a few weeks ago, we snuck away on a saturday morning and had a date.  mid-day.  we brunched and talked and held hands and wandered through ikea.  this is an act of love, with all caps, because the man detests wandering aimlessly through a store.  but i’d requested time away to dream a little, because waiting for our next season was wearying me, and he obliged. this pickled green beans recipe was inspired by a little diner called pinky’s, which boasts long lines of cheerfully hungry diners on a saturday morning, because they serve things like pork belly benedict, for goodness’ sake, and a cilantro-jalapeno-bloody mary.  which my love winked and let me order, even though he’s not a fan of hot and spicy drinks, nor do i consider us drinkers-of-a-morning.  but my goodness, it came garnished with house-made pickled green beans, and honestly, i could’ve made a meal of those.

so i came home and got to work on a version of my own. i’ve never made a go at pickling before (except the quick refrigerator pickles i made in the early days of marriage – why did i stop?!), and next time i want my beans greener and crisper, and my squash softer. perhaps i can’t do this in the same batch?

someone got a tummy-ache, because she ate these too many and too fast. it wasn’t me, but it could’ve been because i ate a lot, fast, too.  like mother, like daughter.

i wanted to avoid sugar if i could, and we used agave in this recipe. it worked perfectly. the combination of the slight sweetness contrasted to pungent salty garlic, with the kick of a hot pepper, made these can’t-stop-till-the-jar’s-finished good.

(serving idea? if you don’t want to eat a whole jar on its own? we made sweet barbecued pulled venison in the crock pot and topped it with these. yum.)

so i’m a lazy girl going for a “fresh,” raw version, and i am not up for the hot-water-bath kind of pickles.  do you have refrigerator pickle recipes you love?  do share.