Recipe of the Month: Cucumber-noodle salad

As the end of August was approaching, I started hunting around for a new Recipe of the Month that would make use of what we had on hand. And what we had, as we usually do at this time of year, was cucumbers—lots of them. So far, our eight cucumber vines have provided us with a total of 35 cucumbers, and they just keep coming. We were starting to run out of jars to make pickles in.

So I hunted through the collection of recipes I'd been saving, and I found one that I'd clipped from Stop & Shop's Savory magazine a year ago: Noodle Salad with Shrimp. This actually called for only half of an English cucumber, but Brian and I figured one of our garden-variety cucumbers, seeded, would work just as well. The other adjustment he made was to halve the amount of shrimp the recipe called for, since we only had a limited supply. We considered substituting regular cabbage, which we already had in the fridge, for the Savoy cabbage the recipe called for, but it's really not the same thing, and since we had to go out to H-Mart anyway to pick up a can of water chestnuts, it was no extra trouble to grab one.

We served this modified salad up with two of the three garnishes the recipe recommends; we used the chopped peanuts and fresh basil, but left out the edamame. (We actually had some in the freezer, but it had been in there for ages and neither of us quite trusted it.) However, after tasting the salad both with and without the garnishes, Brian and I both concluded that it actually tasted better without the basil. Its strong, pungent taste tended to overpower the more delicate flavors of shrimp and cabbage, fish sauce and lime juice. Without the dressing, there was nothing to distract from these pleasant, milder flavors and the interesting blend of textures in the salad: soft and chewy rice noodles, tender shrimp, slightly wilted cabbage, firm but watery cucumbers, and crisp water chestnuts.


All in all, we both found this recipe very enjoyable, and generous enough to provide a dinner and a lunch the following day for the two of us. I'd certainly be happy to make it again, but I don't know that I'd be inclined to make it a regular addition to our repertoire. Not only does it call for several ingredients we don't usually have on hand—shrimp, water chestnuts, and Savoy cabbage—but all those ingredients are fairly expensive, so we wouldn't want to make a habit of using them all the time. However, it's a nice recipe to keep on hand for special occasions.

Perhaps this would make a good company dinner for summertime, a lighter alternative to our go-to Skillet Chicken with Rhubarb. Both dishes have the advantage of being gluten-free, so we can reasonably serve either one to most of our friends. However, we'll need to add some fancy veggie-friendly dishes to our repertoire if we ever want to impress any vegetarian or vegan visitors. A goal for a future Recipe of the Month, maybe?