Another amazing week of vegetables. That head of romaine is just right for grilling – if you’re so inclined. I shared directions for grilling lettuce a few weeks ago, but basically – wash the head, cut it in half lengthwise, brush the cut sides with olive oil and grill. Dress it with a simple vinaigrette. Read More…
cucumbers
CSA Salad with Buttermilk-Green Onion Dressing
The gorgeous head of lettuce in my CSA box made me run for the salad bowl. Slice up the radishes you don’t put into a sandwich, add the cucumbers and then make this simple dressing. You could sliver some of the Napa cabbage into your salad as well. And what about boiling up a few of those eggs and adding egg halves? Now you’ve got a perfect lunch or light dinner.
Japanese Ginger and Garlic Chicken with Smashed Cucumber
This recipe is from “A Change of Appetite” by Diana Henry. Joe Reynolds of Love is Love Farm brings shiso leaves to the East Atlanta Village Farmers Market when it is in season.
Cucumber Cooler
A recipe without provenance. Simple syrup is a mixture of one part granulated sugar and one part water, heated enough to dissolve the sugar. It will keep in your refrigerator for weeks and is the perfect way to sweeten iced tea – no undissolved sugar in the bottom of the glass.
Saladu Ñebbe (Field Pea Salad)
The longer this salad sits, the better it tastes, so let it marinate for an hour or more before serving. It’s adapted from a recipe in Saveur magazine.
Asian Peanut Noodles
This recipe came from chow.com. Udon noodles are Japanese wheat noodles and soba noodles are Japanese buckwheat noodles. They can be found in gourmet grocery stores or in Asian markets. If you are having a hard time finding them, you can substitute whole-wheat linguine or spaghetti.
Homemade Refrigerator Pickles
The contents of a box like this one just beg to be turned into refrigerator pickles. You should have just enough cucumbers for this recipe. You’ll use a pepper or two, and if you’ve still got an onion around (mine are all gone – sadly), then you’ve got most everything you need. This makes a sort of bread-and-butter pickle. Other fresh refrigerator pickles don’t use sugar and add garlic and dill to make a kosher style pickle. There’ll be a million recipes online.
Easy Greek Chopped Salad
Loved getting cucumbers back again – perfect for a Greek salad. This one came from seriouseats.com but there are a million variations. This one salts the tomatoes and cucumbers to get rid of some of the water, and rinses the onion to calm a little of its bite.
Gazpacho
Stir together bread, garlic, vinegar, and 3/4 cup cold water in a medium bowl. Set aside. Process cucumber, peppers, and bread mixture in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl. Puree half of the tomatoes in the blender, and transfer to the bowl with cucumber mixture. Puree remaining tomatoes, slowly adding oil while Read More…
Cucumber Soup
Yes, Virginia, you can eat cooked cucumbers. (Goodness, am I the only one old enough to get that reference?)
Probably 2 years ago I put out a recipe that called for adding peeled chunks of cucumber to a stir fry. You put them in just at the last minute and cook only until the cucumbers are heated through, stopping before they lose their crunch. Really delicious.
And we’ve a recipe or two for cold cucumber soups, usually yogurt- or buttermilk-based, and with the cucumbers used raw. This recipe for a soup with cooked cucumbers is from Paige Witherington of Serenbe Farms. She adapted it from “Home Made” by Yvette Van Boven.