Thursday, September 18, 2008

My Favorite Salad w/ heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados and red wine vinegar onions


When we were in Napa last month I had the best salad I have ever tasted. David's friend Deborah made it when we were at their house (see more about that visit here). She gave the "recipe" to Dave, who gave it to me, and I'm sharing it with you.


My Favorite Salad w/ heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados and red wine vinegar onions
From: Deborah

Ingredients:
Heirloom Tomatoes (several different colors)
Cucumbers
Red Onion
Avocado
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil (We used Grgich Olive Oil, the better the olive oil, the better the salad tastes)
Red Wine Vinegar

Directions:
1. Thinly slice the Red Onion, place in a red wine bath with a pinch of salt for 45 min - 1 hr.
2. Shortly before the onion is ready, cut large chucks of Cucumbers and Tomatoes, season with salt and pepper
3. Drain the red onion and combine with Tomatoes, and Cukes, then add in slices of Avocado. Dress with the best Olive Oil you can find (seriously... I used to not think the type of Olive oil made a difference, but for this salad the better the olive oil, the better the salad).
4. Taste and add more Olive Oil, Salt, and Pepper if desired.


Compare to the original salad:

I don't think I did a half bad job. My cukes aren't as prettily cut and I wish the farmers market had had a yellow tomato to add to the beautiful color, but over all not a bad match. I can also see she sprinkled some kind of herb on top that wasn't in the "recipe," kind of looks like basil to me... maybe this is her secret ingredient.

2 comments:

  1. This really does look so refreshing and delicious. I love avocados in salads :)

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  2. I make a salad that is quite similar---minus the avocado. I'll try the addition. Looks good.

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