This is a simple vegetable side. It's somewhere between a salad and a quick pickle. It's very easy to make and requires very little active time. You just need to start it far enough in advance to give it at least an hour for the flavours to develop before you serve it.

This reminds me a lot of how I used to eat cucumbers as a kid: in a little dish with some white vinegar, salt, and pepper. Using cider vinegar instead of white, adding a bit of sugar, and diluting the mixture with a bit of water all help to tone down the acidity a bit. I still like my childhood version, but I do think this mellower take is probably more broadly appealing. And letting it sit for a while before serving gives the vegetables a chance to really absorb the flavours.

I made my salad with Vidalia onions since I had some on hand for another dish anyway, but the write-up says that regular yellow onions worked fine here as well. And I used an English cucumber because that's what I had on hand, but apparently when the folks over at ATK tested this recipe their tasters preferred field cucumbers to English. It's not like it's bad with English cucumbers though, so use what you have and enjoy!

Cucumber and Onion Salad

From Cook's Country June/July 2019

Ingredients

• 1/2 cider vinegar
• 1/4 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 450g cucumbers
• 1 onion, halved and sliced thin

Directions

1. Mix the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and pepper until dissolved and set aside.
2. Peel the cucumbers, halve lengthwise, and slice thin.
3. Add the cucumbers and onions to the dressing and mix well.
4. Cover and chill for at least an hour before serving.