A Polish Salad

My mother would occasionally make a cold side dish of sliced cucumber in sour cream seasoned with dill.  It is commonly served throughout central and eastern Europe.  My cousin Brigitta says that it is typical of Switzerland too, so maybe my mother learned the recipe from her Swiss grandmother.  

I usually have a big salad for dinner once a week.  I include half of a sliced cucumber in it.  Later in the week I will use the remaining half to prepare something similar to what my mother used to make... although if I don't have sour cream, I will use mayonnaise.  On my most recent trip to Mexico, I made it for Alejandro and his family.  The adults all liked it, although Alejandro's little nephew Ezra did not care for it much.

Today I am invited for lunch at the home of Katie, a friend and former teaching colleague.  I told her I would bring a "tortilla española" (an egg, onion and potato dish from Spain which is similar to the Italian "frittata").  I also decided to make cucumber in sour cream.  I found a Polish recipe for the dish in one of my cook books.  One thing that is different from what I was doing (and I don't remember my mother doing it either) is that the sliced cucumber should be salted and put in a colander.  It is allowed to sit for a half hour so that the excess water in the cucumber drains.  Then it should be rinsed and patted dry.  The recipe calls for a bit of vinegar and sugar in the dressing in addition to the sour cream (or mayonnaise) and dill weed that I use.  It has been sitting in the refrigerator over night allowing the flavors to meld together.  We will see this afternoon what Katie, her husband Olivier, and her children think of it.