The Answer Is Pickles
Over the weekend, a few girlfriends and I settled into a Glen Powell rom-com double feature: 'Anyone but You' (an atrocious allocation of Columbia Pictures' funds and my own time) and 'Set It Up' (an ode to the form).
In the latter, Powell and Zoey Deutch, who play two assistants repeatedly hamstrung by their abusive bosses, agree to split up one order of takeout — a burger with a pickle and some mac and cheese — into two so that neither employer goes hungry. 'The pickle is my dinner!' Deutch exclaims, but Powell ruthlessly claims it. What's a sandwich without a pickle, he insists.
But from the elevator, he shouts: 'You know that pickle? That aforementioned pickle? That wasn't for my boss. That was for me.' He crunches into it and flashes a devious grin. A good pickle can make you lose your way.
While the sweet-and-sour curious might flock to pickle-flavored chips and almonds and falafel and popcorn and pizza, real pickle people know they can be the not-so-secret ingredient that punches up a dish. I reckon Hetty Lui McKinnon is one of those people. That would surely explain her pickle-laden pasta salad, which calls for plenty of pickle brine and sliced pickles.
'I really doubted this recipe because of how insane 5 tablespoons pickle juice and 2 cups pickles seems … but it was DELICIOUS!!' one reader wrote. 'If anything I would add even more pickles and I'm not kidding.'
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