Saturday, July 7, 2012

Cool As a Cucumber

Light, tasty meals for hot days.
I've assembled a few recipes that show off the cucumber's greatest assets. Its cooling, melony flavor marries with avocado and tangy buttermilk in a chilled soup that's as refreshing as a lake on a mid-July afternoon. I love the juicy crunch that cucumbers add to a bread salad dressed with the sweet, sour and funky flavors of Vietnamese cooking. That crunch also plays well with fish in ceviche and in a lemony pasta salad. It co-stars—in long, tender ribbons—in another salad with herbed pesto.

When I'm finished preparing these dishes, I'll juice any leftover cucumbers (and their scraps) for mixing into Pimm's Cups and other gin-based cocktails, then sweeten and freeze the remaining juice into granita for dessert. (Read more.)
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1 comment:

Hans Georg Lundahl said...

Bortsch froid - but Lithuanians also have a cucumber soup.