This is inspired by a cucumber salad my mom makes, and I have to give kudos to her for inspiring me to always take her ideas and try to make my own, or more recently spin it to remove the SAD ingredients while still having a delicious dish.

The original recipe also calls for feta cheese, and if you jive well with feta or feel like splurging, it definitely is a delicious addition. My only suggestion would be to keep it separate until serving and crumble on top of the salad. On that note, you could keep some freshly chopped up dill for that purpose as well.

Ingredients

1 cucumber, zested

2 handfuls of kalamata olives, roughly chopped

1/3 medium red onion (optional)

2 tsp finely chopped fresh dill

2 tsp olive oil

3 tsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste



Method

After rinsing and peeling the cucumber (I prefer a zester because of the texture and look it gives to the cucumber), I used my trusty mandolin to thinly slice. I then added this to a mixing bowl.

Then repeat with the red onion. If you don’t have this on hand, or you think onions are gross, you can skip these altogether.

I then sliced up the kalamata olives—don’t be a dope and pick up olives with the pits still in if you can help it. I forgot and spent a good amount of time removing pits.

Finely chop the dill.

Add all ingredients into your mixing bowl, and mix away.

Add in the olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and give it a final mix. This does best after a little time resting on the counter or in the refrigerator. The sooner you serve it, the sharper the red onion is. If you’ve excluded the red onion, this usually doesn’t apply. Typically I let this rest for 1-2 hours in the refrigerator before serving.

Once ready to serve, dish up a bowl, and garnish with fresh dill and possibly feta (if you’re into that sort of thing).

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