Chef’s Corner

Article and Recipes by Mitch Samples

 

Long ago in the tattered mist of my misspent youth I remember hearing the expression, “No matter how much you may dislike pickles, it is after all, the only thing you can do with cucumbers.”, and I bought it.  For too long could I only see the noble cucumber as a prisoner in a mason jar floating in a pale green liquid, and friends I tell you, that is not fair.  Now don’t get me wrong, I am a friend of the pickle and all its worldly glory.  Almost all cultures make some type of pickle to preserve the goodness of the summer and ratchet up various dishes all year round.  But I am here to say that without a doubt, it is not the only thing you can do with a cucumber.

 

Keep in mind cucumbers will taste different from kind to type. I usually don’t make any distinction and each one brings an exciting new step to the dance.  The only rule I follow is if you are using English cucumbers there is never any reason to seed them.  Now without further annoyance from me, I give you cucumber recipes.

 

Tzatziki Sauce:

This sauce makes a great dip for crudité, crackers, salads, gyros, burgers, eat it plain and lots of it.  It’s good for you, you’ll love it.

Image courtesy: www.bigoven.com

 

1 Medium size Cucumber

½ tsp salt

2 C Greek Yogurt, plain

1 clove garlic, finely diced

Juice of ½ Lemon, approximately 2 Tbs

1 Tbs chopped dill or mint

 

Procedure:

• Peel, seed and finely dice the cucumber. Shredding works as well as dicing.  Reserve skin and seeds for later.
• Place diced cucumber in bowl with salt, stir together and let sit for about 10-15 minutes.
• Drain the cucumbers with a strainer and gently press remaining moisture from them by hand.
• Place cucumbers back in bowl with remaining ingredients and stir together well.
• Adjust seasoning with salt, but usually you won’t have to.

Notes:

Pressing the moisture from the cucumbers makes a thicker sauce that won’t separate.

Some people will add dice tomatoes or cumin to this.  It’s ok if you do too.

Like soup, tzatziki benefits from resting before you eat it, and will always taste better the second day.

It will last for a week in the fridge, but who are we kidding, it won’t be around that long.

 

 

 Cucumbers in Lime:

Yeah that’s pretty much it, and you won’t be disappointed.

 

1 large cucumber

½ tsp salt

1 lime’s worth of juice

½ tsp chili powder

Procedure:

• Halve the cucumber and remove the seeds. Thinly slice the seedless halves
• Place in bowl with the salt, stir together and let sit for about 10-15 minutes.
• Drain the cucumbers with a strainer and gently press remaining moisture from them by hand.
• Place drained cucumbers back in bowl with the lime juice and stir in chili powder.

 

 

Greek Salad:

Everything’s a large dice and there are no quantities. Have fun and enjoy what you like.

Image courtesy: www.thekidscookmonday.org

 

Feta Complete from Paradox Farms

Tomatoes, if you use cherry tomatoes think about cutting them in half otherwise refer to note above.

Bell peppers

Cucumber

Red Onion, white onion, blue onion just put some onion in it

Kalamata olives

 

1 tsp dried oregano

½ tsp Dijon mustard

¼ Cup red wine vinegar

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

½ to 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil, depending on how tangy you like your dressing.

 

Procedure:

• Clean and large dice first 6 ingredients. I will halve the olives, and sometimes cut the feta a little smaller. Place them all into a nice bowl.
• Place remaining ingredients into a resealable jar. Mason jars and old salad dressing bottles work great. Shake vigorously.
• Dress the veggies in your bowl with as much vinaigrette as you see fit. You can serve immediately but benefits from an hour in the fridge if you have the time.

 

 

 Cucumber Water:

This will yield eight 8oz. servings

 

This is where we can use all the seeds and skins we may have accumulated from the previous recipes.  If you don’t have those, just use a cucumber.

 

You can use bottled water, or filtered water if you wish.  I’m lazy and use tap water, but I hear I may want to test my water these days if I am on a well these days.  Oh, well.

 

1 medium cucumber, or approximately 1 medium cucumbers worth of cucumber scrap

2 quarts of water

¼ tsp of salt

Procedure:

• Place cucumber and water in a jar with salt, stir well and allow to rest for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator.
• Strain water into serving pitcher.
• Garnish with fresh thinly sliced cucumber and lemon.

Note:

A fun variant is to mix the initial cucumber with 1 quart of sparkling water and then add the additional quart of still water at time of service.