My book club read “Cooked” by Michael Pollan. And while the reviews about the book were mixed, it did inspire me to get cooking again.

I had intended for us all to make pickles together – inspired by the “earth” section of the book. But too much rosé was consumed and we all ended up lounging in the sun instead. Not a bad alternative.

So, the next day, I made pickles. I had my first after 48 hours in the fridge and they are so satisfying! If you’d like to make more than 1 jar (I suggest that you do. I predict that they will be extremely popular.), just double, triple, quadruple or quintuple the recipe like I did.

Snappy Dill Pickles
• 1 cup of water
• 3 TBS distilled white vinegar
• 2 tsp salt
• 4 stems of fresh dill
• a shake of whole black peppercorns
• a shake of red pepper flakes
• 1 big garlic clove, cut in thirds vertically
• 1 to 2 cucumbers
• 1 quart sized mason jar, sterilized

Wash the cucumbers. Slice them into spears – vertically into fourths. Mine were too tall for the mason jar so I also cut them in half. Pack them into the jar. Make sure there’s at least 2″ space between the cucumbers and the top of the jar. And make sure they’re packed in there tightly.

In a separate bowl mix the water, vinegar and salt until the salt is dissolved.

Add the water mixture into the mason jar. Make sure the water is at least 1″ above the cucumbers. Add in the garlic, dill, peppercorns and flakes.

Seal up the jar and put it in the fridge for 48 hours. Pop open the jar and get snappin!

Enjoy!!