Pear and Cucumber salad

[Jenise]

Two things I never considered putting together are cucumbers and pears. I like both a lot, but never thought of them as equals. But a recipe I just read on the free mailer I get from Christopher Kimball (no I don't suscribe to Milk Street) suggested the pairing for accompanying an Asian-flavored steak. Slivered cukes and crisp firm pear slices in unseasoned vinegar and equal parts sugar and salt. Sounds pretty good, actually!

Yes, I could see that working. Could even see a riper buttery pair with a cooked cucumber. Many directions!

I like exploring pairings of fruit and veg. Doing a shaved fennel and apple salad for something in a couple of days (think I did this for you).

My thought on your pear/cucumber pairing is that you'd wouldn't want your cucumber to go limp - crisp would be the way to go.

[Jenise]

Apple and fennel are superb together. Also, in the style of Sicily, fennel and orange segments.

I prefer a pairing of firm/firm consistencies rather than one soft and one crisp, but one can improve the latter by using smaller bits of the soft - not whole orange sections, but smaller sliced bits, for instance. But that's just a personal preference. The flavour pairing of fennel and orange works very well!

Another element I personally like but don't use very much is to add the sweet fruit component as pomegranate seeds - many people don't like them getting caught in their teeth or are just unfamiliar with them.

I am still pondering using dragon fruit in a mixed salad - have to get it before it gets too soft so you can't dice it, but soft/ripe enough to have some sweetness. Ever tried matching that with a crisp component?

I am still pondering using dragon fruit in a mixed salad...

Brilliant color. Always great for presentation. I recently ordered a bunch of dragonfruit but had not considered using it in salad. I also have a giant bowl of persimmons, which is a more conventional salad ingredient, but might also go well (on the crisp side) with dragonfruit.

I'm about to spin-up a butternut squash soup and I plan to add a (peeled, cored) Granny Smith to the blender. A little extra sweetness and acidity.

Jeff, I often do a squash soup (I favour Kabocha) and serve it in demitasse cups (I have a large assortment thanks to grandmother and mother who couldn't pass one by, apparently). I dress it up to look like it is coffee by piping some whipped cream on top and maybe a grind of chocolate. Makes a nice starter.

The pear and cucumber salad sounds an awful lot like the fresh pickles that the Sichuanese and Thai use to accompany meat dishes, especially the cold preparations with noodles popular in Sichuan. Sliced cucumber, carrot, etc. are marinated for several hours in rice wine vinegar, sugar, and salt, then served alongside the main dish.

-Paul W.

Thanks, Bill.

Paul, I really like the 'sesame cucumber' side dish at my local Sichuan place. Sounds like what you describe, plus sesame oil.