This past Saturday I worked outside in the vineyard the whole day. When I came in at 6:30, I was hot, tired, and dirty. I needed to make something for dinner, but it had to be quick, light and cool. Baked salmon with cucumber salad fit the bill and made my family happy.

I pulled out salmon fillets to thaw while I hit the shower. Feeling human again, I returned to the kitchen and cranked the oven up to 450 degrees. Normally I like to grill salmon, but the house was cool and the back porch was not. I patted the salmon fillets dry with a paper towel and lightly seasoned them with olive oil, salt and pepper. I placed them on a foil-lined baking dish and put it in the oven as soon as it came to temperature, setting the timer for 15 minutes.

While the salmon baked, I prepared the cucumber salad. I used 4 large pickling cucumbers. They are large because they hid from me for a few days when I was gathering in the garden. I peeled the cukes, cut them in half and scooped out the seeds. I chopped the cukes and three stalks of celery into bite-sized pieces. I usually include a few celery leaves because they look nice and then threw everything into a salad bowl.

I wanted to add chives to the salad and honestly wasn’t sure I had any. The grasshoppers have really made a mess of the herbs. I transplanted fennel in the herb garden and they really seem to love it! Despite the fact that I was clean and it was hot outside, I decided to hunt for chives. The herb bushes jumped with grasshoppers, but I pressed on moving aside a huge fennel frond. I found bright green chives untouched by the hoppers and picked a handful. I minced about 2 tablespoons of chives and added them to the salad bowl.

I coarsely chopped about a cup of walnuts and threw in 2 handfuls of golden raisins. Pecans or Craisins would also work well instead of walnuts or raisins, but I used what I had. Then I whisked together the juice of one lemon, a splash of white balsamic vinegar, about 1/3 cup olive oil, salt and pepper.

By that time, the salmon was done. I pulled it from the oven and let it rest a few minutes before serving. I dressed the salad and placed a generous portion on each plate with crumbled feta cheese on top. I delivered the salmon to each plate and garnished with tomato slices.

Dinner was simple, quick and delicious. The leftover salad made a nice light lunch the next day.