Cucumber and Tomato Salad
Cucumber and Tomato Salad is a simple side dish made with fresh tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese and more!
Today I’m sharing another one of my favorite summertime side dishes that I have been making now for quite some time. Every year, around this time, it seems like our garden is bursting with tomatoes and cucumbers. While I love both tomatoes and cucumbers, I find it difficult to find a use for all of them since they seem to ripen all at once. It is especially difficult to find different recipes for cucumbers.
MY LATEST VIDEOS
This cucumber and tomato salad is a perfect way to use some cucumbers and tomatoes that you picked from your garden or happened to pick up at the farmers market. It is a fresh, easy and great dish for a summer BBQ or afternoon picnic.
You can also use halved grape tomatoes. I prefer to use whatever is available since the salad tastes delicious with either. Don’t be too concerned if you don’t have very much tomato liquid. Especially with small grape tomatoes, I find that even after spinning and shaking the tomatoes, I often have very little liquid, sometimes less than 1/4 of a cup. I just combine whatever liquid I have, up to 1/2 cup, with the other ingredients and decrease the amount of time to simmer on the stove.
Cucumber and Tomato Salad
Ingredients:
2 pints ripe cherry tomatoes, quartered (about 4 cups)
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ tsp. dried oregano
1 medium shallot, minced
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
ground black pepper
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced into ½-inch chunks
4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
1-2 tbsp. fresh parsley, minced
Directions:
Combine the tomatoes, salt and sugar in a medium bowl; toss to combine. Let stand for 30 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a salad spinner and spin until the seeds and excess liquid have been removed, about 1 minute. Stir to redistribute the tomatoes during spinning as needed. Return the tomatoes to the bowl and set aside. (If you don’t have a salad spinner, you can put the tomatoes in a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and gently shake the bowl to remove the excess seeds and liquid.) Strain the tomato liquid through a fine mesh strainer into a liquid measuring cup, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible.
Combine no more than ½ cup of the tomato liquid with the garlic, oregano, shallot and vinegar in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Simmer until the mixture is reduced, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Whisk in the oil, and season with pepper to taste.
Add the cucumber, feta, dressing and parsley to the bowl with the tomatoes. Toss gently and serve.
Source: barely adapted from Annie’s Eats
// All images and text ©
This recipe looks great–I want to try it. My favorite cucumber salad recipe is incredibly simple and delicious:
1 cucumber, peeled and seeds removed
kosher salt
3-4 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 packet Splenda (or 1 teaspoon sugar)
Dice cucumber, place in a colander and sprinkle with salt. After 10 or so minutes press out as much liquid as you can. Mix vinegar and Splenda, pour over cucumber and let it sit or 10 or 15 minutes before serving.
Thanks, I’ll have to try your recipe!
Love salads during the summer – yours looks wonderful and sounds delicious Ashley 🙂
Pingback: Tortellini Pasta Salad | Spoonful of FlavorSpoonful of Flavor