Recipe: Salade Vincent

Here's a classic from the Turney Family Cookbook. My grandpa puts out a new addition every few years for the whole family to enjoy. A couple years ago I was touched when he produced a special vegan edition just for me: Shaun's Choice Edition. I use this cookbook more than any other cookbook in my collection. One of my favourite salads in the cookbook is Salade Vincent. It's a cucumber salad named after Vincent Van Gogh for macabre reasons -- the way the cucumbers are sliced makes them look like severed ears! Gross, but it tastes refreshing and delicious. My partner and I had a ridiculous amount of cucumbers in our fridge and I immediately knew what we should do with them. Here I've modified the recipe to better suit what I happened to have in my fridge, but I make note of how to make the original recipe.

That's a lot of cucumbers for two people!Thankfully, a triple batch of Salade Vincent used up half of them in a delicious way.

A perfect summer meal with some adorable little potatoes and a field roast veggie dog.

Ingredients:
Serves 4

1 large english cucumber
1/4 fresh chopped mint (original recipe calls for dill, not mint)
1/2 cup sprouted lentils (optional -- see this post about sprouting for instructions)
4 leaves of bib lettuce

Vinaigrette:
1/4 tsp salt
1bst Dijon mustard
2 tbsp wine vinegar
3/4 cup virgin olive oil

1. Peel the cucumber and slice it in half lengthwise. Scoop and scrape the seeds out with a spoon. Eat the seeds as you scoop them out if you're like me, or discard them if you're a normal person. Slice the halves into thin crosswise slices (the "ears").

2. Mix together the vinaigrette ingredients with a fork.

3. Assemble the salad: toss together the cucumber, sprouts, mint, and dressing. Serve on a bed of bib lettuce. Enjoy!