ZESTY CRUNCHY CUCUMBER SALAD
* for those of you having trouble with the salt content, see my COOK'S NOTE at the end of this recipe
For reasons unclear to me, Izzy has been particularly interested in my spiralized creations lately. For those of you who don't think pets and food should mix, my blog recipes are probably not well suited for you.
Ingredients:
2 long hothouse cucumbers
1 small sweet onion
The Dressing:
1/3 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs. of Mayo (optional)
1 tsp mustard
1 tbs. dill weed powder or fresh dill if you’ve got it
Salt and pepper to taste
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. 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 desire 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 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 are draining, mix together the ingredients for your dressing and refridgerate. Rice vinegar is very important to use here so try not to substitute. Some people like to add a little sugar to the dressing but I prefer mine purely sour without the sugar.
After your cucumbers have drained sufficiently for your taste, pour on the dressing and let stand at least a half hour before serving. Well, you could actually eat it right away, but the flavors will meld a bit more if you let it stand. Plus, I think impulse control is always a good thing.
You could also use the ribbon blade for this recipe, but I am a noodle girl all the way. The ribbon blade is a bit more traditional though.
*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 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!
Munch Lively!
