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.
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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 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 medium shallot minced
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ground black pepper
- 1 medium cucumber peeled, seeded and diced into ½-inch chunks
- 4 ounces feta cheese crumbled
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh parsley minced
Instructions
- 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.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Calories: 132, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 16mg, Sodium: 327mg, Potassium: 437mg, Carbohydrates: 9g, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 6g, Protein: 4g, Vitamin A: 18.9%, Vitamin C: 47.4%, Calcium: 12.2%, Iron: 8.1%*Nutritional information is an estimate. Please consult a doctor or nutritionist for the most accurate nutritional info.
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