Salads are great, and this easy avocado, cucumber & tomato salad is no exception. There are an almost infinite number of possible combinations of fruits, nuts, vegetables & seeds etc, but not all of them work. Some combinations just seem to go together. I like the way the crisp crunch of the cucumber contrasts with the creamy avocado. By chopping everything, apart from the onions, to roughly the same size, it all hangs together nicely.
I’ve used plum tomatoes here, but any nice juicy fleshy ones will do – I’m not especially fond of the classic round “salad” tomato though as they aren’t succulent enough. The onions are cut in slivers however, rather than chunks, because large chunks of onion would be a little overpowering.
With the dressing it’s pretty important to use a blender to combine the oil and vinegar into a smooth emulsion. This is difficult (or impossible even) with a plain old fork or hand whisk but with a stick blender it’s done in a jiffy. This is similar to a classic French dressing.
All you need to do then is slosh the dressing over the salad in the bowl. Give it a good mix, and you’re done!
I did consider sprinkling some pine nuts over it, but I haven’t tried that yet – next time maybe.
This avocado, cucumber & tomato salad goes very well with fresh hummus.
Avocado, Cucumber & Tomato Salad
Ingredients
- 1 whole medium avocado
- 1/3 of a cucumber
- 60 g/Half a box of black olives
- 60 g/Half a medium sized red onion.
- 2 savoy tomatoes or large vine tomatoes savoy are best because of their long shape.
- Dessert spoon of capers
- 30 g Olive oil
- Flat teasp Dijon mustard
- 15 g White wine vinegar
- 10 g Maple syrup
- 1 flat teasp light tahini Optional - but it makes a thicker dressing.
Instructions
- Cut a third of a cucumber, and remove the very end - if it’s an end piece.
- Cut into half then 1/3 rds so you have six pieces. Cut those across the length into roughly square pieces. Add to a medium sized bowl, and add all the other ingredients as you go.
- Halve the avocado, remove the stone, and peel by scoring the skin in one or two lines from top the bottom.
- Slice the avocado into 5 slices lengthways, and then crossways to again give you roughly square pieces – they should be around the same size as the cucumber.
- Slice the tomatoes in half, then lengthways into 4 pieces, then again crossways to end up with pieces around the same size as the cucumber and avocado.
- Cut the onion in half and then peel the dry layers of and discard. Cut the onion in half across the middle, then into fairly fine slivers from top to bottom.
- Drain the olives and cut in half and add
- Drain the capers and add to the bowl.
- Add all the dressing ingredients to a small jug, then blend with a stick blender. Adjust to taste – it should be a little sharp, but with background sweetness from the maple syrup to balance the vinegar.
One Response
This is rather good. I think it’s the maple syrup that makes the difference.