Egyptian Cucumber Cheese Salad

Inspiration:
Mary Broeker's recipe in the Saint Paul Farmers' Market Cookbook
as well as a cucumber from our CSA

Ingredients:

• 1 large cucumber, peeled and halved lengthwise, seeds removed
  (see note below before making this)
  
• Salt
• 12 oz. feta cheese, drained if necessary
• 1/2 cup mild onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• freshly ground black pepper
• mint sprigs for garnish
  

Instructions:

1. Score cucumber with a fork. Sprinkle with salt and let stand for 20 minutes.
2. Crush cheese with fingertips or fork and mix thoroughly with onion, lemon juice, and oil. Season with pepper.
3. Drain, rinse, and slice cucumber about 1/3-inch thick. Combine with cheese mixture.
4. Place in a shallow serving dish and decorate with mint sprigs. Chill about 30 minutes before serving.
   

My Notes:
I loved all of the flavors in this recipe. Unfortunately, the proportions were WAY off. There was not enough cucumber... there must be a typo in the recipe. I was on recipe auto-pilot and didn't notice the overabundance of cheese mixture until it was too late. I think 4-6 cucumbers would be better. I found this recipe online, which is quite similar. It uses 8 oz. feta to two cucumbers. I will try working with the proportions next time and make this again; it was quite tasty. (Oh and next time I may peel the cucumber as suggested; I missed that part of the recipe the first time around.)

Liz's Rating: 9.5/10 (for potential); 6/10 (actual recipe)