Miso and sesame cucumber salad

 

 

 

 

When it is so hot that your clothes are glued to your body like a sticker paper doll's.

When it is so hot that you look forward to going to the office: a) for the lovely breeze during your 6:00am bike ride; b) for the blasting A/C.

When it is so hot that the sky is more off-white than blue.

When it is so hot that you wonder why you even own an oven or a stove because you don't remember the last time you used them.

When it is so hot that you start turning to Pinterest to consider the endless possibilities of watermelon.

When it is so hot that putting on face cream or deodorant turns into a daily challenge thanks to that patina of sweat that covers your body 24/7 no matter how many times you shower.

When it is so hot you have the urge to fling your kids across the room every time they hug you or sit on your lap.

 

 

 

 

That is when this crunchy, cool salad and the heat from the chili is exactly what you need, all you crave.

 

But not only.

 

Because, to be honest, it has not been a scorching summer here (yet) and we have rarely even had to turn on our ceiling fans. Yet this five-minute salad (it might take you eight minutes if you don't own a mandolin) was the hit of the season. My daughter and son ate serving after serving of this (minus some of the chili flakes).

 

 

 

 

If you cook Asian now and again, you will already have all the ingredients right in your kitchen. Just go out and get some cukes, which are pretty staple in our home in the summer, and you have yourself a winning side dish, salad or appetizer. Cheap, quick, refreshing and delicious.

 

 

 

From Cooking Light
Ingredients
1 1/2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds,

2 tbsp white miso paste (you can substitute with soy sauce)

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp hot water

1 tsp crushed chili flakes

2 tsp sesame oil (preferably dark)

about 4 thinly sliced cucumbers

 

Whisk together the toasted sesame seeds, miso paste, rice vinegar, honey, chili and sesame oil adding the hot water to help emulsify.

Peel and seed the cucmbers (unless you are using a skin-on variety like English cucumbers for example), slice thinly and then toss with dressing to coat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gazpacho - a soup or a drink?

The other day I mentioned a questionnaire I was answering to subscribe to a food community. One of the questions was a pet peeve of mine in the kitchen. I had a hard time coming up with one at that moment, but since then they have just been popping up in my mind. Turns out I am quite the kitchen nazi.

Here are a few:

1. When someone grabs food from a platter or picks/eats the garnish before I serve it.

2. When someone hovers while I cook and constantly sticks a spoon or even worse a finger into something I have on the stove top.

3. When someone sticks their fork into my plate while I am eating. (I see a trend emerging here. A touch territorial?)

4. When someone eats pasta and leaves all the sauce in the plate.

5. When someone eats roast chicken and discards the crunchy, salty skin.

6. When someone says they don't like something without ever having tasted it (excluding religious/moral reasons)

7. When someone only takes the runny part of an aged cheese

8. When someone cuts the crust off of cheeses like camembert and brie

9. People (er...Italians) who say English food is terrible. Hello? Gordon? Nigella? Jamie? Heston? (Also, I believe there is no country that does not have a local cuisine, some just have more variety than others)

10. People who think Italy is just pizza, pasta, cappucino and mafia.

11. When people make ..... (brownies, cookies, etc. You choose) and halve the butter, sugar, egg ratio. Don't be surprised if it ain't a ..... or if it isn't as good as the bakery's.

12. Language distorsions.

This opens up a whole new subcategory (and the truth is I probably do the same in languages I don't know so I probably shouldn't cast the first stone). But bear with me and let me rant just this once:

a) biscotti is plural. The singular is biscotto, so you are eating a biscotto, not a biscotti

b) the same goes for panino and panini

c) by the way, biscotti are all kinds of cookies in Italian - even an Oreo, and panini are all kinds of sandwiches, even a club sandwich

d) the same goes for Italians. 'Cookies' are all cookies, not just chocolate chip cookies

e) the right word/spelling is BRUSCHETTA (pronounced broosketta, not brooshetta)

f) why does the package of a regional, traditional Italian cookie (biscotto) have to have 'cookie' written in English under the brand to make it cooler? (And why don't you get a native speaker to correct your English before you print that sentence on 100,000 t-shirts? But I digress...)

g) gelato is all ice cream in Italy, even the Haagen Dazs you buy at the supermarket

h) Fettucine Alfredo are NOT Italian

Since we are discussing all those infuriating/endearing mistakes we make with foreign foods, here is the recipe for gazpacho. I am sure that in Spain every family has a recipe for gazpacho that is the best and only true version. In the recipe I used, which may or may not be authentic, the procedure is a little more complex than my usual throw-together-and-blend-the-vegetables approach. The result is delicious, it really does seem to give the gazpacho an extra kick.

Now to the big dilemma is: is it a soup or is it a drink? 

After doing a little research and because I have close family living in Spain, I feel I can pretty confidently answer it is a soup you can drink. So whether you use a bowl and spoon or a glass is up to you. But because I do not want to become a Spaniard's pet peeve please let us know, if you are out there, if this is true and also what you consider to be the original, one-and-only recipe.

I followed the recipe to  a "t" and made half a batch and then omitted the last step with the other half. You decide which you like best. I drank the first and ate the second with a spoon. What matters is that it bring you pure joy on a hot, hot day like today.

What are your pet peeves in the kitchen?

Adapted from Just Eat it.