* for those of you having trouble with the salt content, see my COOK'S NOTE at the end of this recipe

As I am typing this I’m crunching on a bowlful of this cucumber salad.  Honestly I always forget just how much I love this recipe.  It has that very rare combination of being both refreshing, AND comforting.  I have not come across too many dishes that satisfy both those requirements.

And by the way, I apologize for today’s photo.  I realize it’s pretty lackluster but the cats were all in foul moods and wouldn’t pose.  The dogs were sacked out on the sofa after their long hard day of chasing balls and sniffing through the woods.

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INGREDIENTS:

2 Long Hothouse cucumbers

1 smallish (2-3 inches in diameter) sweet onion (Vidalia or the like)

THE DRESSING:

1/3 cup sour cream or greek yogurt (I prefer the less tart sour cream in this recipe but both work well)

3-4 tbs mayonnaise or, if you are anti-mayonnaise you can use cream cheese or you could just put in more sour cream or yogurt

3 tbs rice vinegar (use less if you are using yogurt)

Generous amount of dill weed (2-3 tablespoons)

1-2 cloves minced garlic

1 tsp salt (kosher or freshly ground sea salt is always nice)

1 tsp grated or prepared horseradish (leave this out if you don’t want a slightly spicy kick)

Pepper to taste.

PREPARATION:

Using the larger of the two noodle blades, run your hothouse cucumbers through the spiralizer.  Then switch to the smaller noodle blade and run your onion through the spiralizer. 

As I’ve said before, I like my cucumbers super crunchy so I try to get as much water out of them as possible before I add the dressing.  To achieve this, Combine onions and cucumbers in a bowl with lots of salt.  To get super crunchy cucumber s you want to take as much water out of them as you can and the salt helps with that….  Find a plate that will fit inside your bowl and put that on top and find a weight to put on the plate.  Refrigerate it like this for a couple of hours, and then drain off the excess water that will have accumulated at the bottom of your bowl.  Depending on your crunchy desires you can do this a couple more times or you can stop after the first water removal.  It’s your call.

There is also an item called a vegetable press that can do this job for you.  http://www.amazon.com/Kotobuki-491-040-Tsukemono-Pickle-Press/dp/B0060NQ3HU/ref=pd_sim_k_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0QV7T0FSFYQ9DDF8AS2R

While your cucumbers and onions are draining, combine all your other ingredients.  Taste, and adjust salt, pepper, dill, garlic and horseradish levels to suit your tastebuds.  Don’t be afraid to experiment.

When your cukes crunch pleasingly and your dressing ingredients have melded nicely, combine them all together and let them sit in the refrigerator for a half hour or so.

Serve chilled or slightly cooler than room temperature.

By the way, I tried this dressing on zucchini noodles and it is different but is delicious in its own right.

*COOK'S NOTE: Some of you have written in to say that your cucumbers came out terribly salty and you were wondering if you should rinse them.  They actually should NOT be too salty so try adding less salt.... perhaps a tablespoon for each cucumber. Rinsing them would only put back in the water you have just painstakingly taken out. You can also try leaving out the salt in the dressing.  When I am done preparing this dish it tastes lightly salted.  To Give you some idea of the water content....  I pressed 5 of the long hothouse cucumbers with 2 vidalia onions and removing over a quart of liquid.  Most of the salt got washed out with the liquid.

HOPE THIS HELPS!

Happy Munching