Cucumber salad #1.

Cucumber, minimally adorned. © Ryan Schierling

Summer's on the way, so we've been working up a few salads, cool as a cuke.

This is close to a Turkish cucumber salad, or cacick, but not quite. Turks be damned, I added the dill and Sriracha because I can't leave well enough alone. The cucumber cool, the yogurt bright, it was just beggin' for a little slap and tickle. And the dill in our garden is going crazy.

We've done this a few weekends in a row, serving it alongside salt-and-peppered ribeye steaks, grilled over oak coals, sidled up with a mound of garlic mashed potatoes and mushrooms messed with feta. I'd like to think it's a fresh, palate-cleansing wake-up between the heavy courses. Really, it's probably just a punk-ass, back-talkin', middle finger to the rich(ness).

But, honestly, it does well with the protein and starch crowd, a song and dance number between drama bites of meat and potato. And it's easy.

Cucumber salad with yogurt and dill

3 seedless cucumbers, peeled and sliced thin
1 7-ounce container plain yogurt (Fage)
juice of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
1 tablespoon minced fresh mint
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Sriracha hot sauce (optional)
pinch of kosher salt
2-3 tablespoons water

Mix the yogurt and lemon juice well with a whisk. Add dill, mint, garlic, salt, hot sauce (if you want… it adds a lovely subtle back-end heat). I add a few tablespoons of water to thin the sauce out a bit. Toss in the sliced cucumber and mix well. Refrigerate for an hour or so to let the flavors mingle and/or duke it out. Serve with meatses and potato.