Grandma’s French-Style Cucumber Salad

Grandma’s family has been making this cucumber salad going back generations. Keep it going forward! (This is one of Zeke’s absolute favorites. If he could, he would eat the entire bowl by himself!)

Grandma's French-Style Cucumber Salad

The freshness of summer all in one dish!

Ingredients
  

  • 6-8 pickling cucumbers (5-6"), stripe peeled, and sliced into ¼"- ⅜" thick rounds tight seeds and crisp meat are the characteristics of pickling cucumbers, but they are hard to find out of season. English cucumbers are your best next option.
  • 1 tsp +/- salt, sprinkled liberally over sliced cucumbers
  • 1 medium sweet onion or purple onion, diced
  • 1 small clove fresh garlic, minced
  • ½ tsp freshly grated pepper
  • 3-4 sprigs fresh chives, chopped into ¼" pieces can substitute green onion tops in winter time
  • 1 very small sprig fresh dill, finely chopped can add just a tiny sprinkle of dried dill if you don't have fresh
  • 3 tbsp white vinegar
  • 3 tbsp light olive or avocado oil or vegetable oil of your choice

Method
 

  1. Half-peel (in stripes) your cucumbers and slice them into a medium bowl. Salt the cucumbers liberally.
  2. Let the salted cucumbers sit for at least 20-30 minutes. In the meantime, chop your onions, mince the garlic, chop the chives and dill, and place everything on top of the sitting cucumbers. Add the grated pepper.
  3. At the end of the 20-30 minutes, tip the bowl and check to see if water has expressed from the salty cucumbers. Drain this water from the bowl.
  4. Add the oil and vinegar, then mix all ingredients until thoroughly combined. Enjoy!

Notes

You can adjust the number of cucumbers as needed. The recipe above serves 4-6 people. Just remember:
  1. You don't have to measure the salt. Just liberally salt the amout of cucumbers you are using.
  2. The dressing will always be 1 part vinegar to 1 part oil, i.e. 2 tbsp vinegar to 2 tbsp oil, etc. So adjust accordingly if you are using more or less cucumbers.
  3. Try to time your salad as close to serving time as you can and don't add/mix the vinegar & oil until right before serving. If you get stuck and have to delay for some reason, stick your bowl in the fridge, covered, and wait to drain the water until right before adding the vinegar & oil and serving.
This is a perfect side for Tuna Casserole.

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