Salad of Heirloom Tomatoes and Cucumbers – 2 Ways
In my kitchen, there’s nothing that screams “summer” more loudly than juicy, delicious heirloom tomatoes. I love them. I eat them plain, bite into them like peaches, pop the little one right in my mouth, make sandwiches, salads, panzanellas, uncooked sauces, and pies. The other night, I had some small heirloom tomatoes hanging around and made a delicious quick easy salad.
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The secret to a quick and easy salad is using really fresh simple ingredients. And heirloom tomatoes are the star in this recipe. My favorite thing about tomatoes is finding heirloom tomatoes that taste like tomatoes. That’s not as easy as you would think it might be. If it looks like a tomato, it should taste like a tomato, right? Wrong. Most of today’s tomatoes have been hybridized to look pretty and to travel well for long distances. This makes them uniformly round, red, hard and mealy. And it certainly doesn’t make them edible. This is why I love heirloom tomatoes. So the one thing that I insist on when you make this recipe is that you use heirloom tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes are beautiful, colorful, and they just plain taste like tomatoes!
If you can grow your own heirloom tomatoes, all the better. And growing your basil is really easy! It’s really cost effective if you’re like me and use fresh basil all summer long in just about anything. It’s definitely worth growing – even if it’s just in a pot right outside your door. Every year, the boys and I attempt growing organic heirloom tomatoes – and every year they morph into the world’s most juicy and delicious squirrel, bird, and rabbit food. Sigh.
Heirloom Tomato, Cucumber & Basil Salad
This salad contains all of the fresh delights of summer!
Ingredients
For Salad
- 2 c cherry heirloom tomatoes, diced
- 1 c cucumber, diced
- 3 T minced red onion
- 10-12 large basil leaves, sliced in chiffonade or roughly chopped
For Dressing
- 3 T Basil Infused Olive Oil
- 2 T Champagne Vinegar
- Salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
For Serving
- 2 c fresh spinach or arugula
- parmesan cheese shavings, optional
- 2 t gorgonzola cheese crumbles, optional
- 1/2 c cubed fresh mozarella, optional
Instructions
- Lightly toss all salad ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, wisk together all ingredients for the dressing.
- Combine dressing with salad ingredients and toss lightly.
- Serve over a bed of spinach or arugula.
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size:
1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
One thing you really need to make the most of this recipe (and, frankly, any of your cooking) is a really good sharp knife. Ever tried to slice a tomato and ended up crushing it because your knife is dull? It’s also a safety issue. Seriously – when you knife is dull – you push down with a LOT more force. Ouch! With a properly weighted, sharp knife – you use very little force to cut even the hardest veggies. One super versatile kitchen knife is the answer. I don’t have a whole set of knives and I don’t need them. I have one seven inch Santoku Chef’s knife that I use for absolutely everything except the smallest of jobs (hulling strawberries, for example). A great knife make cutting and prepping food so much easier, safer, and faster. I’m completely incapable of using one of those fancy steels to keep my knife sharp. So instead, I use a really easy knife sharpener that gets the knife sharpened at the proper angle and really can’t be messed up. Even by me.
I love cooking and because of that, rigid recipes tend to get me down. I like to mix it up. In fact, you’re not likely to ever get the exact same dish served to you twice at my house; there are just too many variations to try! I’m a fan of “if not this, then that” when it comes to recipes. My desire to switch things up is your good fortune. Here’s a bonus recipe! As written, this recipe for heirloom tomatoes is fabulous on its own, but here’s a great way to switch it up. Making the following switches would give you an entirely different salad, but equally delicious: switch cilantro for the basil; switch cilantro, chive, or garlic infused olive oil for the basil infused oil; switch lime juice for the vinegar; and switch chopped Romaine lettuce for the spinach or arugula. Maybe throw in some diced avocado and a touch of chopped chipotle peppers in adobo and Voila! You have a great new summer salad with terrific Tex Mex flavors and a little hit of heat. This second recipe would be wonderful served with warm tortillas and a fast and simple homemade guacamole. And if you wanted to add an easy soup recipe for a main dish, a quick and easy Tex-Mex veggie soup would do the trick!
Let me know which version you made and how you liked it!
Gorgwous salad!You are absolutely right about growing your own basil. I just grew mine in a pot because I would buy a pack in the store and it would just go bad. Now I can just pick what I need. I make all kinds of pesto and salads with it. And I’m not throwing away plastic packaging!
I find that growing mine is the best way to affordably keep up with all that I use in the summer 🙂
Mmm, those both sound great! I love tomatoes and completely agree that the heirloom ones, or anything locally grown, are much much better than random supermarket tomatoes.
Here is our current favorite cucumber salad, which can be made with tomatoes or carrots. Recently tried tossing in some garbanzo beans, and that was great, too.
Thanks for linking this up to the Welcome Home Wednesdays link party! YUM! Look at the colors on that salad…it looks so delicious!! Thanks for sharing…we hope to see you again next week!
Love this party! Thank you so much! Will definitely see you again 🙂
Thanks for this terrific recipe form heirloom tomatoes and cucumber salad that I pinned. I like to switch things around too. Saw you at the I spotted it on the Healthy, Happy, Green & Natural Party Blog Hop #79. I’m a plant based whole food eater and therefore would prefer this recipe seasoned with nutritional yeast and pumpkin seeds instead of cheese. Hope you’ll check out my post and get social with me. It’s 4 Powerful Reasons Journal Writing Is Good for the Soul. Nancy A@obloggernewbie.blogspot.com
Thanks for stopping by! I don’t eat cheese often myself. All of the cheese suggestions were completely optional – and, in fact, when I made it and photographed it, there was no cheese. So if you want to give it a try, it will turn out just like the photos 🙂
Thanks Karen. I will try it. My hubby loves tomatoes and I’m sure it will be a big hit with him too.
Nancy A @ obloggernewbie.blogspot.com
I bet my brother would love this recipe, I don’t eat tomatoes (I don’t know why but I can’t stand them!) but the little bro adores them. Growing up we would often find him outside eating tomatoes right out of the garden… I don’t think he’s stopped doing that yet! Haha… he probably gets yelled at less though now that he’s grown up and in his own house ;). I will definitely pass this along! Thanks for linking up with us at Welcome Home Wednesdays… can’t wait to see you next week!
Hopefully he will enjoy it! Welcome Home Wednesdays is a great party!
Thank you for sharing this delectable salad with us at the Healthy Happy Green Natural Party! I’m pinning and sharing!
Thanks Deborah! I really enjoy your party each week!
This looks absolutely delicious and so healthy. Would love you to come and link up with Real Food Fridays blog hop that goes live every Thursday @ 7pm EST. Sharing – pinned & twitted.
Thank you, Marla! I would love to come join you this week! Real Food hop sounds like a great place to find some wonderful recipes!