Sweet-Spicy Cucumbers over Tomatoes

Be sure to use pickling cucumbers, which are shorter and thinner-skinned than regular cucumbers. Though 4 days is the maximum, the longer the cucumbers marinate, the spicier and more garlicky they'll become.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 2 tomato slices and about 1/3 cup cucumber mixture)

Ingredients

• 2  cups  thinly sliced pickling cucumber (about 2 cucumbers)
• 1  cup  thinly sliced Vidalia or other sweet onion
• 1/2  cup  cider vinegar
• 1/4  cup  sugar
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  mustard seeds
• 4  garlic cloves, minced
• 2  whole dried red chiles
• 16  (1/4-inch-thick) slices tomato
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Arrange half of cucumber in a 9-inch pie plate. Top with half of onion. Repeat procedure with remaining cucumber and onion.

Combine vinegar and next 5 ingredients (vinegar through chiles) in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute or until sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally. Pour hot vinegar mixture over cucumber mixture. Cover and marinate in refrigerator 1 to 4 days.

Arrange tomato slices on a platter; sprinkle evenly with 1/8 teaspoon salt and black pepper. Remove cucumber mixture from marinade with a slotted spoon; arrange over tomato slices.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

32 (6% from fat)

Fat:

0.2g (sat 0.0g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.1g)

Protein:

0.8g

Carbohydrate:

7.7g

Fiber:

1g

Cholesterol:

0.0mg

Iron:

0.4mg

Sodium:

115mg

Calcium:

11mg