When Life Gives you Lemons...

We all know it's time to make lemonade. But what about when your neighbor gives you cucumbers? Where do you start when you have an abundance of one ingredient that you've never really cooked with? The first place I usually check is www.epicurious.com. Here's a few cucumber recipes, I've found on Epicurious, that I'm planning to try. Cucumber, Radish and Red Onion Salad

Ingredients 3/4 cucumber 2 radishes 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion 1 teaspoon olive oil 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Preparation Peel, halve, and seed cucumber. Diagonally cut cucumber into thin slices and cut radishes into julienne strips. In a bowl toss together all ingredients and season with salt and pepper.

Gourmet, January 1998

Cucumber Mint Tea Sandwiches

Ingredients 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves, rinsed, spun dry, and chopped fine 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 2 tablespoons cream cheese 6 slices of whole-wheat bread a 3-inch length of seedless cucumber, cut into thin slices

Preparation In a small bowl combine the mint, the butter, and the cream cheese and stir the mixture until it is combined well. Spread the bread slices with the butter mixture, top 3 of them with the cucumber, distributing the cucumber evenly and seasoning it with salt, and top the cucumber with the remaining bread slices. Cut off and discard the crusts and cut each sandwich diagonally into quarters.

Gourmet, July 1992

Cucumber Anise Granita

Ingredients 3/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup water 3 seedless cucumbers, peeled and seeded 1 teaspoon anise-flavored liqueur

Preparation In a saucepan bring sugar and water to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved, and cool syrup.Chop coarse enough of cucumbers to measure 6 cups and in a blender purée with syrup in 2 batches until smooth. Transfer purée to a shallow metal baking pan and stir in liqueur. Freeze mixture, covered, stirring and crushing lumps with a fork about every 30 minutes, until mixture is firm but not frozen hard, 2 to 3 hours. Granita may be made 2 days ahead and kept frozen, covered. Just before serving, scrape granita with a fork to lighten texture.

Gourmet, August 2002