Tao Yuan Restaurant
This week’s recipe comes from Tao Yuan Restaurant in Brunswick, Maine. On the restaurant’s web site, it says that Tao Yuan has come to mean an unexpectedly fantastic place off the beaten track.
Tao Yuan is owned by chef Cara Stadler and her mother Cecile. You can read all about Cara’s cooking expertise here. As for trying to serve healthy meals, Cara says “My approach to eating well is eating a balanced mostly veggie-heavy diet.”
Here’ s a recipe for a simple refreshing salad made with ingredients that can come straight from your garden.
KRiemer / Pixabay
Smashed Cucumber Salad
- 5 to 6 ounces of cucumbers per person
- 1 Tablespoon sliced scallions
- 1 Tablespoon chiffonade (shredded) cilantro
Persian cucumbers are the best for this recipe, but all seasonal cucumbers would work too. It’s called smashed cucumber salad because you literally smash the cucumbers. How? With the side of a cleaver and into about 1-inch chunks.
Finish with chili oil if you like spice.
Smashed Cucumber Salad Dressing
(Conversion from metric to U.S. measurement system is approximate.)
- 160 grams (3/4 cup) soy
- 160 grams (3/4 cup) rice vinegar
- 130 grams (5 ounces or 0.65 cups) sugar
- 120 grams ( 1/2 cup) sesame oil
- 15 grams (1 TBS) sriracha
- 1 gram (1/4 tsp) Minced Thai bird (no seeds)*
*Thai bird is a type of chili pepper
I also found a You Tube video that demonstrates how to smash cucumbers and includes another quick and easy recipe.
Enjoy those cucumbers!
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