D:RC's Watermelon & Smashed Cucumber Salad
...take the edge off the heatwave!
Ingredients
For the Salad
watermelon chunks (I cheated and bought a 10 oz container of already cut watermelon)
2 small Persian cucumbers
2 radishes
2 good handfuls of arugula
3 sprigs of fresh mint
2 scallions
1 big handful of fried shallots (again I cheated… I buy these by the jar from my local Asian market, but you could certainly fry actual shallots)
Fish Sauce “Vinaigrette”
1/4 cup fish sauce (check for saltiness as it varies by brand — I use Red Boat Fish Sauce)
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 garlic clove, grated on a microplane or very finely minced
1 small red chili, sliced. Keep the seeds in if you like a bit more heat.
Directions
Make the vinaigrette by combining all the ingredients and whisking together.
Wash, dry, and cut the cucumbers lengthwise and turn them cut side down on your cutting board. Carefully apply pressure on top with the side of a large knife and smash them until you feel a light crack. Cut all the long pieces diagonally in 3 short pieces. Put the cut pieces in a colander, lightly salt them with Kosher salt, and let them sit for about 10 minutes to drain and draw out moisture (this will give a better crunch to the bite). Quickly rinse if there’s excess salt, dry, and add to a salad bowl.
Cut your watermelon into bite size chunks (I did triangles).
Thinly slice the radishes; I do mine on a mandoline.
Finely chop the fresh mint, and thinly slice the scallions diagonally.
Add watermelon to the bowl with the cucumber chunks. Add 2 good handfuls of arugula greens, the sliced radishes and the chopped mint. Give it all a quick toss with some of the fish sauce vinaigrette (you don’t want it too drenched but you want it nicely flavored), and top with the crispy shallots and scallion to garnish and serve!
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& for more goodness…
Learn more about D:RC aka Darcy Reenis and FED’s entire Summer 2024 global crew of musicians, artists, writers, growers, gleaners, cooks, and craftspeople, and be sure to check out Darcy’s FED summer mix.
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