Quick pickled cucumber

I am busy looking after my garden, or is it looking after me?  It’s working hard, growing many of my favourite treats, including raspberries, zucchinis and cucumbers. 

My rangy, imperfect little beginner’s garden is very restorative.  I can nurture my plants and enjoy some success, accompanied by kaka, tui and of course my funny little rescue cats who always appear from nowhere to supervise my activities.  We’ve had a sad time with disappointing fertility treatments and I entered summer in a rather glum frame of mind.  My garden has helped brighten my spirits.

On Saturday night I had the pleasure of dining at the beautilful Bresolin.  There were some truly succulent dishes, including Sichuan-seasoned lamb accompanied by pickled cucumber.  My garden is working hard on my own cucumbers but they are not ready yet, and inspired by my dinner at Bresolin, I couldn’t wait to make some pickled cucumber all of my own.

This is a really simple recipe and it’s great to have a stash of pickled cucumber to jazz up your summer salads or cheese boards.  Most of this batch has gone into my work lunches for the week – try it mixed with white beans, diced tomato and fresh parsely for simple, healthy salad. 

Ingredients:

1 cucumber, skinned and chopped – I like it diced, but it works equally well in thin rounds

1 cup water

1/3 cup white vinegar

3 T caster sugar

2 t salt

Method:

Mix water, vinegar, sugar and salt together until sugar and salt is dissolved.  Add the cucumber and make sure it is all covered with the liquid.  Good to go after 30 minutes and will keep for a week, covered in your fridge (as demonstrated here with a lovely beeswax cover I was given for Christmas).