Fresh Summer Salad
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 3:37PM in Appetizer, raw foods, salad, vegetable, vegetarian 
This salad is one of the easiest things to make, ever. It's amazing to me (Yes, still. I'm terribly easy to please.) how you can take a few simple, common ingredients, and turn them into something that tastes so incredibly good.
That's what this salad is. I made it the other day, and not for the first time, I've made it plenty of times--and my husband and I stood at the kitchen island almost inhaling it like we had been wandering in the desert without food for two weeks. He had picked up a soft, squishy loaf of fresh italian bread earlier in the day, and we were ripping off hunks of bread like savages and eating them with the salad. And by the way...there's a lot to be said for eating something like this with the one you love. It's drippy with olive oil and juice from the tomatoes...embarrassing to have oil dripping down your chin? No--just the opposite--it's a very sensual eating experience...and what were we talking about? hehehe.
Serve this with any number of things--it's so versatile! It's great with the hummus (ous) and some feta on wedges of pita bread, or as a fresh side dish, or, like my husband and I had some of it, right out of the bowl you made it in along with some fresh bread. I found this recipe online somewhere years ago, but it's been so long that I don't remember where. Thank you, whoever you are! oh, and even if you don't have garden tomatoes, which we don't have yet, obviously--it's SO worth splurging on a few vine ripened tomatoes from your grocery store to make this. It's a burst of summer while it's still...let me check...43 degrees outside, with snow on the ground.
Fresh Summer Salad
4 cucumbers, peeled or not, up to you--seeded and cut into chunks
4 tomatoes, seeded or deglopped, as my friend Jane says, and cut into chunks
1/2 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3-4 TBSP olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp coarsely ground pepper
Toss all ingredients together and chill. Or don't bother to put it away, just stand there with some bread and eat. Store any leftovers in the fridge.
And here it is with some of the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, some feta and some pita bread wedges:
Elle | Print Article | Share Article | Email Article | 13 Comments tagged cucumber, parsley, salad, summer, tomato, vinegar
Reader Comments (13)
love it! very mediterannean -- i make my greek salads very similarly, and they're delicious! your hummus looks amazing too, btw!
That salad looks so fresh and tasty. The salad along with the hummus, pitas and feta would make a nice light meal.
Fresh is best and this looks great!
katy--thank you! Yes, it is very mediterannean, especially paired with the hummus and feta.
kevin--it does make a wonderfully light lunch or dinner.
honeyb--thank you! And I agree, fresh is definitely best!
Mmmm, cucumber tomato salad is one of my favorites. It's so fresh and satisfying. I love your photos, the salad looks so good.
Thanks so much, Madeline!
That looks so fresh! Perfect for spring!
Perfect salad for the first day of Spring! I am going to try it tonight. Thanks!!
This looks really good! I'm what you could call salad-impaired (probably because I didn't grow up eating salad), so I always need a recipe when it comes to salads. I just wish my boyfriend would eat cucumber so we can both enjoy it. Well, maybe I'll just make it and now share. Hehe.
Greek salad is the perfect summer food. I can't get enough of that stuff! That and grilled marinated lamb skewers. Yippie!
Thanks for the inspiration.
zen, don't remind me of grilled food. Still too cold to go out there to cook, hehe. Thanks! And hey, do you have a good recipe for marinated lamb? ;)
this post has made me so excited for summer!
Me, too, Beth! Thanks for stopping by!