Onion Cucumber Salad with Vinegar Dressing

First real week of summer. The garden is growing, the kids are home, the schedule has that summer looseness that I find both restoring and slightly disorienting. I've been thinking about the fall curriculum plans — Beverly's second school, the two community centers, the monthly Provo pantry visits, the channel — and trying to figure out what shape to give it all before it shapes itself without my input.

I've been getting emails with increasing frequency about whether I do private cooking lessons or personal consultations. I've said no so far because I didn't have a structure for it. But I wrote out a simple format this week: ninety-minute session, one or two people, focused on whatever skill gap they want to fill, in my kitchen. I haven't advertised it anywhere but I have the outline.

Gary and I had our eighth therapy session and Dr. Park said something I've been thinking about all week: that we'd done good work and she was proud of us both, but that the real work was maintaining the openness after the formal structure ended. We talked about whether to taper down. We decided to go monthly instead of weekly — enough to stay accountable, not so often that we're dependent on the container.

I made the first big salad of summer this week: romaine from the garden, radishes, cucumber, hard-boiled eggs, a little bacon, a homemade buttermilk dressing. The kind of salad that's a meal, not an apology for not making a meal. Eaten outside on the back patio with all four kids and Gary and the yard full of the particular summer evening smell of warm grass and possibility.

That big romaine salad I made mid-week reminded me how much I’d missed this kind of eating — cool, fresh, barely any effort, completely satisfying. This cucumber and onion salad with vinegar dressing is the companion piece to all of that: bright and tangy and the sort of thing you can throw together in ten minutes while the kids are still running around the yard. It’s been on the table every few days since, and it fits exactly the kind of summer I’m trying to have — spacious, unhurried, and full of good simple things.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes (plus 15 minutes resting) | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced into half-rings
1/3 cup white wine vinegar or plain white vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh dill or flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped (optional)

Instructions

Slice the vegetables. Thinly slice the cucumbers into rounds (no need to peel if the skin is tender). Slice the red onion into thin half-rings. Combine both in a medium bowl.
Make the dressing. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and pepper until the sugar is fully dissolved.
Dress and rest. Pour the vinegar dressing over the cucumbers and onions and toss well to coat. Let the salad sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes so the onions soften slightly and the flavors come together.
Finish and serve. Give the salad a final toss, taste and adjust salt or vinegar as needed, and scatter fresh dill or parsley over the top if using. Serve chilled or at room temperature alongside grilled meats, sandwiches, or a big summer dinner.

Nutrition (per serving)

Onion Cucumber Salad with Vinegar Dressing — The salad that made summer feel like itself again