37 Degree Salad (Cucumber and Peanut)

We’ve done a lot of talking; you and I.

There was that thing about peanut butter and chocolate. The combination? Do you remember? Except that recently it has become a reality minus the biscuit pie crust because the peanut butter alone in Paris is 8 euros fifty. This amalgamation could only have been inspired by Jacinda, who when we were living together in Lyon finished an entire jar of the stuff on its own. I think that is when I started to trust her.




Then there were those tid-bits about how one of the reasons for food was for the togetherness of people. How it could not? There’s not only a table concept designed specifically for getting people together, there’s also a room. It’s just known that sometimes some things great can happen around a dinning table, in a dinning room filled with people, butter, wine and a roast lamb that has been basted in mint and lemon syrup for three hours.




And so in all this talking you may have a fair idea about the author of this page, the voice and the thoughts held by her. However, I don’t think you will realize, unless you too are like me, but there was a time when I wouldn’t have imagined putting cucumber and peanuts together. I wouldn’t have been able to get my mind around how anyone could ever have come up with such an idea. But then there’s Heidi and she’s so healthy and she makes things look so good. And so I tried it.




And because my work has recently encouraged me to grate raw vegetables (that you wouldn’t usually use) into salads, and because I’m entirely about combinations, there is this:

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100 COOKBOOKS


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37 degrees

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37 Degree Salad (Cucumber and Peanut)

2 cucumbers
1 medium sized radish
½ cup raw peanuts
¼ cup desiccated coconut
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp chili powder
salt
pepper




Start by putting your oven on to one hundred and eighty degrees. Place your peanuts in a tray and toast them for about ten minutes until very lightly golden. Let them cool and if they have shells on them, rub them all together in a tea towel to get rid of the shells. Set aside.
Wash and then half-peal your cucumbers, making white and green strips all the way down them. Cut them length ways in half, get a teaspoon and take the seeds out and then cut into thumbnail sized pieces. Place in the bowl.
Peal your radish and grate it into the bowl along with coconut, lemon juice, olive oil, cider vinegar, chili and peanuts.
Mix really well, season, taste and serve.