Category: Salads and Stuff

Jerri’s Cucumber and Tomato Salad

“Everyone knows how to make cucumber and tomato salad,” said Jerri when I told her I was going to post her recipe. It is a simple thing to make and takes only five minutes or so, but if everyone knew how to make it, why did I keep seeing so many plastic deli containers filled with cucumber and tomato salad?

It couldn’t be the time or expense. Stopping at the supermarket, standing in line at the deli and waiting to check out will take at least ten minutes and probably longer if you get behind me when I am trying to find a dime in my pocket to give the clerk the exact change. As for the cost, the ingredients are inexpensive, especially in season. If you are as blessed with gardener friends as we are, the cucumbers and tomatoes are often free and tastier than most of the ones you buy.

Someone might say, “But I don’t have any olive oil, vinegar, basil or oregano.” All I can say is “You should,” because these are ingredients you can use in so many ways. You can buy the herbs in bulk packages at a supermarket or food coop at a reasonable price, and they last a long time. Adding some olive oil, basil and oregano to a jar of commercial spaghetti sauce or sprinkled on a frozen pizza can turn an ordinary meal into a special dinner, and you need a bottle of vinegar in the house anyway to clean your coffee maker from time to time.

The one thing that may be keeping a lot of people from making their own cucumber and tomato salad is a lack of confidence in their tastebuds. Since virtually all of us have tastebuds that work, it is merely a matter of letting them tell you whether something tastes good or not. A fine chef or gourmet food critic will have tastebuds that are more sensitive than ours, but the important thing is always, “Does it taste good to me?”

When you make your first batch of cucumber and tomato salad, follow the recipe below as best you can. However, your cucumbers or tomatoes may be a little smaller or larger than Jerri would call medium. If they are smaller, your salad may be a little saltier than you like or have a little too much oil or vinegar. You can fix that by adding more cucumber or tomato. If they are larger, add more seasonings. It’s simple. Trust your tastebuds.

Grab your peeler and a sharp knife and make yourself a bowl of a great salad for a summer dinner.

INGREDIENTS:

2 medium cucumbers
2 Roma tomatoes
2 T chopped onion
1 T fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried crushed basil
1 tsp. fresh oregano or 1/3 tsp. dried crushed oregano
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 T cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt
A grind of black pepper

PROCEDURE:

Wash and peel the cucumbers, leaving some thin green strips of peel for color. Cut the cucumbers in half lengthwise and remove the seeds if you wish. Then slice the cucumbers into quarter-inch half rounds. Put them in a mixing bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Let them stand while preparing the other ingredients.

Wash and remove the stem scar from the tomatoes. Chop them into bite-sized pieces. Chop about two tablespoons of onion into a quarter-inch dice. If you are using fresh herbs, wash and chop the basil and oregano.

Stir the vegetables and herbs together in the mixing bowl. Sprinkle the olive oil, vinegar and pepper over the salad and mix gently but thoroughly. Let it stand a minute and stir again.

Taste and adjust the seasonings to suit.

NOTES: This salad is almost good enough to justify keeping an herb garden in your home year round, but it tastes good with dried herbs too. We use fresh in the summer and dried in the winter.

Jerri’s Green Pea Salad

Lady Plumberton and her husband were on a voyage to the United States when she suffered an attack of nausea. Accordingly, she visited the ship’s physician who suggested that it was probably a mild attack of seasickness and gave her some tablets to soothe her stomach.

As she was leaving, she mentioned that she was rarely ill and suffered only from an allergy to green peas. It had been discovered when she was only a child, she told him, and she had often wished that God had given her a different allergy, since she loved the appearance and fragrance of lightly steamed peas.

The doctor, who had only a few years earlier finished medical school, told her that recent studies had confirmed that people sometimes outgrew such childhood allergies. Tests had been developed to detect allergic reactions safely, and he could test whether she was still allergic to peas in his office in less than half an hour.

She agreed and he called the chief cook who sent a steward with a small bowl of freshly steamed peas to the doctor’s office. Thirty minutes later, the doctor announced that the skin prick test showed no allergic reaction. Since the test sometimes missed a mild allergy, he suggested that she begin slowly with only a very small serving of green peas if she were so inclined.

After lunch she explained to the head waiter that she would appreciate having a small dish of steamed green peas with her dinner. He informed the chief cook who added the vegetable to Lady Plumberton’s dinner.

As usual the Plumberton’s were seated at the captain’s table. When all the diners were seated and the plates served, he rose from his chair to offer the evening’s toast. Instead of the usual toast honoring the leaders of Great Britain and the United States, he raised his glass of champagne and said, “Let us drink tonight to Lady Plumberton, who with the professional help of our ship’s doctor, is tonight taking her first pea in over fifty years.”

As the glasses were raised, a grizzled retired navy officer shouted, “Good God! Man the lifeboats! Women and children first!”

Only Lady Plumberton left the dining room. She retired to her cabin and developed a strong aversion to old men in navy uniforms.

Many green pea salad recipes call for using frozen or lightly steamed fresh green peas instead of canned peas. Perhaps this is because a lot of people have developed an aversion to canned peas. When I was a kid, we grew a lot of peas, picked a lot of peas, Mom canned a lot of peas and we all ate a lot of canned peas. I still really like them, especially in this delicious pea salad.

Jerri can’t remember when she first made this salad. My guess is that it was shortly after we were married and living in Charlottesville, Virginia. There was a Safeway store nearby that always had canned peas at low prices.

INGREDIENTS:

1 can green peas (about 2 cups)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
1/4 cup minced onion
1/3 cup mayonnaise

PROCEDURE:

Drain the peas and put them in a mixing bowl. Boil the eggs for five minutes, turn off the heat and allow them to finish cooking in the hot water for eight or nine minutes. Then cool them in cold water and remove the shells. Chop the eggs to the same size dice as the peas.

While the eggs are cooking, clean the celery and chop it and the cheese into the same size dice as the eggs. Mince the onion. Put all the ingredients into the mixing bowl and stir them gently but thoroughly. Allow the salad to rest for five minutes, then stir again and taste.

Add a bit more mayonnaise if necessary or even a little salt.

NOTES: Jerri prefers fresh or frozen green peas cooked until barely tender except in her green pea salad where she loves the taste of canned peas. Even if you also prefer fresh or frozen peas, you really need to try this salad.

You can substitute finely chopped sweet or bread and butter pickles for the pickle relish.