Wow this is my 10th ingredient for this challenge! This week I’m using the humble cucumber! It’s normally just used in salads but I’m here to show you that there are so many more possibilities!

This first recipe was a really easy one and not fancy at all. It was a classic cucumber recipe and I just really wanted to make it. I made quick pickles! I guess I sort of just made a cucumber salad but the pickling is what made them so good. I used this recipe (link here).

I’ve always stayed away from pickling things because I didn’t want to boil a brine. I know it’s not hard to do but I just didn’t want to do it – I wanted something easier and I actually found it. This recipe required no cooking, it took 5 minutes to get everything together and then I just had to pop them in the fridge. If you want a quick pickle recipe, you need to make this one.

The only change I made was cutting down the amount of garlic to 3 cloves because I didn’t want a super garlicy pickle. The plain cucumber gains so much flavour from sitting in this pickling mixture. They’re supposed to sit in the fridge for 2 days before eating but of course I had to try them sooner. After a couple of hours in the fridge, they were already starting to ‘pickle’ and soaked up some of the flavourful brine. But the next day, the flavour got more intense and they had the nice crunch of a good pickle that you would buy in the store. And by day 4, they were super pickled and delicious.

When I make them again (yes, I am definitely making them again), I may use a touch less kosher salt because I found them to be a little too salty for my taste – after a few days, they really soak in the salt. I also might add a bit more chili flakes for an extra spicy kick. But overall, I’m really impressed with how easy they were to make and how well they turned out 🙂