Round, yellow lemon cucumbers deliver a sweet, mild flavor to this unique bread salad.
Recipe courtesy of Williams-Sonoma
Ingredients
- 3 lemon cucumbers or 1 English (hothouse)
- cucumber, peeled, halved, seeded and
- diced
- Coarse salt, to taste
- 1/2 pound stale coarse-textured white bread
- 1/2 cup water
- 5 ripe tomatoes, 1 1/2 to 2 pounds total, seeded
- and diced
- 1 red onion, diced
- 4 to 5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, torn
- into small pieces
Preparation
- 1 Spread the diced cucumbers on paper towels and sprinkle with coarse salt. Let stand for 15 minutes. Place the cucumbers in a colander and rinse with cold water. Pat dry with paper towels.
- 2
- 3 Meanwhile, cut the bread into slices 1 inch thick and place in a shallow dish. Sprinkle the bread with the water and let stand for 2 minutes. Then carefully squeeze the bread until it is dry. Tear into rough 1-inch pieces and place on paper towels. Let stand for 10 minutes.
- 4
- 5 In a bowl, combine the cucumbers, tomatoes, onion and bread and toss gently.
- 6
- 7 In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add the bread mixture and the basil, mix gently and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours.
- 8
- 9 Transfer the salad to a platter and serve chilled.
