I could make this salad every day. As it is, I make it every week. It's easy! And we go through it fast enough. There's only 5 ingredients, and they're easy to get. Dousing the cucumber slices in salt lets them sweat out their liquid. They absorb the dressing so much better that way. You can add other vegetables, sliced thin, or different spices. I've used cider vinegar and lemon juice. Think of this as a guideline, not a recipe.Cucumber Onion Salad
Ingredients:
1 seedless cucumber
1 onion, any type, though red are the prettiest
dried basil to taste
1 1/2 tbs red wine vinegar
3 tbs olive oil
pepper
Salt
Directions:
Thinly slice the cucumber and lay the slices out on paper towels. Liberally sprinkle salt on the cucumber slices and let them sit for an hour. While the cucumber is sweating, slice the onion and add it to your bowl. Dump in as much basil as you like- I usually use about a tablespoon. After an hour, blot your cucumbers with paper towels and add them to the bowl. Whisk the olive oil and vinegar and pour it over. Add pepper as desired. Let the whole thing sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Gratuitous close up.
Looks yummy.
ReplyDeleteI make cucumber onion salad differently, though. If you want to try another way, I recommend:
Step one: cut up all the cucumbers you have/as many as will fit in your desired container. Cut up an onion (I prefer a sweet onion like Vidalia). Use less onion if you want it less onion-y
Step two: Mix up equal parts water, distilled white vinegar, and sugar. The total amount should be enough to cover all of your cucumbers, plus a little extra.
Step three: Add salt and pepper "to taste". It's not really to taste, but make a guess. Then add a bit more salt and pepper. There is a lot of liquid in the cucumbers!
Step four: Let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours. Overnight is better.
The thing I like about this recipe is that you can scoop out the cucumbers for serving as needed, but you can also add more cucumbers into the liquid to make more cucumber salad. Usually you can get two or three batches out of the vinegar/sugar solution before the liquid is too dilute from the water that comes out of the cucumber. I'm sure it would also be good with herbs added, but I'm usually too lazy.