A new restaurant opened near me not too long ago with an interesting concept. It’s solely focused on vegetables, but in an upscale way. They had a menu full of things like tomato tartar, cauliflower mac n cheese, and salads that make your mouth water. We tried a few different things, and all were delicious, but one in particular stood out — a salad made mostly of cucumber ribbons. It had some roasted peanuts for crunch, and a drizzle of olive oil and lime, and was surprisingly fantastic. So fantastic that I immediately bought some cucumbers to experiment making my own version.
I tried a few different versions before finding my favorite, which is the one I’m sharing right now. The salad I had was refreshing, crisp, and had a bit of crunch, so I wanted to encompass all these things, and I think I did. The cucumber hit the refreshing and crisp note, but what about crunch? Nuts are an obvious choice, but is there something better? Yes, yes there is — Ava Jane’s Kitchen Everything Bagel seasoning. It’s crunchy and salty, with a bold flavor from garlic and onion. A drizzle of Ava Jane’s Kitchen Avocado Oil and squeeze of lemon and it’s really a perfect dish.
Cucumber ribbons sounds like something you need a fancy gadget for, but if you have a standard vegetable peeler, you’ve got everything you need. Just run your peeler down the cucumber until it’s gone. Oh, and make sure you get seedless cucumbers, or you’ll run into problems when you get to the middle. Not that that happened to me or anything.
This makes a good side dish alongside your favorite protein and is a great way to use up a bunch of cucumbers if you’ve got an out of control garden. You can try adding more veggies if you want, but I urge you to try as is before doing so — you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised.
