Apple, Cucumber and Tomato Salad

Place cucumber slices in a colander. Season generously with salt and toss until well coated. Place a 1-gallon plastic bag (filled with water and sealed) over cucumbers to weigh them down, and let stand in sink 1 hour. You can skip this step altogether, but the salad won’t have as intense a cucumber flavor.

Place cucumber, tomatoes, scallions, apples, jalapeòo and mint in a medium nonreactive bowl. Pour olive oil over salad and toss to coat evenly. Add lime juice and season with salt to taste. Serve immediately.

Shortcut
Prep the cucumbers ahead, squeeze the lime juice if you get a spare minute or two, slice the scallions and prep the tomatoes.

If you’ve never skinned a tomato, here’s how: Fill a medium pot with water and bring to a boil. Set the pot of hot water in a sink. Plunge tomatoes into the hot water for a minute and remove. Water that spills over will go down the drain instead of all over the stove. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, core and peel. However, if you don’t mind the skins, skip the whole process.