A Summer WOW Recipe

Every now and then, there is a recipe using seasonal ingredients that hits your taste buds with such a KA-POW of flavor, that you start craving it immediately after you finish it. We experienced that tonight when we made Food & Wine's Cucumber Salad with Buttermilk Dressing and Pickled Onion.

This one features crisp cucumbers and a divine, homemade dressing oh, most importantly pickled onions that you make yourself! I've made pickles from cucumbers before, but I have not pickled onions and boy, were they delicious in this recipe! The dressing uses fresh herbs too, which were so fun to snip from my plants outside and incorporate into this recipe.

Even if you have finished your grocery shopping for the week, stop by a farmers market or your local grocery store to pick up the ingredients to enjoy this asap!

This recipe is not hard but it does have quite a few steps to it. Also, having a mandolin was incredibly helpful in thinly slicing the onions and later, the cucumber. If you do not have one, you can make thin slices work with your favorite, sharp knife.

Becca Edits: I decided to make this at the last minute, here are a few things to note:

• you need about 45 minutes before eating time, to make the pickled onions and give them time to actually pickle
• I did not have several of the ingredients but had suitable substitutes:
• tarragon (fresh or dried) at my house, so I didn't use it. The dressing was still great. 
• creme fraiche either, instead, I used plain greek yogurt. Again, the dressing was great. 
• sunflower seeds - I chopped up slivered almonds instead 
• Your breath will be hot and heavy with onions after you eat this, so grab some gum or make sure your partner eats this salad too! :)

Cucumber Salad with Buttermilk Dressing and Pickled Onion Recipe (link to recipe here)

Pickled Onion

• 1 c red wine vinegar
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1/4 c water
• 1/4 t sea salt
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced

Make the pickled onion...in a small saucepan, bring the vinegar, sugar, water & salt just to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat; add the onion. Let cool, then refrigerate until chilled. 

Dressing

• 1/2 c creme fraiche (or I used plain Greek yogurt)
• 1/4 c buttermilk
• 1/4 c mayonnaise
• 2 T fresh lemon juice
• 1 T minced tarragon
• 1 T minced chives
• 1 T minced parsley

In a small bowl, whisk all of the ingredients above, together. Season with salt & pepper. 

Cucumber Salad

• 6 cucumbers (I used mini pickling cucumbers)
• 2 T olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• It calls for more red wine vinegar here, but I don't think you need it & didn't include it. If you do want to include it: use 2 T red wine vinegar, to toss in the bowl with the cucumbers and olive oil

In a medium bowl, toss the cucumbers with the olive oil. Season with a little salt and fresh ground pepper. Let sit for about 5 minutes. 

Assembling the salad:

• Spoon the dressing onto shallow bowls or plates with a lip. Top with the cucumbers. Drain teh onion & scatter over the salad. Garnish with chopped slivered almonds or whatever nuts you like & have on hand that are mild (the original recipe recommends sunflower seeds) and you can also top with sunflower sprouts!