Tomato, Cucumber, and Cheese Salad

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   Gather all the ingredients. The key to a delicious vegetable salad is the right vegetables. Of course, it's best to use fresh seasonal tomatoes and cucumbers, but even off-season you can find good ones. Choose tomatoes by smell - they should smell like tomatoes - and have a bright, rich color. Both large tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, medium or small, work for this salad. For the cucumbers, I recommend buying small ones.

2. Step 2:

   

   The cucumbers should also be firm to the touch and smell fresh. Wash the cucumbers well, ideally in hot water with a special brush and vegetable wash. Then dry them, trim off the ends, and cut them however is convenient. I cut them into half-moons, but any other cut works too.

3. Step 3:

   

   Wash the tomatoes very well too, remove the stem, and cut them however you like. I cut the tomatoes into wedges, but you can dice them or cut them any other way.

4. Step 4:

   

   Mix the vegetables and add the minced garlic. I usually press the clove through a garlic press, but you can also chop it with a knife or grate it on a fine grater.

5. Step 5:

   

   Salt the salad. You may also want to pepper it or add other spices. Or maybe you prefer fresh herbs? They work great in this salad: wash them well and chop them.

6. Step 6:

   

   Add the grated cheese. It can be hard or semi-hard cheese, mozzarella, or even blue cheese. In the last case, you can crumble it into small pieces with your hands.

7. Step 7:

   

   Dress the salad with sour cream. Choose natural sour cream with no milk-fat substitutes, any fat content from 10 to 30%. You can, of course, replace the sour cream with mayonnaise, but it's much less healthy.

8. Step 8:

   

   Toss the salad and transfer it to a serving bowl. Serve it as a salad or even as a dish on its own. Enjoy!