Thursday Recipe - Cucumber Mint Relish/Salad

Mint, radishes, and cucumber in a salad is apparently a thing. I had no clue. I had a cucumber that needed used so I went surfing and came across recipes for this salad that sounded good. I did mix it up and change it around because that's what I do. The end result was tasty—cool and refreshing with fish, rice, or on its own.

It's kind of a mild pickle relish and kind of a salad. Serve in small portions because it can be strong.

This is based off a traditional middle-eastern salad. The flavors are a bit different, so make a small batch first and see if you like it, or just go easy on the mint. It also gets stronger overnight in the fridge. I used spearmint from my yard. It was a bit too strong so next time I make this, I'm going to use a milder mint, either the sweet mint or the pineapple mint I planted. I still need to find apple mint to plant. I loved it in my yard before. It has fuzzy leaves and a very mild flavor. I'll have to do a post on different types of mint.

On to the recipe!

Cucumber Mint Relish/Salad

2 T. finely diced sweet onion or red onion
1 T. rice wine vinegar (go with any, but keep it white and very mild like champagne or white wine vinegar)
1 cucumber, chopped into small bits, about 2 c.
1 bunch of radishes, about 8, chopped into small bits to make about 2/3 c.
1 t. finely chopped mint leaves
1/2 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper

Put the onion in a bowl. Pour in the vinegar. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. This helps make the onion milder.

Add the rest of the ingredients. Stir gently to mix. Let sit for about 30 minutes before serving.

Thursday Recipe - Sautéed Zucchini

I think my black thumb curse is finally lifted! Or at least changed to a brown thumb. One of the dozen zucchini seeds I planted survived. I have zucchini in my garden. Only one plant, but with zucchini, that's plenty. I also have tomatoes (HUGE bushes with LOADS of green tomatoes right now), a few spindly hot pepper bushes, a few onions, a very short row of yellow wax beans, and some popcorn. It's the best garden we've grown in years.

Back to the zucchini. There are several ways to deal with it. Giant baseball bat size zucchinis are great for stuffing or grating up and using in recipes like zucchini muffins, fudge cake, or zucchini pie. Medium size ones are great for chopping up into pickles. And teeny little ones are great for slicing and sautéing. This recipe makes a great vegetable side dish for a summer dinner party.

Sautéed Zucchini

3-5 small zucchini, sliced into circles about 1/4 inch thick
2 T. butter
1 t. Italian herb mix (make your own with oregano, basil, sage, thyme, marjoram, parsley, rosemary, garlic, and dried onions. And maybe a pinch of lemon zest. That recipe sounds good for next week...)
salt to taste

Heat butter in a large frying pan over medium-low heat until the butter is melted. Toss in the zucchini slices. Fry for a few minutes, stirring often, just until the squash wilts and some slices get browned. Sprinkle the herbs over the top. Salt to taste. Toss it once to mix in the herbs then serve.

This also works great with crookneck squash, yellow squash, pattypan squash, or any other summer squash with a tender skin. Use the tiny baby ones if you've got them.