5 Cucumber Recipes (and a Slug Deterrent)

How many recipes can you come up with that use cucumber as the main ingredient (not counting cucumber sandwiches and salad)?

As a result of an almost overwhelming glut of cucumbers in Callan community garden (we’ve been averaging around six to ten for the past few weeks), I set the group the challenge of coming up with some different cucumber recipes. After a bit of homework, here’s what they arrived with on our Monday morning session.

1. Cucumber Soup

Maureen arrived with a tub of freshly made soup. We were a bit skeptical at the thought of eating cucumber flavoured soup as it’s something we tend to associate with cool dishes. Having tried the recipe that Maureen found in a Myrtle Allan cookbook, we all agreed, we’d think again. This was a surprisingly tasty vegetable soup! It basically contained some potato, carrot, stock, seasoning and cucumber and I’m looking forward to surprising my family and seeing if they can guess what the flavour is.

2. Sweet Cucumber Pickle

If sweet chutney is your thing then you’d love this recipe. Joan brought along a very tasty sample of a sweet cucumber pickle she made which we all enjoyed with some crackers. I didn’t manage to get the recipe from Joan on this occasion but Margaret from A Year in Redwood shares one over on her blog.

3. Cucumber and Apple Chutney

Siobhan turned up with a little jar of cucumber and apple chutney that went down a treat and we decided to add it to our chutney range during our joint preserving session with Freshford group. We’ll be showcasing several chutney and jams at Savour Kilkenny Food Festival on the 25th /26th October on The Parade. If you can’t make it to Kilkenny to sample the chutney, Siobhan has generously shared the recipe:

Siobhan’s Cucumber & Apply Chutney Recipe

1 kg cucumber, remove skin, seeds & finely chop
1 kg cooking apples, peeled, cored & finely chopped
650g onions, finely chopped
700mls cider vinegar
500g light brown sugar
125g raisins
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste

Method

Cut the cucumber in half lengthways, scoop out the seeds (if a ridge variety, peel the skin off first), cut into small, bite sized pieces and place in a large saucepan with the finely diced apples, onions and vinegar. Bring to the boil then simmer until soft. Add the sugar, raisins, allspice, cayenne and season to taste. Simmer until the mixture is thick. Pour into hot, sterilised jars and seal. Chutney is best after it’s been left unopened for a month or so to allow the flavours to develop.

4. Cucumber Paté

Cucumber strips filled with a mackerel paté was the contribution I offered to the table having spotted a recipe online that came up with a similar combination. If you’d like to try this, peel the cucumber lengthways with a potato peeler and pat the strips dry on a clean tea towel. The bigger and straighter the cucumber the better. Drain the oil from a tin of mackerel fillets, then combine the fish with a small tub of soft cheese. It would be more usual to add a squeeze of lemon to the mixture but as I didn’t have any, added some freshly squeezed orange. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and it would be a really good recipe for anyone on a low-calorie diet looking for a different snack to try.

5. Cucumber Raita

This recipe didn’t turn up on the community garden table but is one I’ve made on several occasions to accompany the curries that Mr G likes to dish up. Just mix a large tub of organic yogurt with half a finely grated cucumber, some chopped fresh mint leaves and chopped chilli pepper to taste. It’s a good idea to grate the cucumber into a clean tea towel and squeeze out the excess water before adding it to the yogurt.

Cucumber Slug Deterrent

Lastly, when I was doing my own research I found this cucumber slug deterrent on the Real Pharmacy website that lists 13 uses for cucumbers. It seemed too good a tip not to share:

Cut up a few slices of cucumber and pop them into small, aluminium pie dishes and leave them scattered around the garden (I’m guessing when it’s dry weather). Apparently the chemicals in the cucumber will react with the tin and give off a scent that will deter slugs from our gardens. Has anyone tried this? Certainly seems worth a go.

What do you think, would you try any of these dishes out or can share any of your own?