
I haven’t been posting too much in the way of my own cooking/kitchen work lately because I’ve basically been indulging in a variety of salads — the hot weather combined with resultant laziness means I’m much more interested in something easily prepped and eaten like a good salad, with some bread or something similar to the side.
But this isn’t to say one can’t get quite creative with salads, of course, and there’s endless possibilities. The other day, though, I figured a basic cucumber/tomato salad would do the trick, but wanted to see what others had done; after a quick scrounge around the web I did one version of this the other night, then this one here for lunch.
In both cases, again, simplicity is the key — all you really need is a cucumber and a tomato and there you go. Where something more comes in lies in the additions and the preparation — the dressing used, for example, was a homemade white balsamic vinaigrette, itself stupidly easy to make, with good olive oil and a white balsamic vinegar plus thyme and oregano and a dash of pepper. The other night I also included some diced tofu for protein and to soak up some more of the flavor; this version removes the tofu (I didn’t want a too heavy lunch) but adds fresh chopped basil. Both the basil and the tomato came from my garden, adding to the simple joy of that ever excellent combination. Finally the cucumber was quartered and had its seeds removed, but I retained the skin. A bit more pepper on the top was all that was needed.
Again, hardly the most surprising creation, but the joy should be good nourishment, good taste and something that works well with where you’re at. This did the trick, the rest follows!