Tomato Cucumber Salad with Balsamic Reduction Glaze

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Pizza night! This is usually the night when I don’t feel like doing too much cooking. While some people are perfectly happy with having a couple of slices and nothing else, this would be my husband and kids, I like to have a little variety. Sure I could dump a bag of lettuce in a bowl and call it good. I do that sometimes. Other times I want something with a little more flavor oomph. I want authentic flavors on my table to share with my family. Pairing a salad with Freschetta pizza accomplishes this with simple flair. Tomatoes, cucumbers and balsamic vinegar reduction is a quick way to add a fun, delicious side dish to your pizza night meal without a lot of effort.

This recipe comes together in the time it takes you to bake a pizza. First step is to preheat your oven then put in your favorite pizza and set the timer. Freschetta Brick Oven Crust variety is one of my favorites. With 100% real provolone and mozzarella cheese, yum! Freschetta Brick Oven Pepperoni for the kids and Freschetta Brick Oven Mushroom & Spinach for my husband and me.

Tomato Cucumber Salad with Balsamic Reduction Glaze

Let’s make the salad now that the pizza is in the oven. Gather up your ingredients so they’re at the ready. One cup of balsamic vinegar, a red onion, two cucumbers, vine ripe tomatoes, a 4oz package of feta cheese and a couple of tablespoons of capers.

Before you do anything else start your balsamic reduction. In a skillet heat your balsamic vinegar on medium high heat to boiling. Drop the heat to medium and simmer until the vinegar is reduced by half. This should take about the same amount of time as it takes your pizza to bake. It’s perfect timing. While it’s reducing keep an eye on it to determine if you want it to be a thicker glaze or a bit thinner.

Also, as a quick warning, when you first start boiling down the balsamic vinegar don’t put yourself right over the pan to where you’ll breathe in the fumes. The vinegar is strong when it starts off, but it loses the tangy vinegar bite as it cooks down. The reduction will become sweeter.

With the reduction going on the stove start prepping the rest of your salad. This is the easy part. First slice your tomatoes. I cut them into wedges, but you can cut them however you like them best. I didn’t deseed them, but if you want to go for it. I have a tutorial for deseeding tomatoes if you need a little advice.

Cucumbers are next. You can peel them, not peel them, or just peel stripes on them. I opted for the fancy stripes this time. I cut the cucumbers in thick slices then from there I cut those slices in either halves or quarters depending on how big they were.

Adding the capers is easy, just drop them in. No other prep work required!

Next cut up your red onion and add it in. If you want to try another type of onion, go for it. White onions are great raw. I usually use them in pico de gallo. Yellow onions are typically used for cooking, though I do like them on a burger now and then. For this recipe red onion is my favorite.

Now you’re done until the balsamic reduction is complete. When it’s ready just pour it over the top of the salad. I like to reserve about half of the reduction so people can add more to their salad later if they want to. After you pour it on give the salad a quick stir. The colder vegetables quickly cool down the reduction.

Finish off your salad by sprinkling on the feta cheese and you’re ready to serve it with your pizza.

The pizza should be finished by now. About the time I was finishing up the salad the pizza was coming out of the oven and dinner is served! Your family deserves real taste like this. The Freschetta pizza and salad go together well.

If you haven’t tried Freschetta I highly recommend giving it a go. I know I mentioned it before, but the crust is my favorite part! The crust that rises naturally with no chemical leaveners, this gives it the texture I love! You can pick it up at Walmart in the frozen food section.

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Tomato Cucumber Salad with Balsamic Reduction Glaze

Ingredients

• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 4 medium tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 2 cucumbers, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 medium red onion, cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 tbsp capers
• 4 oz crumbled feta cheese

Instructions

1. Create a balsamic reduction by adding the vinegar to a skillet and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook until reduced about half way, approximately 10 minutes.
2. Add tomatoes, cucumbers, onion and capers into a large bowl, toss to combine.
3. When reduction is cooked down to your preferred thickness, pour over the vegetables. You can reserve part of the reduction to add when serving if desired.
4. Toss to coat vegetables.
5. Sprinkle feta cheese on top and serve.

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What’s your favorite Freschetta pizza flavor? Share your favorite flavor combinations in the comments below.