Creamy Cucumber Salad

Total time: 16 minutes     divided: 8 minutes,  wait 4-10 hours, 8 minutes
    Another summer classic, this is loosely based on my mother's recipe - which was her mother's.  She used cream, I use yogurt but the taste is surprisingly similar.  I can't be real specific here - I never measure and it depends on how big the cukes are, etc. But this is an easy 'taste and adjust' salad.  Just play with it until you like it - you really can't screw it up (unless you try to hurry)

 Ingredients:

• 2 - 3 medium - large cucumbers
• kosher, rock or sea salt
• shallot or small onion
• 4 whole cloves
• 2 - 3 tbs lemon juice fresh if you have it
• 3 - 4 tbs salad olive oil
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup Greek yogurt or plain yogurt
• Pepper
• 2 - 3 tbs snipped fresh chives

 Instructions:

• First:
• Peel cucumber and thinly slice on box slicer.  (You know, the kind your mother had with three slits on one side for slicing and different size holes on the other 3 sides for grating and shredding.)  
• Stick the whole cloves into  the onion half. 
• Put the studded onion in the bottom of a deep bowl large enough to easily hold the cukes. 
• Put in a layer of cukes, sprinkle with salt, and repeat 3 times using about 1 tsp salt on each layer. 
• Put a small plate or saucer on top of the cucumbers - it should be sitting on the cukes, not the sides of the bowl. 
• Put a big can or jar of something heavy on the plate - to weigh it down.  We want weight on the cukes - the plate is just to distribute it more evenly. 
• Let it sit at room temperature for 4 - 10 hours. 
• Second: 
• Remove weight and plate.  The cucumbers will be sitting in a lot of water. 
• Put cucumbers in a strainer - discarding onion and cloves. 
• Rinse cucumbers (remember all that salt?)  You don't want to get all of the salt off - just about 80%  Taste to test. 
• When rinsed to your satisfaction take the cucumbers in your clean hands and gently squeeze most of the remaining liquid out. 
• Put back into the bowl (that you have rinsed). 
• To finish:
• Add 2 tbs lemon juice, 3 tbs oil and stir. 
• Add 1/3 cup yogurt , stir and taste. 
• Adjust to the quantity of cukes and your liking. 
• Add fresh ground pepper, chives and serve.

This will keep a week, but it never lasts that long at our house.