Salad of Heirloom Cucumbers, Rye, Sesame & Brown Sugar Crumble, Ground Cherries, Scallion, Flowering Mint, Sorrel, Goat's Milk Yogurt & White Balsamic Dressing
As I was wondering through the Farmer's market last week I noticed a large variety of cucumbers being sold by various vendors. From huge bitter melons (which are closer to cucumber than they are to a melon) to tiny sweet Mexican Gherkins there was an amazing array available. This explosion of a certain type of fruit tends to happen a lot at the market. As all of the farms are from Southeastern PA and South Jersey they all have very similar growing seasons. And seeing as different farms choose to grow different varieties of the same plant there are lots of shapes and colors to choose from. When this phenomena takes place I usually start thinking of a dish to incorporate the whole spectrum of available variety. In this case a salad utilizing every type of cucumber I could get my hands on; Kirby, Lemon, Bitter Melon, Garden, Thai & Mexican Sour, in a beautifully fresh summer salad.
I started out by making the Rye crumble. I cubed some pieces of cold organic unsalted butter and combined them with organic rye flour and sesame seeds. I mixed the ingredients together by hand until they just barely came together to form a loose dough ball. I pressed the ball into a flat disc, wrapped in plastic and chilled it for an hour. After chilling thoroughly I removed the dough from the plastic wrap, palced it on a baking sheet and baked it at 325 degrees til just slightly browned. I allowed it to cool before crumbling it up with my hands and mixing in some brown sugar.
I cut wedges from one of the Thai and Lemon cucumbers and cold pickled them in vinegar, sugar and water just to add a little zip to them. I cut slices from another Thai and Lemon cucumber and simply seasoned them with a little salt. I cut ribbons from the Kirby and Garden cucumbers and plated them with no seasoning. I cut the Mexican Gherkins in half and plated them untouched as well. I cut off some of the spikes from the bitter melon and used just a few of them, as they are extremely bitter.
I added some fresh ground cherries to add another element of sweetness to the plate. Ground cherries have an almost tropical flavor to them that reminds me a little of pineapple. I sprinkled some sliced scallions on top of the salad to add another element of flavor. And I used some sorrel and flowering mint because they look really nice and happen to pair really well with cucumber.
I finished the plate off with the goat's milk yogurt dressing. I made the dressing by combining the yogurt with some sugar, salt, white balsamic vinegar and soy lecithin. The lecithin being used to stabilize the bubbles and thicken the vinaigrette.
Product:
Organic Mexican Sour Gherkins- Culton Organics
Organic Kirby Cucumber - Blooming Glen Farm
Lemon Cucumber - Beachwood Orchard
Thai Cucumber - Beachwood Orchard
Organic Ground Cherry - Culton Organics
Organic Bitter Melon - Culton Organics
Organic Flowering Mint and Sorrel - Weaver's Way
Organic Scallions - Queen's Farm
Pasture-raised Goat's Milk Yogurt - Cranberry Creek Farm
I started out by making the Rye crumble. I cubed some pieces of cold organic unsalted butter and combined them with organic rye flour and sesame seeds. I mixed the ingredients together by hand until they just barely came together to form a loose dough ball. I pressed the ball into a flat disc, wrapped in plastic and chilled it for an hour. After chilling thoroughly I removed the dough from the plastic wrap, palced it on a baking sheet and baked it at 325 degrees til just slightly browned. I allowed it to cool before crumbling it up with my hands and mixing in some brown sugar.
I cut wedges from one of the Thai and Lemon cucumbers and cold pickled them in vinegar, sugar and water just to add a little zip to them. I cut slices from another Thai and Lemon cucumber and simply seasoned them with a little salt. I cut ribbons from the Kirby and Garden cucumbers and plated them with no seasoning. I cut the Mexican Gherkins in half and plated them untouched as well. I cut off some of the spikes from the bitter melon and used just a few of them, as they are extremely bitter.
I added some fresh ground cherries to add another element of sweetness to the plate. Ground cherries have an almost tropical flavor to them that reminds me a little of pineapple. I sprinkled some sliced scallions on top of the salad to add another element of flavor. And I used some sorrel and flowering mint because they look really nice and happen to pair really well with cucumber.
I finished the plate off with the goat's milk yogurt dressing. I made the dressing by combining the yogurt with some sugar, salt, white balsamic vinegar and soy lecithin. The lecithin being used to stabilize the bubbles and thicken the vinaigrette.
Product:
Organic Mexican Sour Gherkins- Culton Organics
Organic Kirby Cucumber - Blooming Glen Farm
Lemon Cucumber - Beachwood Orchard
Thai Cucumber - Beachwood Orchard
Organic Ground Cherry - Culton Organics
Organic Bitter Melon - Culton Organics
Organic Flowering Mint and Sorrel - Weaver's Way
Organic Scallions - Queen's Farm
Pasture-raised Goat's Milk Yogurt - Cranberry Creek Farm