Newsletter

Get new posts by email:

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

COOKBOOK/A TABLE - Cool as a Cucumber


This cooling Couscous and Crab Salad with Cucumber and Mint has been one of my summer go-tos for years, thanks to the brilliant former New York Times food columnist Molly ONeill (who we sadly lost in 2019) and her cookbook A Well-Seasoned Appetite. As you might guess, the cookbook is divided by season, but also includes superb essays celebrating the virtues of eating well, as informed by ONeills conviction that cooking should nourish life...  

Do enjoy!


Couscous And Crab Salad With Cucumber Juice And Mint
By Molly O’Neill

Ingredients
Yield: Four servings

1 cup cucumber juice* 
½ cup uncooked instant couscous
2 cups lump crab meat, picked over for shells
15 small cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
½ teaspoon grated lemon rind
½ teaspoon grated lime rind
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation
Step 1
Place ¾ cup of the cucumber juice in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the couscous, cover and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes. Uncover and stir with a fork. Place in a bowl and set aside to cool.

Step 2
Add the crab meat, cherry tomatoes, onion, mint and lemon and lime rinds and toss to coat. Toss in the remaining cucumber juice. Season with the salt and pepper. Divide among 4 plates and serve immediately.



*If you have a juice extractor...to make one cup of cucumber juice, pass one large peeled cucumber through a juice extractor. ORcut to the chase, as I do, and pick up a brand of cold pressed juice that contains cucumber, such as Suja. You may also puree a few peeled, seeded cucumbers and squeeze the pulp through cheese cloth for your juice!


No comments:

Post a Comment