Several circumstances aligned to cause me to post today:1. It's my Mom's 70th birthday today! Happy birthday, Mom!
2. My Grandma's Memorial Service is a week from tomorrow. I was searching through my recipe box for a recipe of hers that I could make for the gathering afterward, and came across her hand-written recipe for Cucumbers in Sour Cream.
3. Some of my friends have reported having a bumper crop of cucumbers this year.
4. My blogging buddy, Shelby, is hosting a blogging event I like called Family Recipes: Memories of Family, Food and Fun.
I was so happy to find the recipe written in her own handwriting. What a treasure it is. I almost never write recipes on recipe cards any more.The recipe calls for salting cucumbers and draining them, which makes them denser and more crunchy. The creamy dressing gets its tang from sour cream and vinegar, sweetness from a little sugar, and is accented with some dill. It's old-fashioned but I love it.
Although the recipe is a treasure to me, her "chicken scratch," as she called it, would be illegible to anyone outside the family. She wrote recipes in kind of a shorthand and didn't use a lot of measurements. Here's my translated recipe.
Betty Host's Cucumbers in Sour Cream
4 medium cucumbers, sliced thin (Grandma peeled them but it's up to you)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Vinegar (Grandma used white)
1 Tablespoon sugar (or a little more -- I like a little more)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed (Grandma used McCormick's "It's a Dilly," which is discontinued. You could also use fresh dill - about 1 1/2 teaspoons)
Dash of pepper
Sliced red onion, optional
Put sliced cucumbers in a bowl. Sprinkle with salt and sugar and toss. Add vinegar to cover. Let stand 30 minutes -- no longer. Drain well.
Mix the sour cream and seasonings.
Toss the cucumbers and onions, if using, with the sour cream mixture. Chill well.