Have you ever met someone who can't just make two servings of something? Like, when you ask them to bring an appetizer for six for Thanksgiving and end up with a gallon of pimento cheese? My father-in-law is like this. It's pretty hilarious, but you sometimes secretly kind of DO want a gallon of pimento cheese. I recently enjoyed this quirk of his when he showed me how to make his pickled summer vegetables.
The story begins two generations ago. Patrick's grandfather would eat cucumbers sprinkled with white vinegar every evening before dinner, he recalls. These morphed into a more palatable version my father in law makes with onions and tomatoes too. He made it sound so easy, saying to throw in a dash of that and a few glugs of that. But I could never recreate them well enough! I even tried three versions last summer, and wrote the variations on a sticky note fastened to the lid. Patrick tried them all independently but we knew none of them were right.
This year, I asked if he would show me how to do it. I wanted to take notes and learn the secret once and for all. On a trip down there he had everything ready to show me how to get it done. Only I couldn't take notes as he had me slicing and dicing — very hands on. I was able to take a few mental notes I transferred into my Notes app before leaving, but had to figure out the liquid amounts on my own.
Though math is decidedly not my forte at all, I somehow came to the conclusion I could empty out the bottles and calculate based on what was missing how much we used of each vinegar. I felt like a freakin' genius, like I needed to be wearing a white lab coat and science goggles, as I measured each vinegar in a standard liquid measuring cup. I should have had beakers though to express my scientific nerd feeling. With that intellectual breakthrough, I feel confident in my ability to recreate what I call "Norway pickles" so the family enjoyment of vinegary cucumbers and more may continue on forever.
Pickled Summer Vegetables
Ingredients
- 3 cucumbers
- 1 large tomato
- 1 white onion
- 6 ounces malt vinegar
- 3 ounces white vinegar
- 5 ounces red cooking wine (not vinegar)
- 2 ounces seasoned rice vinegar
- 1 ounce balsamic vinegar
- 2 ounces Viva Italian dressing (not zesty)
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Cut the vegetables. I like to cut the cucumbers into 1" rounds, the onions into thin finger width slivers, and just dice the tomatoes into 1" chunks after removing the seeds and the core. There's no need to be overly precise here.
- Mix the vinegars, cooking wine, dressing, oregano, and salt together in a container large enough to hold the liquid and the vegetables. I like to do this in a plastic container with a tight fitting lid so it can be stored in this same dish.
- Put the lid on the container and shake to mix the liquids thoroughly. Adjust seasonings to taste as needed.
- Add in the vegetables, stir lightly to coat, and put in the fridge overnight.
- You can add in more vegetables to the liquid as you eat the current ones. They should last 1 week before getting mushy and gross, but the liquid should be good for about 3 weeks.
As you can imagine, this recipe is insanely customizable. Leave out the tomatoes if you like. Peel or don't peel the cucumber. Make it tangier with more balsamic vinegar. We found that we prefer the cucumbers with the peel on in our house, whereas my father in law likes his peeled. Patrick likes the tomatoes more than I do, so I would add less if it wasn't for him. But we can all agree, the best summer snack is to grab a ramekin and fill it up with a small serving of these tangy, vinegary vegetables on a hot day.
The health benefits of vinegar
Vinegar is a great addition to your diet, as it is a fermented liquid. This brings antibacterial and antioxidant activity to your body, which helps balance your gut flora. It also has shown to have a blood sugar regulating effect on Type 2 diabetics, which is interesting especially since Patrick's grandfather had Type 2, as does his dad. Patrick has Type 1 diabetes. Maybe his grandfather knew about the blood sugar regulating effect somehow.
It's not a miracle cure though, as vinegar does have some unappetizing properties. When it's drank straight up — like the people who do the apple cider vinegar diet have found out — it can have damaging effects to your teeth from the acetic acid in vinegar. But drinking it straight up daily is way different than enjoying it as a flavoring agent every so often.
Want more pickled recipes?
