Apricot Summer Salad

Are you ready to enjoy all the fresh flavors of summer in one salad? In this apricot summer salad, I bring together the juicy tomatoes, sweet apricots, crisp cucumbers and bright mint flavors. I think it’s the perfect accompaniment to any summer BBQ.
Sometimes the weather doesn’t live up to our expectations of summer, but with this salad it doesn’t matter what is happening outside your doors, you will get the summer feeling in your kitchen. Just last weekend I was talking to Andrea about her first summer experience here in the Netherlands. Before they decided to make, the move they actually spent a few weeks here to see how they like the country. And Andrea packed all her summer dresses and beach towels to fully enjoy the Dutch summer. Only to be hugely disappointed by the weather as it was extremely windy and not particularly warm. Somehow, they recovered from disappointment and still decided to move here. So, this salad will help you recover from less than ideal summer days and create that summer feeling on the inside.
Sometimes it’s funny how things work out, as I was creating this recipe I realized that tomatoes would be a great addition to balance everything out. The weird thing about that, is that I don’t even like fresh tomatoes, I prefer them cooked and you won’t find me snacking on tomatoes. But I think I found my match with these grape tomatoes, they are not as juicy as for example the cherry tomatoes, which was one of my main issues and they are less sweet. I don’t know why, but in this salad it just works and I actually like the taste of fresh tomatoes. I think I will stick with the grape tomatoes for a while and they have given me the confidence to venture out and try other varieties of tomatoes this summer. So, who knows, there might be more tomato recipes on the way.
Apricot Summer Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cucumber diced
- 300 gram grape tomato diced
- 400 gram apricot diced
- 40 gram fresh mint sliced
- Salt
- 1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Place the diced cucumbers in a colander and generously sprinkle salt over them and let sit for 20-30 minutes. This will allow any excess water to drain from them and will keep them crisp in your salad.
- In the meantime, you can chop the tomatoes, apricots and mint.
- Add tomatoes, apricots and cucumber in a bowl together after the cucumber is done draining.
- Mix with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
- Lastly add the chopped mint and toss everything together. Serve immediately.