Barely Pickled Cucumber Salad
I always have cucumbers in my fridge. They are very low cal, and add such a delightful crunch to sandwiches. In this recipe I decided to go a different route with the cukes, and make them the star of their own side dish. When lightly pickled, the cucumbers and red onion meld nicely and the red onion is not as harsh.
I usually start making these pickled cukes before I do anything else for the meal. They only take about 45 minutes, but you can let them sit longer. I wouldn’t suggest letting them pickle overnight because the cucumbers will be swimming in their own juices by the time you eat them. YUMMY!
Barely Pickled Cucumber Salad
- 1 English cucumber
- 1/4 red onion
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro (or a hearty handful)
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 Tbs. Vinegar (I used white, but you can use rice vinegar or red wine vinegar, however I would not suggest balsamic)
- 1 Tsp. Sea Salt
- 1/2 Tsp. Fresh ground pepper
Peel and de-seed the cucumber. How I usually go about doing this is peeling it to start, and then cutting it length wise so you have two long halves. I then use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. No need to get crazy on those seeds, you just need most of them gone!
Go ahead and dice the cucumber into 1/4 inch pieces.
Cut the quarter of red onion into thin pieces (as thin as you can, so that they pickle quickly).
Combine the cucumber and onion in a medium bowl, and then add the chopped cilantro, vinegar, lemon, salt and pepper.
Let sit for as short as 45 mins and up to 4 hours.
What a lovely side for salmon! Alternatively, you could use lime juice instead of lemon juice, and make this an Asian side for chicken skewers and satay, or a Mexican slaw for topping shrimp tacos!
