We have been on the receiving end of a lot of fresh organic produce this summer. The only problem, which should be italicized, is finding new ways to incorporate them into our meals. This is one of my favorites, a cucumber and tomato salad with basil and croutons.
I will admit that I am not normally a fan of tomatoes. I shudder at the thought of eating the grocery store variety on their own. But these ones in particular, with the stripes, are AMAZING. I really think the stripes add something to the flavor. As for the basil in a box, I usually have fresh on hand, but craziness prevented the weekly trip to farmers market and I saw this frozen variety at Target the other day. It’s not bad, it claims to be solely basil chopped and frozen. There are other herbs as well, which in the long dreary winter months might be useful!
Here is the recipe and as per usual it’s not imperative that the amounts be followed to a t.
1 cucumber skinned and seeded
4-6 tomatoes depending on the size, seeded
olive oil
kosher salt and pepper
basil
stale bread, cubbed
Dice the cucumber and tomatoes to about a 1/2 inch. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and basil to taste. Finally toss in stale bread a few minutes before serving, that way it has time to soak up a little of the moisture but won’t get soggy. I suppose you could use prepackaged croutons, but I wouldn’t recommend it. If good bread, I had some Wheatfields multi grain leftover, is not available a loaf of “french bread” would do the trick.