Sweet and Sour Cucumber With Fresh Dill
Jewish Cooking, by Marlena Spieler, p. 100
"This is half pickle, half salad, and totally delicious served as a brunch or as an appetizer before a homely, roasted meat main course. Serve with thin slices of pumpernickel or other coarse, dark, full-flavoured bread."
Serves Four
1 large or 2 small cucumbers, thinly sliced
3 onions, thinly sliced [small to medium ones -E&L]
45ml/3tbsp sugar
75-90ml/5-6tbsp white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
30-45ml/2-3tbsp water
30-45ml/2-3tbsp chopped fresh dill
Salt
Cook's Tip: This salad can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week
- In a bowl, mix together the sliced cucumber and onion, season with salt and toss together until thoroughly combined. Leave to stand in a cool place for 5-10 minutes.
- Add the sugar, white wine or cider vinegar, water and chopped dill to the cucumber mixture. Toss together until well combined, then chill for a few hours, or until ready to serve.
LYNDA SAYS: Served as a salad to accompany a lot of other food, especially with a "normal" salad nearby, doubling this proved unnecessary - one batch would've fed all 12 of us. This is thus the one dish of which we have a lot left over. This is fine by me since I like it a lot, though I think I'd prefer it with slightly less onion next time.
EMILY SAYS: Yes, less onion. It turned out to be kind of too strong if you ate more of it. I think it should have been tangier, though. Maybe we should try cider vinegar next time.