Some people love a tossed salad of mixed vegetables. For me, I love nothing more than great salad greens in a good vinaigrette or a single-ingredient salad.
There’s a quick cucumber salad I make for weeknight dinners that goes like this:
- Peel cucumbers and thinly slice, toss with soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and a pinch of sugar. Taste and marinate while making the rest of dinner.
The cucumbers are a crunchy medium for the dressing, nothing special. Almost forgettable.
But when summer rolls around, I seek out slicing cucumbers in all their wonderful forms.
From the chubby lemon cuke to the ridged Armenian, they’re all I need to come up with a summer menu of cucumber salads.
All of them take about two steps to make, just like the salad I describe above and my cucumber salad recipe below.
7 Light Cucumber Salad Recipes
Here’s a round up of 6 great cucumber salads from sites I love and trust.
They are super-refreshing and tend to avoid the creamy style of salads that weigh down a lot of traditional cucumber salads.
- Cucumber, pistachio and yogurt salad (Wall Street Journal)
- Spicy cucumber salad (Food52)
- Cucumber and herb salad with crumbled feta (Fine Cooking)
- New Jersey fattoush (Saveur)
- Cucumber, red onion and dill shaved salad (Williams Sonoma)
- Sichuan-style smashed cucumber salad (Serious Eats)
And the 7th is my own recipe combining firm-ripe peaches with cucumbers for a Thai-inspired salad.
It’s super refreshing and satisfying for an August lunch or light dinner. Pair it with something from the grill, especially halibut, shrimp or chicken.
This cucumber salad tastes even better outside! Join me.
What are you making with the summer bounty of cucumbers? Let me know in the comments below or tag a photo #lynnesforage on Instagram or Facebook.
Thai-style Cucumber, Peach and Basil Leaf Salad with Cashews
Peaches go savory with cucumbers in this refreshing summer salad. Use any type of fresh cucumber, such as lemon cucumber, Persian or English. Serve it with grilled halibut, chicken or shrimp or rice noodles.
- 3 medium (about 1 1/2 pounds) cucumbers, very thinly sliced
- 2 large (about 1 pound) peaches, pitted and cut into wedges about 1/2 inch wide
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 serrano chile, seeded and minced
- 1/4 cup best-quality fish sauce
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
- 1/2 cup toasted cashews
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Combine the cucumbers and peaches in a large mixing bowl with the scallions, garlic, and chile. Add the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar and toss gently to combine well. Let sit for about 10 minutes.
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Toss again and taste for seasoning. The salad will hold in the refrigerator for up to 4 hours.
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Just before serving, add the basil leaves and cashews and serve.
The post 7 Quick & Light Salads to Celebrate Cucumber Season appeared first on Lynne Curry.