Every living thing is being pounded by the fourth day of an early summer heatwave here in Saratoga County. The garden plants need twice daily watering to keep from looking like limp celery, my poor fuzzy dog and cats are just laying quietly on the wooden floors and we're all sporting a head full of frizzy ringlets above our shiny red faces.
Since there's NO WAY I'm gonna heat up the stove, I've been using the food processor a lot to cook us up some grub. I was perusing Joe Famularo's "A Cook's Tour of Italy" (NY: HP Books, 2003) where he described a Bolognese recipe for Sliced Cucumbers with Mint, and this sounded like an intriguing, and more importantly, COOL, flavor combination.
I pulled out the Cuisinart and whipped up my usual recipe for Cucumbers Vinaigrette, only with the pleasing taste of a few mint sprigs, and darned if eating this didn't lower our collective heat index.
The Greedy Gourmet is currently accepting Summer Salad recipes for its Snackshots #4 contest and I am submitting this as an entry. There's still time to enter as the deadline is June 16th, so check it out if you are interested.
Cucumber-Mint Salad
3 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced thinly (A food processor is great for this)
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
3 Tbsp. snipped fresh dill
Several sprigs fresh mint, finely chopped
Splash of extra-virgin olive oil
Mix vinaigrette ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour over sliced cucumbers and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
Serves 4.
4 comments:
This looks so crisp and refreshing! I'll have to try it one of these hot June evenings when I don't feel like cooking over a hot stove.
-Sea
I like the idea of mint with this salad. I have a mint plant, so I should make this!
I love cucumbers and mint together. I do something similar but add hot chilis or cayenne and a splash of nam pla (fish sauce) as well.
On hot days this salad is very refreshing indeed. Thanks for paarticipating in SnackShots and see you at the roundup!
Post a Comment