Quick pickles and slow pork - Yadkin Ripple

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Quick refrigerator pickle.

I have been eating and making a lot of pickles this summer. I love pickles. I confess I do not care for sweet pickles but I love salty and sour pickles. Grapeleaf pickles are my all-time favorite but I have not made any this summer. My husband’s favorite pickles are a spicy dill pickle that I make. Our little garden wasn’t producing enough cucumbers to do a large batch of pickles so we bought a box of pickling cucumbers from Hunter Farms, just down the road from where we live.

For the cucumbers that we did grow ourselves, I have been making a super quick refrigerator pickle that is so tasty. It is super easy to make and can really be customized to your tastes. The brine is a basic mixture of vinegar and salt. I add in dill weed, peppercorns and some garlic cloves. I think a hot pepper in there would be good too, but I haven’t tried that since I canned a spicier pickle already. These refrigerator pickles are great on a sandwich or as a little refreshing side dish with a meal. I tend to eat them straight out of the jar.

I have been in something of a boring food rut these last few months, but I did make a very delicious slow cooked salsa pork recently that was delicious. I think it would be good served on a bun topped with the aforementioned pickles, but we actually ate ours more like tacos. The pork is so simple and requires just a few spices and only two main ingredients, a small Boston Butt (or you could use a pork loin) and a jar of salsa verde. I cooked the pork on high for six hours in a slow cooker and served it on tortillas topped with some shredded cheese, lettuce, and diced red onion and tomato. I would have added some sour cream, but I was in such a hurry to eat it that I forgot!

I love slow cooker recipes but tend to do more soups and stews in the fall, summer doesn’t really seem like slow cooker weather but the pork is great for sandwiches or tacos. You could make it into more a fall and winter meal and serve the pork with a hearty black bean stew. I have shared the recipe below, but I will warn you that I had to guess on the spice amounts. I just put the roast in my slow cooker and sprinkled the seasonings on as the spirit lead me, so feel free to do that or give it a try with my guesses on the measurements.

Kitsey’s Super Quick Pickles

Ingredients:

• About 5 small cucumbers thinly sliced

• 1/2 cup vinegar

• 3 tsp kosher salt

• 2 tsp dill weed

• 2 to 3 peeled garlic cloves

• About 10 whole peppercorns

Instructions: Place cucumber slices into a glass quart jar and add vinegar and spices. Place lid on jar and shake well to combine. Store in refrigerator. Shake jar a few times the first day you make them to get the brine working. It will appear at first as if this is not enough liquid, but the salt will draw water out of the cucumbers. Thin sliced cucumbers make for a nice crunchy pickle. Serve on sandwiches or with charcuterie.

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Slow cooker salsa pork

Ingredients:

• Pork loin or small bone-in Boston butt roast

• 1 jar salsa verde (green salsa)

• 1 tbs kosher salt

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp chipotle powder or chili powder

• 1 tsp cracked black pepper

Instructions: Mix seasonings together and run on to roast on both sides. Or you can just put the roast in the slow cooker and sprinkle seasonings one at a time and rub into the meat. Pour salsa on top and cook on high for 6 hours. Serve on buns or tortillas with your favorite taco toppings.

Kitsey Burns Harrison is a reporter for The Yadkin Ripple. Here she shares her musings on food, live, love and motherhood. She may be reached at 336-679-2341 or on Twitter and Instagram @RippleReporterK.

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September 02, 2020 at 07:51PM
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Quick pickles and slow pork - Yadkin Ripple

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