Cucumber is 96 percent water, meaning it’s well on its way to becoming an ice. When you puree a whole cucumber in the blender with lemon and sugar, its color and flavor really come alive—resulting in a brilliant green juice with a sweet-tart balance. You could drink the juice on its own—it’s a bright eye-opener in the morning—or shake it with a few jiggers of gin for a round of cocktails. But to get the most out of this precious liquid, freeze it and scrape it into fine crystals. I like to serve the shaved ice in chunks of hollowed-out cucumber, like cucumber canoes, with a flurry of fresh herbs over the top.
SERVES 4
2 seedless (English) cucumbers, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup fresh lemon juice; reserve 1 lemon half
Chopped basil, mint, and/or dill
Put the cucumbers in the blender, add the sugar, salt, lemon juice, and lemon half, and puree until smooth and bright green. Strain through a fine strainer.
Pour the juice into a shallow 8-inch-by-8-inch dish and place in the freezer. Once the juice begins to freeze (after about 20 minutes), use a fork to scrape the surface to create fine flakes of frozen cucumber ice. Return to the freezer and repeat every 20 minutes until you have a full dish of bright green shaved ice.
Divide the ice among four small bowls and garnish with fresh herbs of your choice.
Layer in different flavors by blending the cucumber with some aromatics (lemongrass or ginger) or fresh herbs (dill, basil, and/or cilantro). Or fill individual bowls with Greek yogurt, scatter on some diced cucumber, and finish each one with a big scoop of the shaved ice and some chopped herbs. It makes for a refreshing end to a summertime meal.