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Category: Cucumbers

  • Herb Packed Cucumber (or Zucchini) Salad

    This is a great summer salad when cucumbers and zucchini are crisp and tender and herbs are abundant.

    You can use either zucchini or cucumbers here and any soft herbs-mint, basil, tarragon, parsley, chives, dill, cilantro. I like to mix and match what I have.

    Herb Packed Cucumber Salad

    • 1 pound of cucumbers or zucchini sliced thin. I love my mandoline for this but you can use a knife
    • 1 small onion sliced thin
    • juice of one lime
    • 1/2 teaspoon honey, agave or sugar
    • 1/4 cup sour cream or yogurt, you can use any dairy free options too if you like
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil (I forgot this in the photo)
    • 1/2 -1 cup chopped soft herbs. I had chives, mint and parsley today

    Place cucumber (or zucchini) in a colander with a pinch of salt and leave it to drain for about 1/2 hour. Put the sliced onion, lime juice, agave and a pinch of salt in a bowl to marinate while the cucumbers drain.

    After 1/2 hour put everything (add herbs, sour cream and a little olive oil) in a serving dish and mix it up really well. 

    Taste and see if it needs more salt, sweetener (for balance) or lime and enjoy!

     

     

     

     

  • Cucumber and Herb Cocktail

    I love a well crafted cocktail. I especially love cocktails using fresh ingredients like herbs and flowers and vegetables. Before the pandemic I almost never made cocktails at home, maybe a gin and tonic or a margarita. I do love to order them when we go out. During the pandemic when we weren’t going anywhere I started making cocktails at home.

    This is a fun drink. It’s pretty much a gussied up gin and tonic. You can personalize this with what you have and what you like. I used Thai basil leaves here. You could use mint or thyme or lemon verbena, Italian basil,  maybe tarragon, or mix of any of herbs you like. I also used agave as a sweetener instead of sugar. I have been using agave more and more in my cooking. It taste like sugar and mixes easily into dishes without having to dissolve like sugar does. You can leave the sweetener out too. The tonic has a little bit of sweetness to it.

    This amount makes one drink, multiply as needed.

    • 1 1/2 oz gin (1 1/2 oz equals 3 Tbsp)
    • 6 slices cucumber
    • 1/4 medium lime (sliced)
    • 4 oz tonic water
    • a small fist full of any herb you like-I can tell you mint, basil, thyme are all good. 
    • 1 Tbsp sweetener, agave, honey, sugar  (optional)

    Instructions

    • Add mint, cucumber, lime, gin, and agave or (equivalent if using) to a pint glass and muddle (smash up) everything I used a fork.

    • Pour the whole mixture into a glass filled with ice and top with tonic water or strain it and top it with tonic, I strained mine. I don’t strain it when I use thyme, you do what you want. .
    • Stir, let set for a few minutes for the flavors to enhance and enjoy.

    These go down really easy. Have a great week. See you at pickup.

    Mo

  • Cucumber Margaritas

    Happy Post-Labor Day weekend This is how we celebrated Summer winding down and saying goodbye to Summer, with cucumber margaritas!

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    For 2 cocktails you’ll need;

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    Some coarse kosher salt and optional chili lime seasoning blend to rim the glasses
    Lime wedges, for rimming glasses
    1-large cucumber I didn’t peel it I got a little more than a cup of cucumber juice
    1/4 cup silver tequila -I used silver tequila because it doesn’t have any color and thought it would show off the green from the cucumber.
    1/4 cup triple sec
    1/4 cup lime juice
    ice cubes
    *optional* 1 jalapeno pepper, sliced into coins

    1. Prepare the glasses: Pour some coarse kosher salt and optional chili seasoning onto a small plate. Run a lime wedge around the rim of each glass and dip in salt mix. If you are using the jalapeno muddle it, that just means smoosh it around a little in the glass to get the juices out

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    2. Make the cucumber juice: Put the cut cucumbers in a large blender and puree for about 45-60 seconds, until smooth and completely blended. Pour the blended cucumber through a fine mesh strainer and into a bowl or measuring cup to strain the pulp. Use a spoon to stir the pulp mixture around in the strainer to make sure you get as much juice as possible.

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    4. Mix everything together: Stir to combine and taste, you might need more lime or tequila

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    The texture was a little thicker than juice but I didn’t find it unpleasant. In fact I found it the opposite, quite pleasant; not cloying sweet at all, very refreshing and light.

    Enjoy your long weekend and I’ll see you at pickup.

    Mo

     

  • Refrigerator Pickles

    refrigerator pickles

    This is a super simple way to have homemade pickles. I like to have a mix of crunchy stuff like carrots or cauliflower in with the cucumbers and onions. I chop these pickles up and add it to lettuce or arugula for an easy salad.

    Brine for 1 Quart

    3 (at least) cloves garlic, peeled
    2 cups water
    1 cups white vinegar
    3 teaspoons kosher salt
    Several sprigs of fresh dill if you have it
    1 teaspoon celery seed
    1 teaspoon coriander seed
    1 teaspoon mustard seed
    1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

    You can use any vegetables you have. I like to always use cucumbers, onions, and some hot pepper. Other than those I use what I have.

    For this quart I used two cucumber, baby carrots, 1/2 a red onion, and a jalapeno. Wash and peel your vegetables if you like them peeled. I left some peel in the cucumbers and didn’t peel the carrots since they were so little.

    Directions
    In a medium saucepan, bring 2 cups water to a boil, reduce the heat so the water simmers and add the garlic. Cook for 5 minutes. The garlic might turn blue if you skip this step.
    Add the vinegar and salt, raise the heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat.

    In 1-quart jar put in the seeds and peppercorns. Put in the garlic the jar. Then pack the jar with the vegetables you prepared. You want them to be tightly stuffed.

    packed in jar

    pour in brine

    Bring the brine back to a boil, pour it over the vegetables to cover completely, let cool, then cover and refrigerate. The pickles will taste good in just a few hours, better after a couple of days. And they’ll keep for about 3 months.