Cucumber and dill salad
I went back home to Belarus last summer and found a half-century old enamel salad plate which I remember using since forever. A green plate with chipped white enamel. I remember it with green salads made by my grandmother using all the weeds she could find in the garden: young dandelion leaves before they turn too bitter, chickweed with tiny white flowers, borage, with its thick leaves that smell exactly like cucumber but scratch and tingle your tongue and throat, goosefoot, seasoned with lots of fresh dill, green onions and a splash of buttermilk. The buttermilk was always homemade and from raw milk, purchased from neighbors who brought their cows to pasture every day, carried home still warm and foamy.
These memories came flooding back as I used the plate this summer to make a salad of cucumbers and tomatoes from the neighbor’s garden. The salad goes very well as a side with fried mushrooms and boiled potatoes. Any mushrooms would work, we served it with fried chanterelles, a little onion and some potatoes.
For the salad
6 small cucumbers or 1 English cucumber (about one pound)
2 large tomatoes (about one pound)
1/2 bunch of dill
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
Slice thinly the cucumbers and the tomatoes. Finely chop the dill.
When ready to serve, toss the dill with cucumbers and tomatoes. Add salt and sour cream, stir to combine and serve.
The salad doesn’t keep well in the fridge and should be enjoyed right away.
Serves 6 as a side dish.
