TOMATO, CUCUMBER, AVOCADO SALAD

This tomato, cucumber, avocado salad is an easy, healthy, flavorful salad.  It’s crunchy, fresh and simple to make.  It’s a family favorite and ready in less than 15 minutes.

I love a good, easy to make avocado salad and this one is one of my favorites.

It’s a quick and easy salad to put together that uses just a couple of fresh, summer veggies.  Juicy cherry tomatoes, cool, crunchy cucumber and creamy avocado.

I’ve added some salty feta, red onion and a little minced parsley as well.  Toss with a simple red wine vinaigrette and the salad is ready in under 15 minutes.

Tips for making this recipe:

• Wondering how to tell if an avocado is ripe?  Just hold it in your palm and squeeze gently.  Ready to eat avocados will be firm but yield slightly to gentle pressure.  Don’t squeeze it with your fingers though – that can cause bruises.
• Because this is such a simple salad, presentation means a lot.  So try and cut all your ingredients to be roughly the same size.
• Soak the red onion slice in a little water, for a couple of minutes, before mincing.  This will remove some of the raw onion taste.
• Avocado does not refrigerate well.  So if you are not eating it right away, wait to add the avocado until just before serving.
• It you want to make a vegan version of this tomato, cucumber, avocado salad then substitute kalamata olives for the feta cheese.

TOMATO, CUCUMBER, AVOCADO SALAD RECIPE

This tomato, cucumber, avocado salad is an easy, flavorful summer salad.  It’s crunchy, fresh and simple to make.  It’s a family favorite.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups of chopped tomatoes – I used cherry tomatoes
• 1 cucumber – peeled and seeded then diced
• 1 avocado – diced
• 4 oz feta cheese – cubed
• 2 tbs minced red onion
• 1 handful parsley – minced – about 2 tbs
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs red wine vinegar
• 8 twists of black pepper from a pepper mill

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Chop tomatoes into a medium dice. If using cherry tomatoes, cut in half. Add to a bowl.
2. Peel and seed one cucumber and dice. Add to bowl.
3. Remove pit, dice avocado and using a spoon scoop out the avocado from the peel. Add to bowl.
4. Cube feta and add to bowl.
5. Add minced red onion and minced parsley to bowl.
6. Whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar and black pepper – pour over salad.
7. Toss gently so the feta and avocado don’t break up. Serve immediately.
8. If refrigerating – keep the avocado aside and add before serving.

Recipe Adapted : TOMATO, CUCUMBER, AVOCADO SALAD @ greenvalleykitchen