Creamed Cucumbers

I don't know if this is a regional recipe. Growing up in California, we never had anything like this. In fact, I don't even remember eating cukes, which means my Dad probably doesn't like them.

Robert loves Creamed Cucumbers. His mom? dad? (can't remember which one used to make these!) never used a recipe, so I had to learn on the fly. I've gotten pretty good at it, although I'm still not a huge fan of them. Robert and Trevor eat them up, though, and I usually make enough to have some leftovers. For awhile, I would always make extra for Robert to take to one of his managers at work.

CREAMED CUCUMBERS

Peel cucumbers and slice thinly and evenly. For this batch, I used three cukes.

Layer them in a bowl, heavily salting each layer as you put it down.

I'm always asked how much salt. I don't know. Use the salt shaker and salt them, more than you would normally salt your food.


Cover and let the salt do its work. Drain off the water occasionally. Let them sit at least four hours, and drain again one last time. I just use the lid of the bowl, nothing fancy. The cucumbers will shrink to about half of what they were originally.

Pour in enough half and half to almost cover. How much? I don't know, it depends on how many cucumbers you have. I probably used about a cup here.

Pour in cider vinegar, about 1/4 as much as the half and half. I'd guess I used 1/4 c. Don't be shy with the vinegar. I've only once ever used too much, and it was easily fixed by adding a little more half and half. (The truth is that THIS is the time that I used too much vinegar, probably because I was busy taking pictures!)


Toss cucumbers in the sauce gently; the vinegar will sour the half and half.

Ah, perfection. Leftovers will be good for a day or two.

This is a great recipe to make ahead of time, minimal work, nice and cool for summer.