The first is cucumber salad. My mom used to make this when we went to the beach. Recently she told me that the only reason she made this is because my dad's mother used to make it when they went to the beach, so he wanted it, and so she made it. I always really loved this dish. And it's not that I associate it with the beach and that's why I love it. As much as I love sun, bikinis, and drinking during the day, I am not a big beach person. I'll go to a pool in someone's backyard or country club, or I'll go swim in the river, but the beach has never had a lot of appeal for me. The sun is unrelenting, the water is always too cold. and that fucking sand! gets all over everything. But anyway, we would stay at the same hotel all the time, and we'd buy fried fish somewhere, and cucumer salad was a perfect counterpoint. It's effectively like cole slaw. To make mine, I used two English cucumers (from Costco, therefore, huge... like 2 feet.) and I scored the skin with a fork (so no one would have strips of though skin... probably not necessary with these thin-skinned cukes, but whatever) and I spooned out the seeds and sliced them on the bias, about 1/8 of an inch, maybe less. I tossed that with a lot of salt (maybe 4 tablespoons? I don't know, I just piled it on) and let sit for 2 hours before I squeezed it out in towel. After this, the cucumber slices have this wholly different texture. They're limp and flexible but still pleasently crunch when you bite into them, almost like the vegetable equivalent of al dente pasta. I stirred them up with a very small amount of mayonnaise a whole lot of black pepper. This will be great with some sort of chicken, with a spicy rich sauce...
I also got these gorgeous beans at the farmer's market yesterday. They had those super-cool dark purple ones, so I bought some green and some purple, thinking they'd look so beautiful together. I blanched them in some boiling water, and those little bastards turned green! I bought them because they looked so sophisticated and urbane, alll dark purple and skinny, showing up their sad little green buddies next to them. And after I cook them, they're all the same color. Serves me right. I tossed them, still hot, with sliced Vidalia onion, diced yellow bell pepper, cannellini beans and a lemon-basil vinaigrette . I think it will make a really nice lunch.
I also made a black bean salad that I think I should have eaten more of in college. It's very nutrient- dense, very health, and cheap-as-free. Black beans + corn (frozen it cool) + cherry tomatoes +jalepeno + lime juice + cilantro + onion. It looks really beautiful, and you can toss it with lettuce, or have it with grilled whatever meat you're into, or have it in a quesadilla.... it occurs to me this is the only thing I made when I was still living in the dorms that I still make now. That and popcorn. This time, I put in baby shrimp. My parents used to get my a cup of these wee little shrimp when I was like, 4, I I loved them I haven't seen them in a while but they had them at my grocery store, frozen, for $1. I know I need to eat more protein, and this recipe was originally supposed to be a side dish for grilled shrimp, so I think it should work. Another good work lunch.
