Cucumber Agua Fresca

Cooking with Jane, Recipes, , ,

Let’s get cool as cucumbers with this bright and cheery drink! This recipe uses a lot of fresh mint, but it might be just as good with less. (and if anyone needs some mint…. let us know. Our yard is overrun. 😬)

It is delightfully spicy, refreshing, and could be swell with a splash of gin, if one were so inclined. I ended up putting just about a half cup of the mint syrup in which resulted in a pretty sweet lil drink, but it will depend on the size and juiciness of your cucumbers how much syrup you want to add.

This is a fairly simple recipe that can really capitalize on the hydrating and nutritive qualities of the cucumber. We wanted to add another recipe as an option even though we haven’t tried it yet, though. We got so many cucumbers this week and we want to give you lots of ideas beyond your average cucumber salad (not that there’s anything wrong with your average cucumber salad!) So we’ve also included the following grilled cucumber idea, combined with all the tasty tomatoes. Let us know if you try it and post pictures if you can!

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Cucumber Agua Fresca

Ingredients

  • 1½ cups fresh mint leaves plus sprigs for garnish
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt Diamond Crystal
  • 1 cup hot water
  • 2 cucumbers ends trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 3-inch piece fresh ginger, scrubbed and chopped
  • 1 lime plus more as needed
  • Ice cubes for serving

Instructions

  1. Boil at least 1 cup of water.

  2. In a medium bowl, combine the mint leaves, sugar and salt, and crush them all together using a fork or the back of a wooden spoon just until the mint is bruised. Pour in the hot water, and stir until the sugar and salt dissolve. Allow the mixture to steep for 5 minutes while you prepare the cucumbers.
  3. Combine the cucumbers and ginger in a blender. Zest the lime right over the blender, then halve it and squeeze in its juice. Pour in 1 cup room-temperature water and purée on high until smooth. Pour the purée through a strainer, pressing lightly on the solids with a spatula to extract the liquid. Discard the solids and pour the agua fresca into a medium pitcher.
  4. Pour the mint syrup through the same strainer into a container, pressing on the leaves to extract the liquid. Add ¼ cup strained syrup to the agua fresca. Taste and add more syrup or more lime juice to taste. Cover any leftover syrup and refrigerate for another use.
  5. Fill glasses with ice, pour in the agua fresca, garnish with mint and serve immediately.
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Grilled Cucumbers and Tomato Dressing

Ingredients

For the Tomato Dressing

  • 1 handful of cherry tomatoes
  • 7 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 garlic cloves peeled and thinly sliced
  • 1 teaspoon white miso
  • 3 fresh bay leaves
  • 9 cardamom pods shells reserved and seeds roughly crushed in a mortar and pestle
  • ¼ teaspoon sweet paprika or Kashmiri chile powder
  • Fine sea salt and black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice

For The Cucumbers

  • About 3-5 cucumbers
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • Fine sea salt and black pepper
  • ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves and soft stems
  • 1 small ball buffalo mozzarella roughly torn

Instructions

  1. Start with the dressing: Add the tomatoes, oil, garlic, miso, bay leaves, cardamom shells and seeds, paprika and a heaping ¼ teaspoon salt to a large (lidded) sauté pan. Place over medium-high heat, give everything a good stir and leave it, uncovered, until it starts to bubble gently.

  2. Once bubbling, turn the heat down to medium-low, cover with the lid and cook gently for 15 minutes, stirring once, until the tomatoes have burst and start to release their juices. Turn down the heat if necessary; you want the garlic to soften without taking on color, and you want the tomatoes to not completely disintegrate. Stir in the lime juice and set aside.

  3. Crank the BBQ
  4. Halve the cucumbers lengthwise then use a small spoon to scrape out and discard the seeds. Slice each halved cucumber lengthwise into equal sized pieces, then transfer the cucumber quarters to a bowl and toss with the oil, ½ teaspoon salt and a good grind of pepper. Grill them in batches, cut sides down, for 2 to 3 minutes, then flip them over and grill for 1 to 2 minutes more. You want nice grill marks and for the cucumbers to soften but still retain a bite. (You don’t want any floppy cucumbers.) As they’re ready, immediately transfer to the tomato pan, stirring to coat in the dressing.
  5. Once they’re all grilled, stir the cilantro into the pan and transfer the mixture to a large serving platter with a lip. Sprinkle on the torn mozzarella, along with a good pinch of salt, and tuck the cheese under the cucumbers in places. You can serve this dish hot or at room temperature.