Cucumber Salad

There are a lot of things that remind me of summers during my childhood, the smell of chlorine (we lived... seriously lived in the pool, this followed me into my teen years, first job, lifeguard/swim instructor) other smells... suntan lotion, anything cooking on the grill, fresh cut grass, other things in general... bare feet, not having to wear pants (see above pool comment), the list can go on and on... but we are here to talk about cucumber salad... which = summer.

Nana (my mom's mom) would make this, and so would my mom, when the cucumbers were the best, during the summer. It's a very easy recipe but is super delicious.

The first step is to slice the cucumbers with a mandolin... don't have one? That's ok, just slice them as thin as you can. Next in a colander placed over a bowl, layer the cucumbers and sprinkle a generous amount of salt over them. Walk away for an hour and let them sit at room temperature and release all their liquids.

After an hour come on back and rinse them really well, once rinsed, squeeze them with your hands to get as much water out of them as you can. Place in a bowl and top with equal parts seasoned rice wine vinegar(mom uses white vinegar so that works too) and water. Then sprinkle with fresh cracked black pepper and paprika and stir, chill for an hour or overnight. Serve cold.


I told you, wicked simple :) My Mom and Nana always made this with white vinegar, but I wanted to give it a try this way since I received some Nakano Rice Wine Vinegar through Foodbuzz and wanted to try it out in something that would showcase its flavors. The verdict.... I'm totally making this with the seasoned rice wine vinegar again! White vinegar tastes good in this, but the rice wine gave it a little extra kick that I really enjoyed :)