Farmer's Salad

In honor of Mother's Day, I'd like to share a simple recipe from my mother. When I was a child, my mother often put out a smorgasbord for Sunday brunch that included all manner of delicious sweet and savory treats. Though the items changed from week to week, she frequently included this salad. She called it Farmer's Salad, I think because she used to eat it when she visited a farm.

You can enjoy this salad as a side dish, but it's substantial enough to eat as a main course with some nice grainy bread and butter. It's easy to make and keeps in the refrigerator for a few days.

5-6 radishes
2-3 green onions, such as the Negi onions
2 small Persian cucumbers**
2-3 T chopped parsley
16 oz cottage cheese
2/3 C sour cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Wash and dry the radishes. Remove the greens and save them for another use or compost them. Halve or quarter the radishes lengthwise, then chop them thinly. Place in a large bowl.

2. Wash and dry the green onions. Thinly slice the white part of the green onions. Save the green stems for another use or compost them. Place the sliced onions in the bowl with the radishes.

3. Wash and dry the Persian cucmbers. I like to leave the skins on but you can peel them if you like. Cut them in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and thinly slice each half. Add slices to the bowl.

4. Add the parsley, cottage cheese, and sour cream to the bowl and mix well. Add a little salt and a good amount of freshly ground pepper.

This salad is at its crunchy best eaten shortly after mixing it up.

**I like to use Persian cucmbers because they're relatively lower in water than other cucumbers. But you can use any cucumber. You can remove some of the water from the juicier varieties by slicing them, sprinkling the slices with a little salt, and allowing them to drain in a colander for about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Shelley