Cucumber Salad

When cucumber season hits, I find that we experience a little shift away from lettuce salads towards cucumber salads. I try to keep it interesting by mixing up the ingredients a little bit and giving the cucumber slight variations in texture by changing the way I prep it. Last night I used the peeler to create little ribbons of cukes.

Cucumber Salad
1 cucumber
salt
ground pepper
half of a hot pepper, minced
juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
dash of soy sauce
several mint leaves
spring onion, sliced

I slice up the cucumber using the vegetable peeler. I got this cuke from the farm share, so I don't mind leaving the skin on. If I got it from the grocery store, I would remove the waxy skin.

I keep peeling until I reach the seeds. I don't eat the seeds. This part goes to the compost.

Once I have all my ribbons, I toss them with a pinch of salt and let them sit in a strainer for about 10 minutes to drain out extra moisture.

In the meantime, I mix the ground pepper, hot pepper, lime juice, vinegar, olive oil and soy sauce until I have a nice emulsion.

Add drained cucumbers to dressing, top with chiffonade of mint and onion, and toss.

At this point, the salad can be eaten or refrigerated overnight to let the flavors deepen. Best served super cold with bbq'd pork steaks.