We had a big family get-together this weekend and during the week food assignments were getting handed out and my sister was assigned the "relish tray"
** I just had to Google relish tray to make sure that it wasn't something else and we were just being kooky calling it that.
So basically it is a tray of veggies, pickles, olives, sometimes dips, but in our family a veggie tray is a completely different assignment that the relish tray. - being assigned the relish tray means you are in charge of bringing a giant tray of as many pickled things you can find.
All families feel this way about pickles ... Right?
My mom has a collection of stoneware picklin' crocks, and we actually use them.
My sister served homemade dill pickles and a slice of homemade bread and jam at her wedding reception.
I don't think my brother and his wife (and now their 9 year old son) has ever seen a movie in the theater without a giant pickle - forget the popcorn!
Perhaps my family is the only one that feels this way about pickles. But it doesn't matter, because this recipe right here - it's for a Thai Cucumber Salad
(yeah, I am totally eating a bowl full of pickles and calling it a salad now)
I love the flavors in this recipe, but a quick tip - the sesame oil will make them look strange if you put them in a glass jar in the fridge, and also, the longer you keep them - the hotter they are going to get.
Ingredients:
Dressing -
⅓ cup rice vinegar
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
½ tsp toasted sesame oil
¼ to ½ tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp salt
Salad -
2 large cucumbers
3 green onions
¼ cup chopped peanuts
Instructions:
In a small bowl, combine the rice vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and salt. Set the dressing aside to give it time to blend.
Peel and slice the cucumber (I used an English cucumber here, because they were on sale) Place the sliced cucumbers in a large bowl.
Chop the peanuts into smaller pieces, if desired. Slice the green onions.
Add the dressing, peanuts, and green onions to the sliced cucumbers. Stir to combine.
You can serve the salad immediately or but if you give it some time to refrigerate until you are ready to eat - the flavors will be so delicious.
Give the salad a brief stir before serving to redistribute the dressing and flavors.
