Cucumber pickle salad

This salad goes beautifully with grilled meat, including ribs, or a cheese dish, such as mac ‘n’ cheese. Making the cucumber pickle is easy and Meyer lemon juice gives this salad a mellow citrus taste to help break through any fatty dish you might serve it with. But seriously, try it with grilled meat.

Credit: Hugh Adams

• serves

  2

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  5 minutes

Ingredients

Cucumber pickle

• 125 ml (½ cup) apple cider vinegar
• 110 g (½ cup) caster sugar
• splash of tequila
• good pinch of dried chilli flakes
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 cup Mexican cucumbers, halved lengthwise (see Note)

To serve

• handful of mizuna, washed, chopped
• splash of extra virgin olive oil
• juice of ½ meyer lemon
• salt flakes and freshly cracked pepper, to season

Instructions

To make the cucumber pickle, place the vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan over high heat and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat, then stir in the tequila, chilli flakes and lime juice. Add the cucumber and refrigerate for 30 minutes to pickle, then drain.

Place the mizuna on a platter and top with the pickled cucumber. Add a splash of olive oil, then squeeze over the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to serve.

Note

• Cle-ann grows her own Mexican cucumbers, a very small, heirloom variety of cucumber cherished for its sweet and sour flavour. Substitute 1 cup chopped regular cucumber.

Recipe from Cle-ann by Cle-ann Stampolidis, with photography by Hugh Adams.

View our interview with Cle-ann and find more recipes from her blog here.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.