Another One from my Late Summer Garden: Creamy Cucumbers

Cucumbers. YUMMY! I know I already did a recipe here for Cuke-A-Pickles, but I am a Polish girl, and us Poles love our cukes.

My "Burpless" cucumbers are coming in like crazy right now. I love eating them peeled and slightly salted, and also REALLY love this recipe I am about to share with you.

It is really terrific as a summer salad, but my favorite time of year to make this little dish is on Thanksgiving. The cool creamy cucumber flavor is a perfect accent to anything it "slides" next to on your Thanksgiving plate. I love dunking the turkey right into the sauce. As a little bonus, I am gonna post a Polish Cucumber Gravy recipe.

Love cukes? Put some in your water instead of lemon or lime....

This is another Grandma Barker recipe.... (you will see a lot of these down the road) but I will include Mama Jeannie and Just Me Stacey's variations on this one.

Grandma Barker's Creamy Cucumbers

 ¾ cup sour cream

2 Tbsp vinegar

½ tsp salt

½ tsp dillweed

2 Tbsp minced onion

2 large cucumbers, sliced thin

Combine and chill.

Variations:

My mom, Jeannie, uses Half and Half instead of the sour cream. She likes the sauce thinner. For the record, she also uses a mandolin to slice the cucumbers into paper thin wafers.

My Stacified version is to use non-fat plain yogurt in place of the sour cream. I also like to toss in a little fresh ground black pepper. And hey, stick this all into a blender and you can have a nice cold summer soup, or a low cal dressing. :)

and now for the bonus recipe.....

Polish Cucumber Gravy

3 cucumbers

1 onion

1 Tbsp salt

2 Tbsp lard

2 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp vinegar

1 cup water

pinch sugar

pepper to taste

Peel and slice cucumbers very thin. Slice onion thinly also. Sprinkle salt over cucumber and onion and let stand for 3 hours. Squeeze cucumbers until they are about dry. Melt lard and stir in flour to form a thick paste, stirring until browned. Add vinegar and water and stir to form gravy. Let boil, then add cucumbers and onion, sugar and pepper. Bring to a boil again. Serve over mashed potatoes.