickle connoisseur, that he judges the quality of a restaurant by its pickles. And, tonight when we had dinner at Grace Kitchen in Seattle (an amazing, amazing new restaurant in our neighborhood), he burst into tears when the waitress said that they didn’t have any pickles to go along with his dinner. (I realize that my son is beginning to sound like a spoiled brat in this post, but I assure you, he is not. He is just 4. And he loves pickles. A lot.) So, upon seeing the tears on his cheeks, she rushed back to the kitchen, and voila: baby pickles appeared in a ramekin a few minutes later. Turns out, the chef has kids, and they love pickles, too. He got it. I have no idea how they pulled this together (maybe someone ran over to the nearby gourmet market?!), but it really made Carson’s night.

Which brings me to the point of this post: homemade pickles. One year I decided I’d get into canning. I bought a book on canning and a ton of mason jars. Then I got intimidated by the process. What if I didn’t do it right? What if I gave my entire family botulism or something? But, then I realized that I didn’t have to can the traditional way, I could make quick pickles, for instance, in my refrigerator. No, they won’t keep forever, but the way we eat pickles around here, that’s not a problem.

Here’s what I did: Today at the market, we bought a big bag of organic pickling cucumbers (and some carrots, because pickled carrots are fab). Following this recipe loosely, I sliced them up and stuffed them in a jar with white vinegar, kosher salt, a big clump of dill and a ton of minced garlic. And tomorrow, we’ll have homemade pickles! (P.S. If I were making these for the adults, I’d add jalapenos too.)

Yum.