Tomato, Cantaloupe and Cucumber Salad with Mint and Nước Chấm

This salad is best during the height of summer, when tomatoes are ripe and flavorful and cantaloupes are sweet and expressive. Persian cucumbers add irresistible crunch. It was inspired by a salad served at Loro, a Dallas, Texas smokehouse (whose flagship is in Austin); the creation of its Nước Chấm Vinaigrette got an assist from cookbook author Andrea Nguyen.

We like to keep a jar of the Nước Chấm Vinaigrette in the fridge so this — or a salad riffing on it — can be tossed together in a flash. How to riff on it? We’ve left out the cantaloupe, upped the tomatoes, cukes and avocado and swapped cilantro for mint (delicious!). You could try adding shredded or shaved daikon in place of the cukes, tossing in some cooked shrimp or crabmeat, leaving out the avocado, adding sliced scallions, or swapping watermelon for the cantaloupe.

Cut the recipe in half for an easy solo lunch, or double it for a dinner or brunch for four.

Serves 2.

Ingredients

2 Persian cucumbers

1 large or 2 smallish heirloom tomatoes, about 10 ounces (283 grams)

1/4 of a smallish ripe cantaloupe