kimberly southwick's famous cucumber salad

This is the seventh entry in my Writers Eat series. I'm asking writers I admire to share their favorite recipes and/or foods here on Plums in the Icebox. The food will sometimes tie in with the writer's work, but sometimes not. If you're a writer and you're interested in participating, let me know!

We haven't had a Writers Eat in ages! And here's a great one to finish out the summer (I know, the first day of fall was yesterday, but whatevs). My friend, the writer Kimberly Southwick, is sharing her delicious cucumber salad. Kimberly, in addition to having two middle names just like me, is a poet, writer and editor-in-chief of the amazing journal Gigantic Sequins (full disclosure: they published my poem "Blooms").  Also like me, she Gchats a lot, teaches composition classes as an adjunct instructor and wears lots of printed dresses. Her beautiful poems feature Lancelot and Guinevere, clever-but-not-too-obvious rhyme schemes, and dense, compact stanzas. Read them! Here's Kimberly:

KIMBERLY ANN'S PHILLY GARDEN CUCUMBER SALAD

INGREDIENTS

2 large cucumbers and 2 small cucumbers, sliced, and then sliced in half. peeled if need be.

(we grew cukes in our garden this year, and we had two VERY LARGE ones, so that's how I came up with these #s. four normal sized cukes would do too, or less if you are making for less people. the proportions here do NOT have to be exact.)

2 small hot red peppers, diced & de-seeded

(i am not 100% sure what kind I used today, but last summer we used hot cherry red peppers, and those were amazing. I say red because it makes the salad prettier.)

basil, chopped to taste

(AGAIN, from our garden. we try to use as much of it as possible.)

SEA salt. (there is no other salt. preferably the himalayan pink sea salt.)

rice vinegar 

(the better the rice vinegar, the better the salad. you can use any kind of vinegar, but it's not my recipe unless you use awesome rice vinegar)

TO DO:

combine cukes (if they are extra large, cut out the seeds and peel. if they aren't too big, you can leave the peels on AND the seeds in.) & diced peppers. 

pour rice vinegar liberally over salad until everything is wet.

stir with wooden spoon.

add more rice vinegar because you probably didn't add enough but don't add too much because it's not the cheapest kind of vinegar. stir

pull basil leaves from stems and chop, then add, then stir.

add sea salt to taste.

let sit 15-20 minutes. taste. consider adding more salt/rice vinegar depending.

enjoy!

okay, one other note. everything in this salad can be grown in a tiny garden, and i highly recommending growing it all yourself organically. there is nothing like eating something that was 90% grown by you in your own backyard. i live in the city and only have a tiny garden, but it's prolific when it comes to basil, hot peppers & cucumbers. The cucumbers are a new addition this year, and they are TAKING OVER. if you can't grow your own, buy organic! it's worth it.

**

Little did Kimberly know, I actually HAVE that fancy pink Himalayan salt (thanks, TJ Maxx!)

This was so fresh and summery. Spicy and green-tasting and just all around wonderful. RUN DON'T WALK to your local farmer's market, snap up some peppers and the very last of the summer cucumbers and make this ASAP. It's perfect as a side for a light dinner. I think I might try to make this for the next warm-weather potluck I'm invited to;  very little time to prepare, yet so bold in its simplicity. 

A huge thanks to Kimberly for sending me this great recipe. Now make sure you check out her journal, Gigantic Sequins, and send some work!