I made this salad for one reason only: I got new crockery and wanted to plate with a lot of negative space. Really specific, right? Since I was doing this mostly for plating, I focused more on the composition and the little elements here. Anyways, this is a really simple cucumber dill salad with many fun components to live up to the plating's standard. I always had the feeling that cucumber and ginger paired great together, so I thought of soaking some in ginger ale just to see how they would turn out! Dill and cucumber are already universal, so why not? Finally some fresh rolled cucumber, toasted sunflower seeds for the nuttiness and yoghurt.

Salad:

• 3 large cucumbers
• Dill
• 2 cups ginger ale
• Sunflower seeds
• Yoghurt
• Fleur de sel, to taste
• Oil

Peel the cucumbers and slice them in half, lengthways. Scoop out the seeds and chop some of them to form C-shaped rings. Soak them in ginger ale for about 30 minutes. Toast about 1/4 cup sunflower seeds.

Heat a little oil in a pan. Once heated, turn off the stove and drop sprigs of dill and remove once crispy.

With the remaining cucumber, peel to form long and thin ribbons. Sprinkle with a little fleur de sel and set aside.

To plate:

Start by placing a crescent of fried dill on one side of the plate. Place the soaked cucumber on the dill, with the seed-scooped side upwards. Roll the cucumber ribbons and place some on the soaked cucumber and some on the dill. Garnish with the toasted seeds, yoghurt and fresh dill.

(I actually forgot to plate the sunflower seeds, oops!)