tomato, cucumber and radish salad / insalata di pomodori, cetrioli e ravanelli

light, refreshing, colorful, flavorful: perfect!
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Three months ago, I listened to an interview¹ with science writer Christie Aschwanden², author of the book Good To Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery³. I was so intrigued by what I heard that I purchased the book and learned a lot by reading it. While I am not a competitive athlete, I exercise regularly and a year and a half ago I started running regularly. Regardless of how far you push yourself, recovery is a fundamental component of physical activity.

Aschwanden's writing kept my attention throughout the whole book as I followed description of her experiences, interviews with experts and athletes, and the summary of her extensive research. If you want a taste of what the book is about, besides listening to the interview, you can read a five-point summary⁴. Aschwanden supports some things I have done for a long time, like not skipping sleep and drinking when I am thirsty. I do my best to listen to my body, because our body is really good at adapting to challenges and also at signaling when adjustments are needed. This active listening is often hard for us to do, pushed as we are by fads and unscientific claims.

cherry tomatoes means summer is here!
(bottom row: red and yellow tiger stripe)

Just as I was reading the book, summer arrived and with it produce I like, including tomatoes, corn, melons (meloni), green beans⁵. Running in warmer temperatures means sweating more and with it comes the desire to eat water-rich vegetables, like tomatoes and cucumbers. When I was a child, we would spend the day at the beach (if on vacation) or at the swimming pool (if in Perugia): in either case, it was nice to come home to a big salad made with pomodori da insalata (salad tomatoes, slicing tomatoes harvested while still a bit green) and slicing cucumbers, the kind with dark green skin. I now favor cherry tomatoes for salads and the array of cucumbers available is quite rich, including lemon, Boothby's blond, Japanese, to name just a few.

Armenian cucumbers

I am currently fascinated by the pale green, deeply ribbed, long Armenian cucumbers (cetrioli armeni), whose flesh is mild- and sweet-tasting. Genetically they are a musk melon (Cucumis melo var. flexuosus), rather than a cucumber (Cucumis sativus). The addition of peppery radishes creates a pleasant contrast of flavors, accented by fresh basil (basilico), indispensable companion.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Tomato, cucumber and radish salad

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces / 340 g cherry tomatoes (in the photo are red and yellow tiger stripe), preferably organic
• 10 ounces / 280 g Armenian cucumbers OR cucumbers of another slicing variety, preferably organic
• 4 ounces / 112 g radishes, preferably organic
• 1/2 tablespoon / 7.5 ml sherry vinegar
• 2 tablespoons / 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 6-8 fresh basil leaves, shredded

Prepare the salad shortly before serving it.

Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise and, if they are long, cut each half in half or into thirds crosswise. Place in a salad bowl.

Quarter the cucumbers lengthwise and slice them into the salad bowl. 

Grate the radishes using the extra-coarse side of your grater and add to the salad bowl.

Put the vinegar, olive oil and sea salt into a small glass jar. Screw on the lid and shake well. Distribute on the salad and toss gently. Sprinkle the basil, then toss again. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking, then serve.

Serves 4-5

this salad makes it easy to eat your daily quota of vegetables
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Light, refreshing, colorful and flavorful: this salad is perfect for lunch and dinner. Your body will thank you.

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¹ Recording of the interview (on the same page you can access an excerpt of the book)
² The author's website
³ The book's website
⁴ The Greatest Tool for Recovery Might Be Common Sense (from Outside magazine)
⁵ See my previous post with a recipe for Green bean and torpedo onion salad

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Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

insalata di pomodori, cetrioli e ravanelli

or launch the insalata di pomodori, cetrioli e ravanelli audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

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This is my second contribution to the 36th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started 11 years ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

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I am contributing my salad also to Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays, a weekly event created by Cook the Books club co-host Deb of Kahakai Kitchen.

The roundup of the event.

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FTC disclosure: I have received the table linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

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tomatoes, Armenian cucumbers, cucumbers, radished, salad, Italian food

Comments

[Frank]

What a lovely, light, summery dish! Just what I need right now, as I've gained a little weight as of late... :-) I've never had an Armenian cucumber, will see if I can spy one in our local markets.

[Simona Carini]

Particularly with hot weather, a salad is just what the body needs, Frank :) I have started seeing Armenian cucumbers at the farmers' market in recent years and given their shape and color they are hard to ignore. They are also excellent, so I hope you'll find them in your area.

[Debra Eliotseats]

This dish sounds and looks so delicious and refreshing. Interesting book and another fabulous review.

[Deb in Hawaii]

This salad is so gorgeous and fresh looking! Thank you for sharing it with Souper Sundays this week. ;-) The book sounds fascinating too!

[Simona Carini]

Thank you, Debra :)

[Simona Carini]

Thank you, Deb. My pleasure :)

[Receita]

Sensational, if you had not shared such information I would be lost! I give a suggestion as a reader of your blog, and ask you to publish more stuff like this? thank you!

[Simona Carini]

Thank you for your encouragement :)