Other Founders Day Festives

Along with the jambalaya (see below), I served fried okra with a Scandinavian-inspired dipping sauce and a sour cream-cucumber salad.

I'm still no fan of okra, but frying it helped. (Mix up roughly equal parts flour and corn meal; salt it generously and put in some cajun or creole spice or cayenne powder. Beat up some eggs and salt them lightly. Thaw sliced okra and get all the ice chunks off. Dip first in the flour mix, then in the egg, then back in the flour, and fry in shallow oil). I DID like the dipping sauce for them.

The salad was very creamy and I thought it was a great counterpoint for the jambalaya. Mash-up success.

Dipping Sauce

~2 parts mayonnaise
~2 parts sour cream, maybe more
~1 part grainy or brown mustard
~1 part chopped capers
sprigs of dill, roughly chopped
1/2 large shallot, finely chopped
dash of apple cider vinegar

Cucumber-Sour Cream-Dill Salad

4 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded, sliced into crescent moons
~3 stalks celery, chopped
big spoonful mayo
bigger spoonful sour cream, use more to taste
big handful of dill, chopped
a few T finely chopped white parts of scallions
3 T prepared horseradish (meant to add but forgot)
salt, pepper, vinegar to taste

Salt the cucumbers and put in a strainer to release liquid for 30 minutes or so. (I was so torn about whether to do this. I didn't want it to be limp, but I also didn't want it to get watery as I was serving it a few hours after making. In the end, I'm glad I did; it was still crisp and a little pickley, which I liked). Squeeze it to release all the water you can before putting it in the dressing.

Make a dressing out of the rest of the ingredients. I wanted mine to be really creamy and maybe even sort of soupy based on pictures I saw, and I wanted it to soothe the jambalaya. You might want yours drier.

Dress the cucumbers and celery. Season, adjust.

Refrigerate 30 minutes to develop flavors.