Last week, I told someone that being short is half my personality. This week, I realized that being from Florida is half of Nicole Stover’s.
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I mean, to be fair, I already kind of knew that. As the talent behind BeachGirlGrills.com, I see Stover’s stunning food photography nearly every day in my feeds, from perfectly seared fish to tantalizing side dishes that encapsulate the al fresco delights of living coastally, subtropically.
Of living Floridian.
And she brings this home in a casual conversation about what foods might signify the return of hurricane season.
“Pickled things,” I say with shelf stability in mind.
“Ohhhh, yeah!” she beams back to me. “Like for a hurricane bloody mary bar!”
“That,” I say with amusement, “has to be one of the most Florida things I have ever heard.”
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Most of you reading this are Floridian, whether by birth or by choice. And many of us laugh — at the summertime memes and the videos from Florida-centric content kings like OMGitsWicks — when we suggest Florida residents don’t pay too much attention to named storms ’til they hit Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.
The best comedy, of course, is rooted in the truth.
“You plan ahead of the season with supplies,” Stover chuckles, “but other than that, it’s a party … And as soon as you said ‘pickles,’ that’s where my brain went.”
Stover and I discussed our favorite hurricane snacks (for some reason she can’t explain, hers is tuna salad on potato chips), the importance of a separate cooler for drink ice (“you can’t use the stuff that the cheese and salami and diet soda are in”) and how ABC is where she goes for hers to avoid the disarray of other purveyors.
“There’s never a line and they have the nice charcuterie packages to choose from,” she says.
Of course, mostly, she makes the boards’ accoutrements herself. Notably her longtime recipe for refrigerator dilly beans — a crispy, crunchy jarred snack that’s basically a dill pickle, just with green beans, instead.
“Pickled green beans are my favorite vegetable,” Stover tells me, citing Bailey’s General Store on Sanibel Island as the impetus.
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“It’s this old-school store that’s been there forever and the have this whole row with every pickled vegetable you can imagine. And when I started cooking myself, it was one of the first things I knew I wanted to learn to make.”
Lucky her (and now you) it’s beginner-level easy.
Dilly beans lean sour-savory, but you can tweak the recipe to your preference.
“Make them spicy by adding fresh jalapeño slices or more crushed red pepper in the brine. You could also add more sugar to make them sweeter,” Stover advises, noting that while your hurricane bloody mary bar will relish their presence, they also pretty-up an actual relish plate.
“My grandma was from Minnesota and she always did a relish plate with pickled beets, beans, olives, things like that.”
Midwestern staples aside, the beans glow brighter against the deep reds, pinks and oranges of delicious cured meats.
“It’s like a whole antipasto platter when you do the bloody mary bar, which we always have ready to go when a storm is coming: salami, cheese, bacon, beans, plus pickled asparagus, celery and like three different kinds of olives.”
Whether for your storm survival kit or just a backyard brunch or barbecue, she recommends having a selection of hot sauces on hand for the spice fans and agrees with my insistence on quality horseradish.
“That last blast with all of it at the bottom of the glass is the best!”
Truth.
All this said, Stover mostly eats them right out of the jar. The beans and the garlic cloves and the onions, if you use them. In fact, pearl onions would be a nice thing to pickle, too. For the bar or just for salads, sandwiches, you name it.
You can pickle for the love of pickles, or just for getting pickled yourself.
Find me on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: [email protected], For more foodie fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group.
Refrigerator dilly beans
Recipe courtesy Beach Girl Grills (beachgirlgrills.com/refrigerator-dilly-beans)
Ingredients
1 pound green beans, haricot verts, pole beans or yellow wax beans, ends snipped
2 cups rice wine vinegar, white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon dill seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
1/2-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (depending on how spicy you like it)
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled
6 sprigs fresh dill
1/2 sliced sweet onion, optional
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Instructions
- Trim ends of green beans to make sure they are slightly shorter than your jar. A wide-mouthed jar works best for this recipe.
- Bring pot of water to a boil. Add green beans and allow them to blanch for 30-60 seconds until they turn a brighter green. Drain and transfer to a bowl of ice water.
- Place garlic cloves, coriander, peppercorns and crushed red pepper flakes in the bottom of jar. Add onions if using.
- Add water, vinegar, salt and sugar to saucepan over medium heat and bring to boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar and turn off heat.
- Drain green beans.
- Make tight bundle of green beans and place them in middle of the jar. Continue to stuff beans around the bundle until jar is filled.
- Place dill sprigs throughout the green beans.
- Pour slightly cooled brine over beans until just covered.
- Let jar cool on counter before placing lid on it.
- Allow dilly beans to refrigerate for 24 hours for the best flavor and texture.