Cucumbers and Tomatoes and Feta, Oh My!

This is a quick and delicious salad that I learned from my roommate Pierre. I have it for dinner a couple of nights a week when I am just too darn tired to even reach for a sauté pan. I’ve never been a big salad person 1. because I always related it to a diet food (read: punishment), 2. I always flung little specks of dressing on whatever I was wearing be it a cocktail dress or my sweats, and 3. it was always such a hassle to wash, spin, dry, etc. the lettuce, plus it never had much flavor (other than arugula and dandelions which I love but that’s another story) and was nothing more than a conduit for the vinaigrette. And even with the advent of the hermetically sealed lettuce-in-a-bag (it is pumped full of some nasty gases to keep it green) I still couldn’t get excited about making a salad.

I know you’re thinking, “Good God, how lazy is this woman?!” Answer: very. When I am hungry, tired and cranky, I want it now, I don't want to wait. I am the reason Jack-in-the-Box exceeded earning in the 90s!  After working 60-80 hour weeks, if you thought for one minute that I was about to actually turn on a stove, you're aliéné (crazy)!  It was trying enough waiting the 5 minutes in my car to profess my undying love to my best friend Jack, uh I mean order my Sourdough Jack Value Meal, and without fail my supersize fries and diet coke (the diet coke balanced out the fries...didn't it?) we're usually consumed before I reached the first stop light. Sorry, back to the salad...

So enter the lettuce-less salad. How delighted was I to realize that I could still get a good part of my daily dose of raw veggies sans leafy greens! One word...duh! Like I’ve said, I never claimed to be a good cook, just a cook!

I prefer the, ahem, long English cucumbers rather than the ubiquitous shorter, fatter garden cucumbers for this "salad" and I buy the tomatoes that are still on the vine as I like my tomatoes to actually taste like tomatoes! One exception to the no leafy green rule is endive and I will occasionally half and slice an endive and toss it in. It adds a slightly bitter taste but sometimes it’s just what I’m in the mood for. I don’t add any vinegar and I use a bit more olive oil than normal for a salad because when the oil mixes with the feta and juice from the tomatoes and there is a little pool left over at the bottom of the bowl, well it just screams to be mopped up with some fresh bread :-) Of course serve it with a glass of wine and a good chewy, grainy baguette. Life is good...


(cucumbers, tomatoes, feta with endive)

10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/3 English cucumber, quartered lengthwise and sliced
1-2 ounces of Feta cheese, crumbled
4 generous tablespoons good olive oil
herbs de provence (or thyme or whatever herb you like)
sea salt & fresh ground pepper
1 head endive (optional)

1. combine all ingredients well in bowl.
2. pour glass of wine.
3. rip off hunk of bread.
4. eat.
5. drink.
6. mop.
7. smile.

update ~ evening of feb 23: i made this salad, yes again, tonight (hey, if it ain't broke...) but this time i quartered and sliced a green apple and tossed it in. not bad, if i do say so myself ;-)

Comments

[Giao]

oh, YUM! I LOVE salads myself, and the more cukes and feta, the better!

I also know those 60-80 hour weeks you're talking about. I was lucky when I was doing those kinds of hours that the company enslaving us also fed us nice meals. =|

[pipstar]

Oooh this is identical to one of my favourite summer salads -except I occasionally also like to throw an avocado in as well -not necessarily cos it goes overly well but because I love avocado!