What’s a person to do when the vegetable drawer is stuffed with summer produce that needs to be used? How about typing the names of all those veggies, along with “recipe” and “salad” into a search engine to see what turns up? That’s a strategy that worked beautifully for me. I settled on a dish at the All Recipes site, and added a few more veggies we had on hand.
This recipe makes a big batch, which was fine because we had a houseful of company. But for an intimate dinner at home with the Man of Steel, I would halve the recipe. That said, we found a delicious way to use the leftovers for supper a few days later. I browned a pound of ground sausage. We put the sausage in pita bread and piled on the salad (Man of Steel added ranch dressing, too) to make sandwiches reminiscent of gyros. They received Hiram’s enthusiastic seal of approval.
Late Summer Cucumber, Tomato, & Zucchini Salad
2 large cucumbers, diced
1 zucchini, seeded and diced
3 large tomatoes, diced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 medium sweet pepper, diced
1 cup chopped kalamata olives
2 tablespoons fresh, chopped basil
2 teaspoons fresh, chopped thyme
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon white sugar
1/4 teaspoon cracked, black pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
In a large salad bowl, mix together the cucumbers, zucchini, red onion, tomatoes, sweet pepper, kalamata olives, basil, and thyme. In a separate bowl, whisk together the red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, lemon zest, lemon juice, kosher salt, sugar, and white pepper until thoroughly combined. Pour the olive oil slowly into the dressing mixture, whisking to combine. Pour the dressing over the salad. Can be served immediately, but is better if allowed to marinate for a couple hours in the refrigerator.
