Cucumber Onion Salad with Basil Vinegar

Ingredients

• 1 Armenian Cucumber or 3 or 4 other types of Cucumbers (I generally use a full cucumber share)
• 3 or 4 of the larger Sweetie Onions, thinly sliced
• 1 cup Basil Vinegar (recipe below)
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon dried dill

Directions

Wash the cucumbers. If your cucumbers have bitter skins, they should be peeled (note: the cucumber salad will look prettier if you leave the skin on). Slice the cucumbers in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds; then slice the cucumbers thinly

Toss together the cucumbers and onions in a bowl. Combine the vinegar, water, and sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, and immediately pour over the cucumber and onions. Stir in dill, cover, and refrigerate. You can eat the salad after an hour, but I think it tastes better if they marinate overnight.

Variations:

Add one sliced bell pepper to the cucumber/onion mixture
Add one sliced roasted bell pepper to the cucumber/onion mixture

Basil Vinegar recipe

Basil
White vinegar

I grow basil in containers on my porch. The heat of the summer can be hard on my basil and it has been known to flower (or bolt). I like the look of the flowers, so I let the basil flower for a little while.

Once the flowers start interfering with the quality of the rest of the basil, I cut the basil stems down to a couple of inches off the ground. I stuff the basil including flowers, leaves and stems into a glass jar and then fill the jar with vinegar. If you do not grow basil in your backyard – grab a handful or two of fresh basil leaves and put them in a jar. Fill the jar with vinegar.

Then cover the jar and put the jar in the refrigerator. Let it sit in the refrigerator for a few weeks. Once the basil has had the time to infuse the vinegar – strain the vinegar into another glass jar. I keep the strained basil infused vinegar in the refrigerator.

Quick note: I also grow purple basil. The flowers are very pretty so I tend to let them grow longer than I should. When I used the purple basil flowers in the above recipe, the basil vinegar took on a nice pink color.

Submitted by Claire Wudowsky, Tucson CSA