Since I made sauteed beet greens the other evening, I had also roasted the beets themselves and kept them in the fridge.  When I arrived home this evening, I found one of my neighbor Beppi’s bags hanging on my back door with the first of this season’s cucumbers from his garden. 

Cucumbers and beets are a great combination–the bright and crispy cucumber against the sweet and earthy beet.  I like to peel the cucumbers, cut them in half lengthwise, scrape out the seeds with a spoon, then slice them into half-moon slices.  Eliminating the seeds helps prevent your salad from becoming waterlogged.  All that’s needed is oil, vinegar and salt. 

This was the perfect salad to accompany my grilled filet mignons.  Instead of putting a bit of feta or goat cheese on the beet salad, I decided to place a slab of bleu cheese (which I had leftover from my cobb salad) right on top of the sizzling steak (think of a burger with bleu cheese only much more luxurious!)

Beet, Tomato and Cucumber Salad

serves 4

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved (I used yellow, which were sweetest at my farm stand)

8 medium beets, roasted (see my golden beet and goat cheese salad)

3 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and sliced into half-moon slices approx. 1/4″ thick

1 tbl extra-virgin olive oil

2 tsps red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Toss vegetables with oil, vinegar and salt.  Serve immediately.