Cucumbers

We went on vacation at the end of July, before I'd gotten much besides a jalapeno from the garden.  The cucumber patch, however, was making its annual attempt at escaping into the yard, so I was expecting to have some when we got back.

Some.  Yeah.

We came home to twelve (and the zucchini and the beginnings of the blackberries).  Now we're getting six to twelve a week.

So besides shoving them at everyone I know trying to unload them, what do you do with a huge number of cucumbers?  Besides pickles, I've gone with two main options: cucumber soup and slice as dip conveyance.

The cucumber soup I've been making is from the Joy of Cooking.  You basically peel, seed, and dice enough cucumber to make about a cup and a half; this takes two to three cucumbers depending on their size.  The diced cucumber goes into two and a half cups of boiling chicken stock, and then it gets simmered for ten or fifteen minutes; it should be a bit translucent.  Once it's gotten to that point, you add a can of condensed cream of chicken soup and another half cup of stock or water.  Bring it back to a boil and you're good to go.  The original recipe calls for adding clam meat and some other stuff, but this works well enough for a fast soup.

Slicing them for dip is super fast now that we've got a mandolin.  The first dip I made rather than bought was a cup of sour cream, two tablespoons of mayonnaise, a bit of salt, and enough onion powder to make it oniony.  The dip sticks better if you slice the cucumbers the night before and put them in the fridge; they'll loose enough surface moisture for the dips to stick.  Sour cream is versatile, so you can throw in whatever flavors you want to it.

I have managed to whittle my current stock of cucumbers down to one, but I'm expecting another six or so this week.  Guess what I'm having for lunch? >.>