Potato salad with vegan mayo

This week (27 May- 2 June 2019) is a BBQ week. Many families will be having casual get-togethers and inviting neighbours and friends. Judging by the frequent smell of the burnt meat wafting indoors, our neighbours have already been firing up their BBQs regularly.
We don't have a BBQ that often, in fact we haven't had any this year so far. But as it's a midterm break, I hope we could have friends over for a casual meal at the weekend.
It will be a mix of meat-eaters, pescatarians and vegetarians.

One of my top favourite foods at any BBQ is a humble potato salad. This easy side dish is delicious, and goes well with most BBQed foods.
I don't need an excuse to make a potato salad. It's one of my favourite foods, and I'm happy to eat it, BBQ or not.

In this recipe I'm going to use two of the products which were delivered in the latest Degustabox - Kühne whiskey cornichons and a Hellmann's vegan mayo.
None of us are vegans, but I was very curious to try the vegan mayo.
I'm not a fan of vegan cheese (I tried many varieties and was mostly underwhelmed), but I enjoy some of the vegan milk alternatives.
One of the potato salad recipes that I tend to make has eggs, but since I'm making a vegan salad, they were left out.

Potato salad with vegan mayo
Ingredients:
6 + medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh dill
8+ mini cornichons
1 tbsp mustard
1/2 tsp caster sugar
2 tbsp pickle liquid (from cornichons)
4-5+ heaped tbsp mayo

The basic steps for making a potato salad are the same whether it's a vegan or non-vegan version.
Peel and quarter potatoes, and cook them in salted boiling water or steam until soft (but not mushy, don't overcook them). Let them cool down, before chopping into smaller chunks.
Chop the celery stalks and cornichons.
Make the dressing by mixing together mustard, caster sugar, pickle liquid and mayo. If you cooked the potatoes in the steamer, you might want to add salt to the dressing.
Mix the potatoes with celery, cornichons and dressing. Chop some fresh dill and scatter over the top.

What did we think of Hellmann's vegan mayo? I was pleasantly surprised at how creamy and tasty it is.
It's definitely a perfect alternative to a dairy-based mayo.

Kühne whiskey cornichons are crunchy and delicious. A lovely treat for all fans of pickles. I haven't tried them before, but I did buy a jar of Kühne gin cornichons recently in Ocado. Both flavours are great. Any dull cheese sandwich will benefit from this tasty addition.

Have you tried this vegan mayo? What did you think?

Salmon fishcakes with kimchi

Some time around Christmas I have seen a small feature in one of the food supplements, on what to do with leftover kimchi. I remember thinking that it was not exactly an ingredient that would be so easily found in many kitchens. I think it was a recipe for potato cakes with kimchi, but rather than that I don't remember much. It was most likely The Guardian's Feast, but looking through my boxes of recipes from newspapers, I cannot seem to find it. It might have been recycled, or is hidden somewhere until Doomsday in our house. I tried to google, but couldn't find the one I had in mind.
If anyone remembers that recipe article, and knows what I am talking about, please let me know.

I recently opened a jar of kimchi to cook a tinned tuna and kimchi soup, but there was still 2/3 left.
One of the possible recipe ideas was to use it in fishcakes.

I had a small pack of two salmon fillets (220g), which needed using. I have removed the skin, and chopped the salmon into small cubes.

Salmon fishcakes with kimchi
Ingredients:
1 big potato (580g with skin)
220g salmon, cubed
1tsp mustard
1tsp ketchup
1 medium egg
3tbsp self-raising flour
2tbsp finely chopped parsley
kimchi (about 1tsp per fishcake)
Breadcrumbs

Peel the potato, slice into quarters and cook in salted water until soft. Drain the water, mash the potato. Once cooled, add the mustard, ketchup, chopped salmon, egg, flour, kimchi and parsley and mix well.

Using a tablespoon, scoop up a biggish lump of salmon potato mix and drop into a plate with breadcrumbs, carefully turn it over, so that the fishcakes are covered with crumbs on both sides.
Place the fishcakes on the griddle pan, which has been lightly oiled. Place the griddle in the oven preheated to 180C and bake for about 20 minutes.

Skip kimchi, if you don't have it. I actually didn't put it in all fishcakes, as I thought my guys might not like the idea.

In this recipe I used Sainsbury's pistachio & herb crust breadcrumbs (they also have dried onion in the mix), but any decent breadcrumbs will work.

Serve hot, with a salad, or roasted peppers and olives. It is also lovely in a bun, like a burger.

Swedish-style potato salad

I love potatoes in all guises and disguises, and will happily eat them every day, given a chance. A potato salad is a must for any BBQ, it's a perfect side dish for grilled meat, fish, sweet peppers or mushrooms. There are many versions of potato salad - with mayo, mustard dressing, vinaigrette or oil. Eastern and Northern European recipes often ask for a soured cream as one of the ingredients. In Italy they might add a good glug of extra virgin olive oil and add a handful of capers - that's the way my mother-in-law prepares a potato side dish.

Swedish-style potato salad
Ingrdeients:
3 medium sized potatoes
4tbsp soured cream
1tbsp pickle brine
2tbsp chopped sweet pickled gherkins, + more for decoration
a handful of fresh dill, chopped

Peel and cut potatoes into big chunks, cook in salted boiling water until tender. Drain and add the soured cream and pickle brine, while potatoes are still warm. Chop the dill and gherkins and mix with the salad. Add more gherkins to decorate the salad.

This is my kind of food - potatoes and pickles, and who cares about the grill?! For me that's already a super meal.

In this recipe I have used Swedish sweet pickled Felix gherkins from the latest Degustabox. Unlike many British supermarket varieties of pickles which taste of nothing but vinegar, these gherkins are flavourful and tasty, with a right balance of sweet and salty. They are cooked using a traditional recipe with vinegar, sugar and spices. They are crunchy and crisp, and lovely in sandwiches.

Sweet mustard pickles

I love pickles, as simple as that. It must be in my genetic material, as the Russians are well known for their fondness for a good old pickle. And I'm always on the lookout for new recipes. One of my favourite boards on Pinterest is Jams, Pickles and Preserves, where I add whichever recipe took my fancy. Browsing through the latest issue of Sainsbury's magazine, I came across a few recipes created by the "preserves queen" Thane Prince. While I haven't liked the sound of the strawberry jam with liquid pectin (I generally don't like added pectin in any jams or jellies as I believe it changes the flavour and the texture becomes too solidified), I was very curious to try her Sweet mustard pickles. If you have the magazine, the recipe is posted on page 80.

I haven't changed anything except using a red chilli pepper rather than a green one, and haven't scooped the seeds from cucumbers.
Having sliced all the veggies - 2 cucumbers, one big red onion and 1 sweet red pepper - with the mandoline slicer (thanks heaven for the OXO Good Grips mandoline slicer, which makes the slicing job a mere doddle), I have sprinkled them generously with salt, and left in the ceramic dishes covered with the plastic film overnight in the fridge. I put the setting on quite thin for all vegetables.

Next morning, I put all the salted slices in a big pasta colander and washed under the running cold water, to get rid of all salt. At that point the vegetables were semi-cured with salt, and nothing special yet.

I left them drain for an hour in the colander rather than dry on a clean towel as suggested in the recipe.

In a saucepan, mix the vinegar with sugar and spices - mustard powder, fennel seeds, celery salt and dried dill, then bring to boil, lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Put the veggies into sterilized jars and pack them tightly. Pour the hot brine over the veggies and seal the jars.
Let the jars cool completely before putting in the fridge. The pickles should be ready in a couple of days and will last up to 3 months.

Now, what did we think of the taste? I loved the mustardy sweet flavour, but wasn't very keen on the "muddy" brine. The mustard powder stayed at the top of the jar, and the brine looked like murky water. Next time I try this recipe, I will use mustard seeds instead, they will look much prettier in the jar, and will keep the brine clear.
I also added a handful of baby tomatoes to one of the jars with pickles.

I have tweeted the photo of my jar of pickles to Sainsbury's magazine, they kindly RTed it and tagged Thane Prince. She suggested that the cucumbers should be all covered with vinegar, not like in my photo at the top. I agree with her, they should have been covered, and there was enough brine, but interestingly enough, the photo in the actual magazine clearly shows veggies well above the brine. I guess it was done for the purposes of the picture, but so was my photo, I piled them up higher so that one can see what's inside rather than the powdery mustardy brine at the top.
As the song goes, Do what I say, not what I do. But honestly, this is a sensible advice: if you make your own pickles, make sure they are covered well with brine.
Saying that, one jar is already empty. I did say, I love my pickles.

Mixed red onion and lemon pickle

We have finished the pickled fennel I did recently, and I fancied some different pickles. Having a good look around the kitchen, I picked two fat red onions and a lemon.

Mixed red onion and lemon pickles
Ingredients:
2 medium to big-sized red onions
1 medium lemon
1/2tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/3tsp ground turmeric
1 bay leaf
200ml cyder vinegar
150ml water
125g caster sugar
3tbsp sea salt

Slice everything thinly. If you have a mandoline slicer, it will take you a couple of minutes. I love my OXO Good Grips mandoline slicer, I have already mentioned it more than once, but it's certainly doing its job very well, and I have been using it a lot this summer for salads and pickles. The slices are all uniformly thin, you can vary the thickness, and it takes a very short time to slice a big hill of veggies.

In a small saucepan heat up the mixture of cyder vinegar (I love Aspall for its clean flavour) with water, fennel seeds, ground cloves, turmeric (not just for flavour but for a hint of colour too), bay leaf, caster sugar and sea salt, simmer on low until the sugar and salt dissolve.
Pack the red onion and lemon slices in a big sterilised jar, by alternating the layers (a few slices of lemon followed by a handful of onion slices, etc). Pack them well in, you might need to squash them a bit. Then pour the brine while still hot. Close the jar with the lid, and let to pickle for 24 hours before eating.
These pickles will keep in the fridge for up to a week, but not longer, that's why I don't make a huge amount. Just enough to have with sandwiches or cold meats, or in salads for several days.

Pickled fennel

A few days ago, when I saw some fennel at a reduced price in Waitrose, I grabbed a couple of bulbs. I had a "cunning plan" in mind of making a jar of fresh pickled fennel. Having a good googling around, I came across a really nice recipe on Strawberryplum blog - Quick pickled fennel. Her recipe became my starting point. I have adapted it a bit and changed some ingredients. I recommend reading Sarah's blog post as apart from the recipe, she has some great suggestions on the ways of using the pickled fennel.
Me, I just eat it straight from the jar, picking it out with a fork. It's cold, crunchy, fresh, aromatic and just plain tasty.

:
Pickled fennel
Ingredients:
2 bulbs of fennel (about 375g)
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/4tsp mustard seeds
1/2tsp pickling spice (coriander seeds, allspice, peppercorn, bay leaf etc)
1 bay leaf
300ml vinegar (malt and cyder vinegar half-half)
230ml water
125g granulated sugar
3tsp sea salt
a handful of fresh dill
a handful of baby tomatoes (optional)

Slice your fennel very thinly, if you have a mandolin slicer, now it's a good time to take it out of the hiding place. In a small pan quickly toast a scattering of fennel and mustard seeds. Add the pickling spice too.
In a medium bowl heat up vinegar, all the spices and water, bring to boil and simmer until the sugar and salt are dissolved.
Place a handful of fresh dill at the bottom of a medium sized jar, then pack in the sliced fennel tightly. The jar should be pasteurized in advance. Pour the pickling liquid in a jar through a sieve. You might have some liquid left. I had about half a mug of brine left, and used it to pickle a big onion bulb. I have also added a handful of baby tomatoes at the very top, just because we have a glut of tomatoes in the greenhouse.
Let the sealed/closed jar cool down before placing it in the fridge. The pickles will be ready in 24 hours.

And now we're talking business. Add to any salads, or as a side dish to roast meat or fish. I will definitely be pickling more fennel, a jar at a time, so that I can enjoy it freshly pickled.

Sillsallad (Swedish herring salad for #ReadCookEat)

I buy zillions of books, but I also enjoy freebies. I have already mentioned Free eBooks Daily on my blog. I follow them on Twitter (@FreeEbooksDaily and check them out if not daily, then every few days to see what new books have been added). I mostly download historical fiction and cook books, and thanks to Free eBooks Daily I have discovered several authors, whom I never came across before. It's a bit like pot luck, some books are not exactly masterpieces of literature, but there are some true gems (like Moonfixer by CC Tillery) which kept me awake for a few very late nights, as I couldn't put my ipad down. I have first come across Linda K Hubalek when her book Planting Dreams was offered as a free download back in summer. I loved it, and bought two sequels. Then another book by Linda K Hubalek appeared on the site - Prairie Bloomin' (The Prairie Blossoms for an Immigrant's Daughter). Since it was book 2 in the series, I bought the first one as well.
Butter in the Well (A Scandinavian Woman's Tale of Life on the Prairie) is a historical diary set in 1868-1888) This fascinating account is a fictional diary, based on the life of Maja Kajsa Swenson Runeberg, the author's ancestor. She and her husband left Sweden to become the homesteaders in Saline County, Kansas, in 1868.

This is not an idealistic Little House-style portrayal of the pioneer life. The reality was harsh, the nature uncompromising. Life was a constant battle with the elements, as they lived first in the sodhouse, surrounded by rattlesnakes. They literally lived in the middle of nowhere, and depended on each other. No doctor in case of emergency for miles, noone to ask for help when you needed it. So much hardship, so many tragedies, when children's mortality rate was extremely high. It puts everything into perspective, when you read the diary entries about poverty, hunger and death.
You will learn a lot about the life of pioneer women in the prairie, there is an abundance of details on many aspects of the farmers' life, from house-building to harvesting and making preserves.
The book is written in a journal form, a bit repetitive at times, and in a perhaps over-simplified manner, though this might have been a literary device to imitate the diary written by a person without literary accomplishments. The story is sketchy at times,  a mere record of events of what was going on around in the neighbourhood. There were moments when I felt a bit lost, with too many names that meant something for the narrator but were totally meaningless to me as a reader. Personal photos and maps added depth to the narrative, and made it more captivating.
The ebook itself could have benefited from a better editing and proof-reading, there were too many typos which I found distracting.
The author has a great understanding of an epoch she has recreated and possesses a deep knowledge of the pioneer life in the prairie.
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As someone with interest in food history, I enjoyed reading references to different foods and dishes Kajsa made. These were mostly Swedish recipes, but prepared with the ingredients found in Kansas.
Several Christmas meals were mentioned in great detail.

"This year we celebrated Christmas with all the trimmings and traditions of our family. I'll admit we used a primitive substitute for most of our Christmas dishes, but Moder makes the best ostkaka and frukt soppa no matter where she lives. Adelaide gave us some white sugar to make some kringler, the pastry Carl likes. Since we butchered a hog this fall, we had potatiskorv and a smoked ham also. I pickled catfish we caught in the river this fall and mixed it with potatoes and beets for Fader's favourite dish of sillsallad. It doesn't quite taste the same since it is supposed to be made with herring, but he was happy..." (entry for 25 December 1869)

So many new dishes for me to try: ostkaka (a custard dessert or cheesecake), kringler (pastry with icing sugar and nuts), potatiskorv (sausage made with ground meat, onions, potatoes and spices), pepparkakor (molasses and ginger cookies) and other foods mentioned in the book sounded perfect for our #ReadCookEat challenge. In the end I have chosen a pickled herring salad, Sillsallad.

Sillsallad is a Swedish herring salad with soured cream.
I have looked up the recipes online, as I am not very familiar with the Swedish cuisine. I based my recipe on Sillsallad recipe found on Food.com. I have adapted it, having reduced amounts of some ingredients and also did some minor changes with the ingredients themselves.

Sillsallad
Ingredients:
270g rollmops (herring with onion)
3 medium potatoes
250g baby beetroot, pickled in vinegar
3 cornichons, pickled with dill flowers
1 apple
2tbsp cyder vinegar
2tbs caster sugar
2tbsp onion and gherkin marinade from rollmops
1/2tbsp English mustard
for the sauce:
a tub of soured cream, mixed with fresh dill
hard-boiled egg for decoration

The recipe I mentioned above uses bigger quantities of herring and pickled beets. I couldn't find any dried dill, so I used fresh one instead. Of course, the homesteaders would have used a dried dill in the middle of winter.
For this recipe I bought 2 tubs of Young's rollmops.
Boil the potatoes in skins, once cooked, let them cool, before removing the skin and chopping into small pieces.
Slice the herring in two lengthwise, then in half again, and chop into small pieces. Chop the beets, apple and cornichons. Mix all the ingredients in a big mixing bowl.
Prepare the dressing by mixing caster sugar in vinegar with the marinade from rollmops, as well as mustard. Pour over the salad, mix well. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.
Serve with the soured cream mixed with dill on the side.
You may garnish the salad with sliced hard-boiled eggs.

If you enjoy pickles, you will love this salad. If you're not a fan of pickles, then it's not a recipe for you. It is basically pickles upon pickles in a soured cream sauce. Like most Russians, I looove pickles, and am very happy with the dish. On the other hand, I wouldn't offer it to my husband, as he would never eat pickled herring or beetroot (and it's his loss, how can you not like pickles?!).

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I apologize I am so late with #ReadCookEat linky this month, my life has been very hectic, and I am always on the run. Believe me, I haven't lost enthusiasm, in fact I have bookmarked so many recipes already in the books I have read in summer and in September. There will be more recipes coming.

Have you read a book recently which inspired you to run to the kitchen and cook to your heart's content?

Chris from Cooking Round the World and I are inviting you to recreate a meal, inspired by books and join in our #ReadCookEat challenge.

The idea is to choose a book, either a world classic or modern fiction, or even memoirs and pick up a dish mentioned or described in that book and then recreate it in a recipe. Please say a few lines about your chosen book, and maybe even do a quote from the book.

If you decide to take part, please add the badge to your post and link up back to Chris and me, and either use a link-up tool or add the url of your post as a comment. Alternatively, email either of us with the link to your post (my email is sasha1703 at yahoo dot com).
The challenge will end on 30October 2014.
I promise to Pin all blogs posts taking part in this challenge, as well as RT and Google+

Vodka-pickled tomatoes

Stereotypes are hard to eradicate. Just because I am originally from Russia, many people automatically presume that I am partial to a shot of vodka. They couldn't be more wrong though. I don't drink neat vodka, and have a vodka cocktail once a decade only. When we invite people for dinner, like my husband's colleagues, they would often arrive with a bottle of vodka, just because they heard of "the Russian wife". They must be sorely disappointed because I never drink it. The last time we received a bottle of vodka was from a very charming couple, and I didn't want to disabuse their notions, thanked them profusely but offered wine at dinner time. Now I have a bottle which I am going to use in cooking. It is a great ingredient in curing salmon, or adding to the pickling liquid. One of my favourite recipes for roasted tomatoes also includes vodka among its ingredients.
Just the other day, I made several jars of tomatoes pickled with vodka. It doesn't use a huge amount of vodka, just 50ml, and you cannot taste it in the finished result.

The recipe I use is supposed to fill in one big 3L jar and be enough to pickle up to 2kg tomatoes. I don't have a jar this big, so I used 3 Kilner style jars, and had a bit of pickling liquid left over.

Vodka-pickled tomatoes
Ingredients:
700g red tomatoes (baby plum variety)
250g yellow tomatoes, baby vine variety
6tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
6 cloves of garlic
1 red sweet pepper, diced
for the pickling liquid:
30g salt
60g granulated sugar
30g apple cider vinegar
1tbsp pickling spice (for example, Bart)
2 bay leaves
1 litre of water
50ml vodka

Wash the tomatoes. Chop the dill and dice the pepper, discarding the seeds. Put 2tbsp of chopped dill per each sterilised jar, add a couple of cloves of garlic. Pack the tomatoes inside quite tightly.
Prepare the pickling liquid by mixing the salt, sugar, vinegar, pickling spice, bay leaves and water, bring to boil. Once the sugar and salt dissolved, remove from the heat and add vodka. Let it cool completely before adding to the jars with tomatoes. Close the lids.
These tomatoes will keep well in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

You can eat them the next day, they will be mildly pickled, or what in Russia is called "malosol'nye" lit. salted-a-little. The longer they stay in the pickling liquid, the stronger the flavour is.

Cucumbers pickled with mustard seed and turmeric

When autumn arrives, I usually start craving pickles. I love pickles of all sorts, and each year make a batch of preserves, both sweet and savoury - jams, marmalades, chutneys and pickles. It must be my "homing instinct" thing, as when cooking preserves, I go back to my territory. Though I haven't visited my homeland for 10 years, canning takes me back home, at least in my mind. Canning is a national religion in Russia. Quite understandably. If you have snow for up to six months (as in my parts of the world), you need to be well prepared food-wise. Of course, with supermarkets open 24 hours a day nowadays, you don't actually need to save food this way, but it must be a genetic call: get ready for winter, save your harvest. Oh, and it's also great fun.
I have recently come across a lovely recipe for bread and butter pickles on Pinterest, and wanted to try it. The original recipe for bread and butter pickles appears on Savoury Simple blog. I have slightly adapted it, and also converted some of the cup measurements into something I can understand. I don't quite know why these pickles are called bread and butter pickles, as neither ingredient is used in the recipe. Does anyone know the origins of this name?

Anyway, I managed to buy some lovely small size cucumbers at the local farmers' market. I also used half a standard size cucumber to add to the total weight, so you can use either. It's just smaller size cucumbers look prettier and taste better, I think.

Cucumbers pickled with mustard seed and turmeric
Ingredients:
800g cucumbers, thinly sliced
5-6 small shallots, thinly sliced
75g coarse salt
375ml apple cider vinegar
150g granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp mustard seed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 fennel flowerhead (or 1tsp dried fennel seed)

Slice the cucumbers thinly and slightly at an angle if you want oval-shaped slices rather than round (I did a mix of both).Slice the shallots thinly. Put both sliced cucumbers and shallots in a big pan, add the salt, pour the cold water over. Leave the pan to sit for 2 or 3 hours.

Now the original recipe suggested draining the cucumbers and doesn't mention if the salted water should be preserved. Save one mug of salted water. I thought that the pickling liquid might not be enough to cover the cucumbers, and I was right. I have saved a mug of salted water, which I later added to the pickling liquid. Rinse the sliced cucumbers in cold water.
In a medium size bowl or small pan mix the apple cider vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, turmeric , and add a fennel flowerhead (or fennel seeds). Pour this mix over the sliced cucumbers and shallots in a big pan. Add the saved mug of salted water.

Bring to boil and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring the cucumbers.
Remove from the heat and ladle into sterilised jars.

I often reuse jam and honey jars for my homemade jams, but for pickles prefer the wider jars, so I buy either Kilner or Tala jars whenever they are on offer (right now, for example, they are 4 for 3 at Robert Dyas). Once you have a good supply, you can reuse these jars for many years.

The pickles will keep well in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Though they won't last that long here. These are very tasty pickles, crispy, flavourful, sightly yellow from turmeric. Brilliant with plain boiled potatoes, or in a sandwich with rye bread and corned beef.

Best ever pickled baby cucumbers

We are not talking here the little vinegary monsters that you usually buy in the shops which taste of nothing but vinegar. Today I am inviting you to try a very easy recipe for the mildly pickled cucumbers.

I was delighted to discover that Waitrose started selling baby cucumbers recently, yes, they are pricier than the big sized comrades, but perfect for my recipe. In fact, I haven't tried it with the huge cucumbers. I don't know why with such a huge variety of tomatoes of all sizes in the shops you almost never see any variety in the cucumbers. They are all a standard size of a small weapon.
I tried growing my own a couple of years ago, but lost the crop, and switched to growing tomatoes.

This recipe is called Malosol'nye ogurtsy in Russian (lit. little-salted cucumbers) and they are ready to eat the next day. I've been consulting my Mum over the phone, as she often makes this dish for my nieces.

For 1 jar of pickled cucmbers I used

2 and a half packs of Waitrose baby cucumbers (150g each)
20g dill
peppercorns (about a dozen of different sizes)
1 clove of garlic
a couple of black currant leaves

For the salty solution you will need
for 1.5 litre of water
3 heaped tbsp of salt
1 tbsp of sugar
Please note that I did several jars of pickled cucumbers and tomatoes, so if you are making just one jar of pickles you will be left with lots of the salted water.

1. Bring the water to boil, add to a biggish container and disslove sugar and salt. Let it cool, it might be tepid, but not hot.
2. Prepare a big jar for pickles by putting it in the oven preheated to 180C for 10 minutes, take it out and let it cool.
3. Start the assembling process by adding a few leaves of the blackcurrants at the bottom, one clove of garlic and peppercorns. Chop off the "bums" of cucumbers to speed up the pickling process. Add several cucumbers, then a layer of dill, don't chop it, just tear in half. More cucumbers and more dill until the whole jar is filled in. Add the pickling liquid - it should cover the cucumbers, put the lid on top and place the jar in the fridge.
4. You can eat the cucumbers the next day.

They are deliciously crunchy and have a lovely mild pickled taste. They are best served with the boiled baby potatoes. They keep well for several days, but the longer they stay in the salted liquid, the saltier they become, so I suggest doing a small amount of pickles at a time.