Chilean Cucumber Carrot Salad
If this is your first time visiting the blog, learn about the project here.
Note: Several of these first posts were written in the summer of last year while living in California, which should explain any references to time/place that seem odd.
When I was planning this blog, I imagined all the things I could cook. There’d be pastas with noodles made by hand, whole fish with one eye showing and lemon slices on top like big flat jewels. There’d pies with butter and fruit, stacked cakes, and some kind of milky custard (there’s one of those from almost everywhere). There’d be soups and stews, too many potatoes, and things to cook in a dutch oven for a late dinner.
Some things with meat, some without. Big pans of casserole, seasoned rice, and a long flat egg dish (there’s one of those from almost everywhere). Bread in different forms, maybe braided if I’m feeling ambitious, or in a brick if I’m feeling just hungry. Some made from corn, some wheat. Some something else? Maybe desserts that look one way and taste another, or demand spices I don’t use. There’d be dinners with things I don’t eat much, like pork, or eggplant. Maybe a lasagna, maybe a streusel.
I pictured my kitchen—lining one wall like a sitcom set—messy with mixing bowls and sauce splatters and a wooden spoon in our big soup pot. Dishes in the sink and on the island. And in the fridge. A light dusting of flour over everything. I saw my lavender mixer, a wedding gift from my mom, getting very little rest and using all the attachments. I imagined mayhem. I was expecting a production.
What I didn’t imagine was simplicity, the quick and light that sustains us between the pasta and whole chickens and Italian wedding soup. I hadn’t considered that while I’m cooking as experimentation, I’m also cooking as someone who wants dinner. Someone who may have too many carrots in the fridge. This recipe is for that. It’s quick to prepare, although I took a half-second more to ribbon the carrots. The chili powder isn’t too spicy, but a little smokey, and the bit of graininess is welcome. We had it alongside chicken and a fat watermelon, out in the backyard with the cooling down breeze of the summer ending.
The following is the recipe I used, as found here
Ingredients
1 cucumber, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1 fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon chili powder, you can use more if you like
salt, to taste
red pepper, to taste (optional)
Toss sliced veggies with fresh lime juice and sprinkle with chili powder. Adjust the seasoning to your own taste and serve. This salad does not hold well so please enjoy right away.
