The Dinner Files

I’ve tried drinking these cucumber sake cocktails without an ocean view, but it doesn’t quite have the same effect.

Click on the recipe, if you must, and you can shake and strain it, if you like, but once the ocean effect has taken affect and I’m in a sundress and there’s salt water in my hair and I’m as lazy as lazy can be, I’ve been know to just pour the sake over ice, add the cucumber slices, and call it a day.

I had a cucumber martini last year in Tofino and vowed to recreate one someday. I don’t tend to drink a lot of martinis at home, so that cucumber martini has been hanging out in the back of my mind, sitting around and waiting to be brought to life. A cascade of cucumbers in our CSA box finally pushed this particular cocktail daydream into the light.

I have a bit of a quandry over this cocktail. I prefer a gin martini. Vastly prefer, in fact, since gin has, you know, actual flavor. And yet… I made some cucumber-infused vodka. So… I tried them both. One just a gin martini with cucumber slices shaken in the mix of gin and dry vermouth and fresh ones added in lieu of olives and the other with cucumber vodka, same process. Both very good. The cucumber vodka one was, as you might guess, more cucumbery. If you just feel like making a summery martini and don’t feel like messing around with infusing vodka, however, the gin version is mighty tasty.

If you need more of a recipe to make a martini than the hints I’ve given above, I wrote up Cucumber Martinis with you in mind.

A grind or two of black pepper is also an option (and was how the Tofino martini was served). I’m on the fence about it though. It’s good, definitely tasty, but it does distract from the cool, subtle flavor of cucumber. Give them both (all?) a try and let me know what you think.

I am burying the lede. I forgot to take a picture of the lede. The lede should be (and in life was) the rib-eye steaks from our meat CSA. I defrosted a pair – they were cut a bit thin and I was worried they would cook up ill, but they were delicious simply grilled over a hot flame for 5 minutes on each side having only been lightly drizzled with a bit of oil and salted fairly liberally a moment before being laid ever-so-gently on the piping hot grill grate. I was so excited to eat them that picture-taking was the last thing on my mind as I sliced them diagonally and dabbed them with a garlic compound butter.

I served them to my dashing husband and young Ernest along with some grilled potatoes (with more of the butter slathered onto those, you can be sure) and the salad you see above. It was all very summery and satisfying. It was my last dinner in San Francisco for awhile. Ernest and I are headed to Northern Minnesota for a nice long stay again this summer. What draws us there? Well I could go on and on about the clear lake water for swimming and the extended family for fun and the walleye pike for eating but let me sum it up thusly: the living is easy and the child care is cheap.

Who had time to cook? I had presidential debates to watch. Well, just the one last night, but you know what I mean. I’d been slaving all day on a last minute story for The Man. The Man, however, was in a better place, thank god, so the whole thing went more like this:

The Man: We’d love you to do this story that you are uniquely qualified to write, would you do that for us in exchange for this small pile of cash?

Me: Why yes, I would, thank you for thinking of me.

[time passes]

The Man: This is great, thanks so much!

Me: You are very welcome.

I have to say, that’s about the level of drama I’m willing to deal with in professional relationships. Does it make good reading? No, not really. But I like how it doesn’t drive me insane and allows me to focus energies elsewhere, like into giant-ass needlepoint projects.

So anyway… back to dinner. It was a night of full-on freezer adoration. I went down to the freezer in the basement, rifling through the containers and bags, and pulled out some lemony lentils and spicy beef stew from an Ethiopian Feast I made in July. With an arugula salad (leaves from the farm box) and some sliced cucumber salad, we were all set. Oh yeah, plus the leftover butternut squash from the night before. Serious scrounging, yes. In a way it was a meal that was just working through what was in the house. In another way it was a tasty, nutritious dinner.

BTW, the cucumbers were “inspired” by this little number created by Jess over at Hogwash. Except I really didn’t have any of the key ingredients except the cucumbers. But still, I sliced them as thin as possible on a mandoline, which was step 1 of her recipe. Some day when champagne vinegar and chives grace my cupboards I will make that salad. Last night I just tossed them with a bit of oil and rice vinegar and plenty of salt. Boring but tasty. And cooling next to the stew.