I started making dill pickles a few years ago because I ‘m not fond of what’s usually sold in jars in supermarkets (although in a pinch I’ll settle for Ba-Temp-Te kosher dills). My attempts at canning pickles for long-term storage haven’t turned out well: I wound up with eight jars of soggy cucumber mush. So, until I decide to try my hand at fermenting my own half-sours, I’ll stick with short-brined refrigerator pickles. The recipe I use is Alton Brown’s, which is designed for fermenting, but with a simple modification produces superior quick pickles.

I started with eight pickling cucumbers, fresh from the morning’s farmer’s market, a bunch of dill, 2.75 ounces of sea salt, half a tablespoon of red pepper flakes, half a teaspoon of dill seed, a crushed garlic clove, and half a tablespoon of black peppercorns. These are half the quantities in the recipe; I like to start with a test batch. You’ll also notice two tablespoons of champagne vinegar, which will provide the acid normally generated by fermentation.

I dissolved the sea salt in half a gallon of filtered water. The filtering is important, minerals from tap water will discolor the pickles. Then I put all of the spices in a clean jar with a rubber gasket seal.

I sliced the blossom end off the cucumbers, then quartered them lengthwise. I packed the slices into the jar, filling as much space as I could without crushing the slices – this keeps them from floating to the top when the brine is added. I poured in the vinegar, and, finally, I added the brine, filling the jar to the top.

Quick, simple, and fool-proof. How do they taste? I’ll let you know in about a week.

I‘ve been negligent in posting any recipes this week. Here’s a quick one, inspired by this afternoon’s trip to the fish market.

It’s a simple dish that starts with only a few ingredients: two branzini (plural of branzino, cleaned and scaled by Sal, my fishmonger), a lemon, fresh thyme, olive oil, pepper, and salt (sea salt with zinfandel and oregano, purchased at London’s Borough Market).

I cut the lemon into thin slices, then added salt and pepper to the inside and outside of the fish. That was followed by a splash of olive oil in the cavity before I stuffed it with lemon slices and thyme sprigs:

I oiled a roasting pan, added the branzini, scored the tops in three spots, then sprinkled more oil over the top:

The pan went into a 500°F oven for about fifteen minutes, until the skin was crispy and starting to brown at the edges. I removed the fish from the pan to a cutting board to rest for a few minutes.

I separated the filets from the bones, plated and served them with saffron rice and sauteed sugar snap peas with garlic. (Look at the fancy garnish: didn’t I learn anything from Fergus?)

How did it taste? The fish was moist and firm, with a buttery taste complimented by the delicate perfuming of the thyme and lemon. The crispy skin, still with crunchy sea salt grains, provided a textural balance.

The entire meal, from fishmonger to final plate, took less than an hour to cook. The prep was dead simple, and there was minimal knife work involved. Branzino isn’t cheap, but I’ll remember this technique the next time I need to whip up a last-minute dinner.

Sources:

Branzini from New Deal Fish Market

Olive oil from Capone Foods