Finally, a few days of summer weather! I decided to make the most of yesterday’s sunshine and, instead of having a winesday, I served up some delicious summertime cocktails with dinner. My CSA box came overflowing with cucumbers once again this week. Although the fried cucumbers from last week were…interesting, I thought a cucumber cocktail might be more my style.

After a quick search for cucumber-based cocktails online, I found this recipe for “The Cuke.” The Cuke won the New York Times’ best summertime cocktail recipe contest in 2006. It is similar to a mojito in that it contains limes, sugar, mint and sparkling water. Instead of rum, The Cuke calls for my personal favorite liquor, gin. Cucumber is what really makes this cocktail special, however.

To make The Cuke, you put sliced limes, sliced cucumbers, fresh mint and sugar into a large pitcher and muddle the ingredients together. Then, you add gin and let it steep for at least 30 minutes. When you are ready to serve, simply strain into ice-filled glasses and top with a splash of sparkling water. Muddling the ingredients proved to be somewhat problematic (it calls for LOTS of cucumbers and limes) so I did muddling combined with a rough chop in the food processor. I also used about 2 tablespoons of simple syrup instead of the 1/4 cup of sugar called for in the recipe (I halved the recipe.)

For dinner, I served grilled salmon steaks with nectarine-basil salsa, steamed baby potatoes, and stir-fried pattypan squash with spinach. The Cuke was the perfect accompaniment to this lovely summertime meal. It was tasty and refreshing but, be forewarned, The Cuke is one strong drink. A whole cup of gin for three servings! I’m not sure if I should admit it, but it actually ended up being two servings for us (in my defense, I really didn’t try too hard to squeeze the excess liquid out of the muddled cucumbers and limes – I’m sure there was probably an extra serving hiding in there somewhere.) I only used up one of the five cucumbers from this week’s box so I have a feeling there may be many more Cukes in my future this weekend!