Short-term cucmber-onion pickles (or the quickest pickles of all...)

This one's for my friend Katie who was trying to figure out what the heck to do with the pile of pickling cucumbers from her Boston Organics order.  Here's some pickles that you can make this afternoon and eat tonight.  From Deborah Madison's Local Flavors - a cookbook with seasonal, semi-fancy farmer's market-based recipes.

I would serve these pickles with grilled meats, put them on sandwiches, throw them on a salad or eat them plain.  (for the simplest pickles of all, I slice salad cukes or onions 20 min-1hr early, throw them in a tupperware, sprinkle a few spoonfulls of vinegar on them, close, shake, and store in the fridge until its time to serve the salad. yum!)

QUICK CUCUMBER-ONION PICKLES:

2 shiny fresh red or white onions
2 cups thinly sliced cucumbers, peeled only if the skins are tough


     -Sweet pickles: 1/3 cup sugar
     -Savory/sour pickles: pinch sugar
2/3 cup white wine or (for a mellower flavor) apple cider vinegar
a few lovage leaves, fennel greens or dill sprigs.  (yeah, I don't actually know what lovage is, either.  Neither does my spellchecker). 
1 teaspoon mixed whole peppercorns
3 Tablespoons olive oil.  (she says this recipe will be good for 5 days...but I think if you left out the olive oil it could be good for two weeks).

1. Mix vinegar, salt and sugar and set aside, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
2. Thinly slice the onions into rounds, then toss with the cucumbers, herb, and peppercorns in a noncorrosive bowl.  (some metal bowls, like aluminum or cast iron, give a metallic taste to acid foods.   For recipes with a lot of tomatoes, fruit, lemon juice or vinegar, stick to stainless steel, ceramic or glass).
3. add the oil to the vinegar, stir well, then pour over the vegetables.  Toss well, then cover and refrigerate.  It's best if the pickles can sit for a day before being used.

Enjoy!