Whoops! Forgot I had a salad blog for a second there, and now it’s already Day 28 of my somewhat abridged month in Mark Bittman’s slightly distracting imagination. If this month were February, it would be over. When do I end this thing? Probably soon, since most of the recipes involve shrimp or steak, and I only buy shrimp or steak on wildly abnormal occasions. But I’ll figure this out later. Today’s recipe:
A nice cucumber salad: Slice cucumbers thin (if they’re fat and old, peel and seed them first), toss with red onions and salt, then let sit for 20 to 60 minutes. Rinse, dry, dress with cider vinegar mixed with Dijon mustard; no oil necessary.
I actually made this last Thursday and never got around to posting on it, so to be honest, I don’t really remember how it was. Good, I think?
Bittman's Salad of Summer #3: Cucumber, Red Onion, Mustard
Yes. Good. But you know? Not super good. I mean, I enjoyed it and all, but there are a lot of really good salads on this list Mr. Bittman has put together, and if I had to pick one of those to be the only salad I would ever eat again for the rest of my life, it probably wouldn’t be this one. The dressing was nice.
But this dish did trigger a little moment of nostalgic bliss, when I thought back to the first time my dad told me about cucumbers and salt. I thought it was totally revolutionary and amazing, a profound discovery that no one else had even come close to imagining possible. This is precisely what happened when he showed me how to put a hot dog in the microwave and melt cheese on top of it, but less so. Oh, those moments of youthful wonder! Age has brought nothing but cynicism and a slightly expanded vocabulary.
Tags: Cider Vinegar, Cucumber, Dijon Mustard, Red Onion
