I received Deb Perelman's Smitten Kitchen Everyday cookbook for Christmas, and finally had the time to crack it open. I started with the Smashed Cucumber Salad with Salted Peanuts and Wasabi Peas (page 50)... As always with a copyrighted recipe, I'll post the ingredients, but not the amounts.
The basics: seedless cucumbers, kosher salt, sake, rice vinegar, sesame oil, hot pepper flakes, salted peanuts, wasabi peas
So, this recipe had me at "wasabi peas"--so much so that I completely overlooked the SAKE (hence why I have it italicized and emphasized up above). I didn't read the recipe beforehand, because I thought that wouldn't be necessary for a "salad" and because I am sometimes not-so-smart like that. That would have saved me from my omission of sake, but alas. And I usually always read the prose from Deb Perelman because she's hilarious.
So, what to do when you don't have sake? Internet to the rescue! There were two suggestions for substitutions: 1) rice vinegar diluted with water and 2) sherry. The recipe already called for rice vinegar and when given the choice of diluted vinegar water or alcohol, you can guess which one sounded more appealing. So I subbed sherry for sake and have made it a priority to get sake so I can try this again (I'll update here). The sherry worked, but I have a feeling the flavors will be markedly different with sake.
A few notes:
1) "Smashing"
If you've never taken a meat tenderizer to a cucumber, it is surprisingly satisfying. Beyond that, Deb Perelman swears it helps the cucumbers absorb the flavors, so who am I to argue? I'm not totally sold on the trend of getting rid of cucumber seeds--I happen to like them. So, I kept whatever didn't fall out during the smashing process.
2) "Marinating"
Perelman does a pre-salting/marinade step in a colander over a bowl. I'll be curious to try everything together than just the salt and sake, which is how I approach cucumber salad. The pre-marinated cucumbers then get tossed in the remaining ingredients. Deb is on the fence about dressing the salad ahead of time. After eating leftovers the day after, if you are ok with slippery cucumbers, I say go for it...let them stew a bit! That said, I'd probably go with thin slices in that case, because you lose the whole mouthfeel of the crunchy crushed cucumbers.
3) Toppings!
Do know that the wasabi peas lose their oomph after a bit, so if you do plan on having leftovers, sprinkle the crunchy stuff per serving, not in the bowl.
OVERALL: Really lovely salad--I made it as the only side to accompany some grilled arctic char. That was perfect and made for a light and healthy summer dinner! I'll be curious to try it with the sake to see how it compares, but mostly I just longed for a slightly more acidic taste, so I'll have to customize the amounts and experiment.
The basics: seedless cucumbers, kosher salt, sake, rice vinegar, sesame oil, hot pepper flakes, salted peanuts, wasabi peas
So, this recipe had me at "wasabi peas"--so much so that I completely overlooked the SAKE (hence why I have it italicized and emphasized up above). I didn't read the recipe beforehand, because I thought that wouldn't be necessary for a "salad" and because I am sometimes not-so-smart like that. That would have saved me from my omission of sake, but alas. And I usually always read the prose from Deb Perelman because she's hilarious.
So, what to do when you don't have sake? Internet to the rescue! There were two suggestions for substitutions: 1) rice vinegar diluted with water and 2) sherry. The recipe already called for rice vinegar and when given the choice of diluted vinegar water or alcohol, you can guess which one sounded more appealing. So I subbed sherry for sake and have made it a priority to get sake so I can try this again (I'll update here). The sherry worked, but I have a feeling the flavors will be markedly different with sake.
A few notes:
1) "Smashing"
If you've never taken a meat tenderizer to a cucumber, it is surprisingly satisfying. Beyond that, Deb Perelman swears it helps the cucumbers absorb the flavors, so who am I to argue? I'm not totally sold on the trend of getting rid of cucumber seeds--I happen to like them. So, I kept whatever didn't fall out during the smashing process.
2) "Marinating"
Perelman does a pre-salting/marinade step in a colander over a bowl. I'll be curious to try everything together than just the salt and sake, which is how I approach cucumber salad. The pre-marinated cucumbers then get tossed in the remaining ingredients. Deb is on the fence about dressing the salad ahead of time. After eating leftovers the day after, if you are ok with slippery cucumbers, I say go for it...let them stew a bit! That said, I'd probably go with thin slices in that case, because you lose the whole mouthfeel of the crunchy crushed cucumbers.
3) Toppings!
Do know that the wasabi peas lose their oomph after a bit, so if you do plan on having leftovers, sprinkle the crunchy stuff per serving, not in the bowl.
OVERALL: Really lovely salad--I made it as the only side to accompany some grilled arctic char. That was perfect and made for a light and healthy summer dinner! I'll be curious to try it with the sake to see how it compares, but mostly I just longed for a slightly more acidic taste, so I'll have to customize the amounts and experiment.
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