Lightly Pickled Cucumbers

I baked and ate some Gardein Seven Grain Crispy Tenders today for lunch, accompanied by sweet potato fries and homemade "lightly pickled" cucumbers.

Carbolicious, but kid-friendly... and vegan!

Recipe

Lightly Pickled Cucumbers

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate name for this little side dish, but I'm going with it.  It's something my mom used to make, and I like it!  Note: This recipe is one of those "throw it together" dishes that doesn't really require measuring.

Ingredients:

fresh cucumber, salt, red wine vinegar

Instructions:

1.  After washing your cucumber, use a knife to cut off the ends and take the skin off of it.

*I used a large cucumber so I cut the whole thing in half to make it easier to work with, as pictured.

2.  Slice the peeled cucumber into thin segments.

*The thinner the slices are the more quickly they absorb the salt water.

3.  Choose a container that will fit all of your cucumber slices and be able to hold enough water to completely cover them.

*Pictured: As you cut, the thinness of the slices will vary, but you don't want it any thicker than this one here

4.  Once you've sliced the cucumber and put them in a container, cover them with room-temperature water.

*I find that cold water doesn't allow the salt to soak in as well as room-temperature water does.

5.  Add the salt.  For a large cucumber, it's about 2 tsp. or so.

*I just pour in some salt a little at a time and test the taste of the water.  You should be able to taste the salt pretty strongly, but it shouldn't overpower your taste buds.

6.  Allow the cucumbers to soak in the salt water for at least 30 minutes.  The longer you leave them, the stronger they will taste and the more flimsy they will get.  My mom used to let them soak for hours, and that's how I think they taste best.

7.  Once you've let them soak for as long as you can, drain the salt water.  Then return the drained cucumbers back to the container.



8.  Add about 4 dashes of red wine vinegar to the cucumbers to finish them off.  Stir them up and enjoy!  Refrigerate leftovers for a day... not sure of how their consistency will be after any longer, because they never last long enough to find out!



*Recommendation:  As long as you like onions, you should add some sliced sweet onion to the mix and allow it to soak with the cucumbers in the salt water.  I just didn't have any onions in my house today.  Then you just leave the onions with the cucumbers when you drain them and add the red wine vinegar.  It gives the whole thing a little more taste.

1 large cucumber serves about 4 people, I would say.