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Too many cukes? Try baking them in cheese sauce

Recipe: Creamy cucumber casserole is a surprising side dish

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED SEP 7, 2018

Choose plump, well-hydrated cucumbers for baking. Debbie Arrington

Cucumber casserole is an unusual way to use your extra
cucumbers. (Photo: Debbie Arrington)

What to do with too many cucumbers?

That's a dilemma many gardeners face in late summer. Like zucchini, cukes tend to come in bunches (no surprise, since they're both members of the gourd family). Not all cukes make great pickles. It can take a lot of salads to use up two or three pounds of fresh cukes.

My solution? Cook them in a casserole.

When cooked, cucumbers retain much of their natural crispness. Combined with creamy cheese sauce and toasted bread crumbs, it makes for an interesting mix of textures -- and a conversation starter. (Cucumber casserole? Who knew?)

This is a variation of a recipe from my grandmother, another gardening cook who also loved to shop the farmers markets.

Over the years, I've tried all sorts of slicing cucumbers in this dish: Common green, English, round, lemon, Armenian and more. They all work. The Armenian and round varieties, which are actually more melon than cuke, tend to be sweeter and never bitter.

To avoid bitterness found in other varieties, always choose plump, well hydrated cucumbers. (Like squash, pick cucumbers while young for best flavor.)

Slice off both ends first, then peel. (The enzymes that cause cucumbers to taste bitter tend to be concentrated in both ends and the peel.) If seeds are large or mature, scoop them out and use only the firm flesh.

Cucumber casserole

Serves 6

Ingredients:
4 cups diced cucumber (about 6 cucumbers)
Salt
1/2 medium onion, chopped
4 tablespoons butter (divided)
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup grated Monterey jack cheese
3 slices bread, toasted with crusts removed
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Peel and seed cucumbers. Dice cucumber flesh into 1/2-inch cubes. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil; add cucumber and adjust heat. Parboil diced cucumber for 10 minutes. Drain.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Saute chopped onion until soft. Remove onion from pan and set aside. Melt remaining butter in the saucepan. Stir in flour until bubbly. Gradually stir in milk; add salt. Cook until thickened, stirring often. Remove from heat. Stir in grated cheese until melted.

Toast bread. Process toast in food processor to make crumbs.

Butter a 9-inch square baking dish or a deep 8-inch round casserole. Put a thin layer of bread crumbs on the bottom of the casserole. Fold drained cucumber into cheese sauce. Spoon cucumber mixture into casserole. Top with remaining bread crumbs. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 1 hour in 350-degree oven. (Cover top loosely with foil if bread crumbs start to turn too brown.) Let sit about 10 minutes before serving.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

recipes gardening Sacramento vegetables summer gardens cucumbers

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Make the most of dry breaks between showers. Your garden is in high-growth mode.

* Pull weeds now! Don’t let them get started. Take a hoe and whack them as soon as they sprout.

* Prepare vegetable beds. Spade in compost and other amendments.

* Prune and fertilize spring-flowering shrubs after bloom.

* Feed camellias at the end of their bloom cycle. Pick up browned and fallen flowers to help corral blossom blight.

* Feed citrus trees, which are now in bloom and setting fruit. To prevent sunburn and borer problems on young trees, paint the exposed portion of the trunk with diluted white latex (water-based) interior paint. Dilute the paint with an equal amount of cold water before application.

* Feed roses with a balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10, the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium available in that product).

* Prune and fertilize spring-flowering shrubs and trees after they bloom. Try using well-composted manure, spread 1-inch-thick under the tree (but avoid piling it up around the trunk). This serves as both fertilizer and mulch, retaining moisture while cutting down on weeds.

* Cut back and fertilize perennial herbs to encourage new growth.

* In the vegetable garden, transplant lettuce and cole family plants, such as cauliflower, broccoli, collards and kale.

* Seed chard and beets directly into the ground. (To speed germination, soak beet seeds overnight in room-temperature water before planting.)

* Before the mercury starts inching upward, this is your last chance to plant such annuals as pansies, violas and primroses.

* Plant summer bulbs, including gladiolus, tuberous begonias and callas. Also plant dahlia tubers.

* Shop for perennials. Many varieties are available in local nurseries and at plant events. They can be transplanted now while the weather remains relatively cool.

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