Cucumber Salad

Once again, I collected some excellent produce from my CSA share and the farmers’ market yesterday. I have a lot to work with for the next few days and several ideas for experiments. Last night, I invented a cucumber salad as follows:

1 organic cucumber quartered lengthwise and then sliced into 1/4” pieces
1 large, salmonella-free, organic tomato chopped
1/4 organic red onion, thinly sliced
1 organic cubanelle pepper, seeds and ribs removed, chopped
1 t dijon mustard
1 T sherry vinegar
2 T extra virgin olive oil
3 T homegrown, organic basil chiffonade
Brazos Valley Marinated Feta to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

-in a large mixing bowl, whisk together mustard and vinegar, slowly drizzle in oil and whisk until emulsified
-add cucumber, pepper, and tomato to bowl and toss to coat
-plate salad as desired
-top with feta, basil, and season to taste

Something was a little off when we tasted the salad. I really need to taste ingredients before throwing them into a dish! The cucumber had an odd, bitter taste but only on the skin. As we ate the salad, we cut the cucumber skin away on each piece, and then it was fantastic. This morning, I did some searching and found info on bitter cucumbers. The pepper, tomato, and onion were fresh and perfect, and once the skin was removed the cucumber was also great.

The feta is locally made and is not sold in retail outlets as far as I know. As I strolled through the market yesterday evening, I was stopped and offered samples of plain feta, pepper jack, and the marinated feta. It’s all really delicious. The marinated feta worked very well in the salad.