Monday, June 24, 2013

Summer Salad: A Recipe

We hit the jackpot when we moved from big city Dallas to small town East Texas and right next to Ms. Becky. An elderly widow who cooks, bakes, grows her own vegetables, and is generous beyond words. My family is spoiled regularly with her tasty, buttery dishes and indulgent desserts- good old fashion desserts. Last summer, she brought over what she called Summer Salad. A sweet, vinegary mixture of squash, zuchhini, cucumber and sweet slices of onion scattered in. All of Ms. Becky's creations are delicious but this was by far one of my favorite concoctions.

I had an abundance of squash this weekend and with squash not being one of my favorite things to eat, I wondered what the heck I was going to do with it. And yes, the copious squash came from Ms. Becky. I decided fairly quickly that I would whip up summer salad, so I got Ms. Becky on the phone and jotted down the recipe.

"Oh honey, that recipe is about a hundred years old. Like me."

1/3 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/8 tablespoon pepper
1/4 onion
2-3 squash/zucchini/cucumber

I actually tripled this recipe to make 5 jars. I poured all of the ingredients, except the vegetables, in a bowl until the salt and sugar dissolved. Then I filled the jars up with the thinly sliced veggies, poured the vinegar mixture in to the top, stuck a lid on and left it in the refrigerator for twenty-four hours before eating. It's the perfect cold, sweet and salty summer snack. You won't see me grilling squash this summer.

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