Cuc and cilantro plant notes
Cucumbers and cilantro are ready at the same time in the gardens and greenhouse this week!
Cilantro is the Spanish translation for coriander, the botanical name for this herb is Coriandrum sativum and in India, where it is also extremely popular in cooking, it’s called Dhania.
We use the green leafy parsley-like foliage for Mexican flavours, but we can also let it flower and produce coriander seeds for a spice with an aromatic, sweet, citrus and peppery flavour.
Dishons are short dark green (15 cm) English cucumbers on very early maturing plants.
How to eat this salad
Karen, the Food Charlatan – we adapted this recipe from her blog – suggests eating this Mexican-style cucumber salad as substitute for lettuce on fish tacos, to top off a taco salad bowl, add to fajitas or serve as a side dish to carnitas. Her kids love fajitas and cucumbers!
Find this cucumber image and the original recipe on The Food Charlatan’s cuc and cilantro salad recipe – and if you love spicy, Karen’s version of this salad has jalapeno too!
Prairie Garden’s cucumber cilantro and lime salad
You’ll need:
- 1 cucumber, very finely sliced or diced
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced
- 1½ tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 1½ tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons minced cilantro, to taste
- 1 hot pepper-optional (seeds removed)
Variations – add:
- 1 diced heirloom tomato
- 1 chopped baby red onion
Dice the pepper and garlic into a medium-sized bowl.
Combine fresh lime juice, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper and whisk in the olive oil.
Finely slice the cucumbers with a mandolin or very sharp knife. Stir the cucumbers into the dressing.
Finely chop cilantro and add. Stir and serve or let the salad marinate in the fridge for a couple hours.
