Have you ever thought about cooking cucumbers? Have you ever had the idea of cooking cucumbers with ginger? Have you ever tried cooking them in a pan?
If you answered “yes” to even one of these questions… Good! You are in the right recipe! 😊

I have to tell the truth. For years I wondered if cucumbers could really be cooked. Since one day a few years ago, my mother-in-law, not yet ninety but almost, told us she had cooked them because her teeth could no longer allow her to eat them raw.
I confess that my husband and I looked at each other, with that look we know and smiling under our breath, and immediately classified it among the typical oddities of mom Leda’s kitchen (a ‘pre-minimalist cook’, ehhhhh those who know us know! 😉 😀 ).

Since I started the blog, I’ve had the chance to learn that the ways of the kitchen are far more infinite than I knew, and yes, I already knew quite a few! after a lifetime of in-depth studies, experiments, readings, mountains of books and magazines as well as cooking encyclopedias.
But a real recipe that vindicated my mother-in-law I swear I never came across, never read it in a cookbook, never happened that a recipe disproved our laughing of that day over the years.
Cucumbers are only eaten raw!
Cooking cucumbers? When ever?

Three days ago I made up my mind. I did an online search. Unbeknownst to me, my neighbor was complicit.
The same neighbor who sometimes gives us green beans (used to make a certain excellent tortino) or peas (whose pods are also used, in this recipe). This time she gave me a bag of cucumbers, strictly from her garden. Excellent.
However, since not all family members eat cucumbers here (hint: the kids), I wanted to find a way to consume these cucumbers without having to live on cucumber salads for days twice a day.
I found several recipes! More than enough to make me understand that my mother-in-law’s oddity wasn’t that odd after all. How about that! And we laughed about it! And now I really have to say it… how forward-thinking my mother-in-law was, and still is! 😀

Never take anything for granted, guys, in the kitchen everything is possible! 😀

Of course, I immediately experimented. And it was a real discovery! Unexpected, I tell you.

Here are my impressions right away. All positive!
One, cucumbers cook quickly, they don’t get too soft as I feared, I had imagined they would become mushy but no. They behave a bit like zucchini, at least in pan cooking.
Two, they become more delicate. The cucumber flavor remains but is slightly less pronounced, which for someone who doesn’t like the strong taste of cucumber can be positive, and might convince some cucumber detractors to have a taste.
Three, they are more digestible. Of course, this is my pilot experiment so I can only rely on this one experience so far, but I found them very digestible, and light, considering I cooked four and… I’d say I ate three myself. The (raw) cucumbers sometimes are not very digestible for me, which is why I never use more than one per person in salads, sometimes even just half a one. But this pan of ginger cucumbers I ate with great pleasure, and had no difficulty digesting them.

Aaahhh, could it also be thanks to the ginger? 😉

👇 If you like cucumbers only raw, here are four recipes for using them to the fullest: 👇