Kak's Cukes

My husband's grandmother taught me how to make this dish. It's wonderful served at Thanksgiving or Christmas as it adds a lovely spot of colour to the table. It also tastes great!

2 English cucumbers, sliced thin and covered with salt. Let sit in a bowl overnight in fridge.

The next morning, run the sliced salted cucumbers under cold water as you squeeze the moisture out of them.

This is a crucial step in the process as you want to get rid of the rather bitter juice from the cucumber (the salt draws it out) but you also want to get rid of the excess moisture from the water. Don't use all your pumped up muscles to do this, just wring gently or you will have nothing more than shredded ripped bits of cucumber.

Put the rinsed and wrung-out cukes in your serving bowl. I use an antique glass dish from the set you can see in the photo. For those who, like me, love antiques, these bowls are Depression Glass Mixing Bowls in green.

I have several different sizes and they make gorgeous serving dishes at Christmas. I also have several in clear glass for such items as Cranberry Sauce which looks much prettier in white or clear. But I digress! Back to Kak's Cukes.

Wash and chop 2 green onions (or as many as you need to make 1 cup) and sprinkle on top of cucumber.

Now you are ready to make the liquid which is poured over top of the cukes and green onions. Take 2 Tbps white sugar and 3 Tbps white vinegar and combine. You have to start tasting this mixture. It must be sweet to the taste before you take the next step! If it is too vinegary, add a tad more sugar. Too sweet? Add more vinegar. Be careful and add in tiny bits, a smidgeon at a time until it is just right to your taste.

Now add 1 small carton of whipping cream to the sugar-vinegar mixture. Stir then pour over the cucumber-onion mixture. Add black pepper to taste, stir and leave overnight in fridge.

It is ready to serve the next day as a wonderful side dish for your fancy Thanksgiving or Christmas Dinner.