Blueberries and Cucumbers with Pistachios and Yogurt

My bare feet carried me across the warm brick floor before plopping crossed legged on the microfiber couch that had soaked up all of the sun’s warmth from the south facing window. It was hot, uncomfortably hot and I chose the hottest spot in the house. AC was generally not needed at 7,000 feet in elevation but oh how I longed for it in that moment.

One hand cradled the cold bowl while the other made sure every ingredient was in that first bite. The blueberry released juice while the cucumber cooled, lemon brightened, mint and dill refreshed, pistachios grounded it, and honey tied everything together. As my bowl emptied, I realized I was as cool as a cucumber.

The Mozart of salads … it’s classic, uplifting, refreshing, brilliant piece of art, well you get the point. You can thank Vivian Howard from Deep Run Roots for this one – I slightly modified it and I’ll give the changes in the notes.

Ingredients
½ c plain Greek yogurt
¼ c buttermilk
zest of 1 lemon
3 Tbl lemon juice (have 3 lemons on hand)
4 Tbl neutral oil like grapeseed oil
1 Tbl honey
¼ tsp hot sauce

8 Persian cucumbers
2 c blueberries
2 Tbl fresh dill
4 tsp fresh mint
¼ c pistachios

Directions
Make the dressing first so the flavors have time to become friends. Zest 2 lemons. You will probably only need 1, but it’s hard to zest a squeezed lemon. Oh and a tip for juicing citrus by hand. Put the lemon on the counter and apply pressure with the heel of your hand and roll it back and forth. When you feel the lemon soften, stop.

In a jar with a tight filling lid, add yogurt, 2 Tbl buttermilk, ½ of the lemon zest, lemon juice, oil, honey, and hot sauce. Close it tightly and shake, shake, shake. Taste and adjust anything needed. I DO NOT recommend adding more hot sauce. This salad should be cooling and refreshing and not spicy. If you want the dressing thinner, add more buttermilk (I generally don’t unless I eat it “cereal style”). If it’s too tart, add more oil. If it needs a little pucker, add lemon juice. If it needs more lemon, add more zest.

Chop the cucumbers. Slice off the ends. Slice it in half down the length and repeat to have it in quarters. Lay them next to each other parallel with the counter edge. Slice it to about ½” in length.

Pull the dill hair off the stem and slice the mint leaves.

Heat a dry frying pan to medium and add the pistachios to the pan. When you smell them and they have a little color, remove them from heat.

Use a spoon and put a thin layer of dressing on the bottom of the plate. Add cucumbers. Add blueberries (I like it to be 50/50 here). Add more dressing – don’t be shy. Sprinkle the herbs and pistachios on top.

Notes
I love Meyer lemons. Unfortunately, they can be anywhere from double to quadruple the price of a regular lemon. This recipe is worth the splurge on the lemon. If you’ve never had a Meyer lemon, you should try it.

If you have access to Buckwheat honey, it’s really good in this dressing. It’s a very dark honey (in color) and has plenty depth of flavor.

I don’t keep buttermilk on hand so I mix a little yogurt and milk together. For 2 Tbl of buttermilk, you can use 1.5 tsp of yogurt and 4.5 tsp of milk.

Viv uses 2 Tbl of orange juice and juice from 1 lemon.

She adds salt to the dressing.

She also adds minced chives and rice wine vinegar.

If you can’t find fresh dill and mint, you can use a little of the dried kind or omit it all together.