Cucumber Night

So, one of the benefits of my new job is that I can participate in a farm share with a local farm, Ward's Berry Farm.  Every week, for $22, I get a giant box of fresh, local veggies.  I am in heaven.  The veggies change every week, depending on what's ripe that week, but we've been getting a lot of cherry tomatoes (yum!), peppers, squash, corn, potatoes, and cucumbers. 

This week's box.  You're jealous, right?

Cucumbers.  What does one do with a whole bunch of cucumbers?  Well, that's a good question.  generally, we put them on salad, but we haven't been eating a lot of salad lately (because there haven't been any greens in our box so far).  They're not the pickling kind of cucumbers, so we can't do that.  In an effort to eat up some of the cucumbers that are flooding our refrigerator, last night became cucumber night.  Not only did we drink delicious, cucumber-centered cocktails, we also made a refreshing cucumber and green pepper salad. 

We have a lot of these.

We discovered Porch Swings last summer when we were exploring the wonders of Pimms.  And the first thing Matt said when I asked, "What should we do with all these cucumbers?" was "Make Porch Swings."  So that was an easy decision.  Less easy was what else we should do with the cucumbers.  We were constrained in our brainstorming due to the fact that since it was the end of the week, we didn't have very many other ingredients in the house, and the tornado watch we had last night kept us firmly in the house instead of making a quick trip to the store.  Nonetheless, we each came up with a few ideas that the other shot down - cucumber boats filled with tuna salad (my idea), fried cucumbers (Matt's) - until we settled on a cucumber salad with a vinegar dressing similar to something Matt's mom used to make. 

A porch swing.  So good on a hot day (like an actual porch swing)

Porch swings are gin, Pimms, lemonade, and lemon-lime soda with cucumber slices.  We used ginger ale since that's the only soda we have in the house (and, you know, there was a tornado watch).  We've also taken to keeping simple syrup in the house, so it was easy to mix up some quick, homemade lemonade using simple syrup, lemon juice, and water.  Pimms is a gin-based liqueur containing quinine and a secret recipe of herbs, and was invented in 1823 by oyster-bar James Pimm.  It's known mainly for the classic British drink, the Pimm's Cup, which is Pimm's mixed with lemonade or ginger ale.  The Porch Swing takes it a step further by using both lemonade and ginger ale (in our case), and a cucumber garnish.  We use this recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

A refreshing use of cucumbers!  Success!

The cucumber salad ends up similar to quick-pickled cucumbers, which is not a bad thing.  It's a bunch of peeled, very thinly sliced cucumbers tossed in a dressing of sugar and rice vinegar.  You're supposed to use a red onion, too, but we didn't have one.  I threw in some thinly sliced green pepper for a bit of color and some crunch, but the tang of a red onion would have been good, too. 

Porch Swing

from Smitten Kitchen

1.5 oz gin
1.5 oz Pimm's
1/4 cup lemonade
lemon-lime soda or ginger ale
10 thin cucumber slices

Pour gin, Pimm's, and lemonade into a tall glass, add ice and top with soda and cucumber.  Makes 1 drink.

Cucumber Salad

adapted from Martha Stewart 

2 cucumbers, peeled and thinly sliced
half of a green pepper, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
salt and pepper to taste. 

Toss all ingredients, refrigerate and serve cold.