Spice Up a Cucumber Salad
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Except for in the form of pickles, I've never been a fan of cucumbers.
They don't taste bad...they are literally 95% water and they don't have much flavor. I drink nearly a gallon of water a day, I don't need extra hydration from my meals. But on hot sub-tropical days, they are a nice addition to a meal.
So when, scrolling through Bon Appetit's website recently, a salad that combined sweet peaches (I decided a variety of stone fruits would work here) with cucumbers caught my attention. A delicious savory spice mixture just ties this whole dish together.
Their recipe called for fiery peppers that I thought would mask all the other flavors, but if you like spicier foods, you can finely chop a serrano pepper and put it in when you add in the lemon juice.
Cucumber and Stone Fruit Salad
inspired by a recipe in BonAppetit
4 servings
- 1/3 cup of pepitas
- 1 cardamom pod
- 1 whole clove
- 1/2 teaspoon of coriander seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley
- 3 tablespoons of finely chopped cilantro, plus leaves with tender stems for serving
- 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 1/4 cup of olive oil
- 2 medium cucumbers, cut into bite sized pieces
- 4 medium stone fruit*, cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 avocado, cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds
- Toast the cardamom, the clove, the coriander, and the cumin in a dry pan over medium heat. Stir it occasionally for about 2 minutes, until the aromas are released.
- Remove the seeds from cardamom pod and toss the pod.
- Finely grind the seeds and spices with a mortar and pestle or a spice meal.
- Mix the spices with the garlic, the parsley, some chopped cilantro, the lemon juice, and the oil; season with salt.
- Throw in the cucumber and toss it with the spices and let the whole lot sit for 5 minutes.
- Mix in the fruit and the pepitas with the cucumber mixture and season, to taste with salt.
- Mix it all very well.
- When you're ready to serve, top the salad with sesame seeds, cilantro leaves, and the rest of the pepitas.
*Stone fruit that work well in this recipe include peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots.
