Balkan Cucumber Salad

I love cucumbers. I love them so much that if I was only allowed to eat one food for the rest of my life, I'd pick cucumbers without even flinching. My love affair with this vegetable started young, when my mom would slice up cucumber as an afternoon snack or dinner accompaniment. As a young adult, I discovered English cucumbers, which are nearly seedless and have tender skin. They are my favorite variety of cucumber.

Balkan Cucumber Salad is thin slices of cucumber with a yogurt based herb dressing. Instead of mixing everything together, I served the cucumbers plain, with dressing and toasted walnuts of the side. I like just a little dribble of dressing with salads, so I think this was a good way to present the salad on the dinner table, since other people might like quite a bit more.

The dressing for the salad consisted of plain yogurt, thinly sliced onion, dill, parsley, fresh garlic, salt, and pepper. The recipe described how to thinly slice the onions, then keep them in very cold water until it was time to mixed everything together, though I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps it was to maintain crispness?

I thought this cucumber salad was a success. It was a really nice side dish for our New Year's Day meal!