Recipe: Tomato, Cucumber, and Red Onion Salad


Jul 12 2010
• 1 pound vine-ripened tomatoes (from garden or farmers' market)
• sea salt
• fresh pepper
• 2 to 3 tablespoons fresh basil, ripped or coarsely chopped
 • 2 cucumbers (optional). Note: if cucumbers aren't fresh and local, skip them.
• 1 medium sized red onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• bread

Sharpen your knife. If you don't have a really sharp blade, use a cheapo Ginsu-type knife.
Slice tomatoes in half through the core. Remove the core, leaving only the red flesh of the tomatoes. Squeeze tomatoes over a sieve into a serving bowl to remove seeds and juice. Press seeds over the bowl to extract all juice. Cut tomatoes into pieces and add to juice in serving bowl.

Dress with sea salt, pepper, and basil. Cut cucumbers in half lengthwise, remove seeds (with pointy end of potato peeler), cut into bite-sized pieces, season lightly with salt and place in a bowl for at least 10 minutes.
Marinate onion with vinegar and a pinch of sea salt for at least 10 minutes. Drain cucumbers and add to tomatoes along with onions and their vinegar. Serve with bread to soak up juices, scarpetta-style. Or slice bread and top with tomato salad and juice.