Today is Super Salad Sunday. I was recently given a vegetable spiralizer and have been experimenting with different ways to make some vegetables. The standard is zucchini noodles (zoodles), but I have yet to perfect them. So, I made something which would not require me to actually cook it.
This salad is incredibly refreshing, full of tangy flavor, and surprisingly not very time consuming to put together. I recommend you go for some higher quality ingredients (the olives, feta cheese and olive oil, in particular) because I think that those flavors really make this the stand out dish. It is good as a side, and if you put some protein with it (I have served it with grilled salmon), it can be an entree unto itself.
What you will need:
2 medium sized cucumbers, unpeeled
1 green bell pepper, medium
1 small red onion (we will only use about 1/3 of the onion)
1 carton cherry tomatoes
1 lemon
mediterranean olives (I tried to find good olives which were already pitted, but alas, was unable to do so. These are from the olive bar at the local grocery store)
fresh tarragon leaves
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
I used the 1/8" blade for the cucumbers on this one. I also keep the skin on the cucumber because I find it gives it a little more crunch when the salad is composed. Run the cucumbers through your spiralizer--this is a very fun activity! You will get very long spirals; I tend to cut them with a knife.
Spread the cucumber on to a few paper towels and blot for a while to remove excess water as they tend to get a little drippy. I leave them on the towels and lightly covered while prepping the rest of the ingredients.
In a large glass (or other type of non-reactive) bowl, you will place the rest of your ingredients.
Slice your cherry tomatoes in halves, cut your green bell peppers into thin strips, and put in tiny dices or ribbons of red onion in a ratio that suits you. Add your olives (either pitted or unpinned--I tried using an olive pitter which was funny, but horribly frustrating and not particularly effective).
Once you get all your veggies in the bowl, take a few fresh tarragon leaves, tear them up roughly and rub them a little bit to release their oils, and drop them in. Squeeze your lemon in to give it some juice, drizzle some olive oil (a few tablespoons at most), and salt and pepper to taste. Toss all that together and let it sit for a few minutes. Then add your cucumber spirals, and toss again.
Mmmmm. It is very yummy.
When you are getting ready to serve the salad, set on individual plates, then take your feta cheese and slice a nice thick block off of it to place on top of each salad.
Drizzle a little olive oil over the feta, sprinkle a little more salt and pepper, and voila! Serve, and enjoy!
