A simple Greek salad...

I have always loved a Greek salad on a hot summer day. There is something delicious about good olive oil, Greek olives, fresh tomatoes, and chopped fresh cucumbers which always makes this salad so refreshing and fun.  

I have been to Greece a few times now and have always enjoyed the delicious Greek salads I have had there. A Greek salad is a staple in most restaurants and cafes. Usually the salads are simple salads served in large white soup bowls—with chopped tomato, chopped cucumber, olives, sliced red onion, a sprinkling of oregano, and a splash of good Greek olive oil and red wine vinegar. Sometimes you will find a few slices of green pepper in the salad too. A Greek salad is always served with a basket of bread. And the feta cheese is usually served in one big block, on top of the salad.  

This is my version of a traditional Greek salad, in honor of all the Greek salads I have tasted and enjoyed in my life. 

This Greek salad recipe is made with goat cheese feta. I prefer using goat cheese feta instead of cow's milk feta as it is better for those people who cannot tolerate too much dairy.  

This salad has a number of important nutrients—in the tomatoes, the cucumbers, the cheese, the olives, the red onion. There is lycopene in the tomatoes, quercetin in the red onion, calcium and magnesium and protein in the feta cheese, fiber in the various vegetables, and healthy mono-unsaturated fats in the olive oil.

Greek Salad
(serves 2)

Ingredients:  
• Cherry tomatoes, 1 cup
• Tomatoes, 2 medium
• Cucumbers, 2 medium
• Red onion, 1/2 of onion
• Pitted Kalamata Greek olives, 1/2 cup
• Goat cheese feta, 1 block, 4 oz. 
• Organic cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, 4 tablespoons
• White wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons
• Dried oregano, 2 tablespoons
• Fresh black pepper
• Sea salt (I use Himalayan pink sea salt)

1. Rinse cherry tomatoes and cut in half. Toss in large salad bowl.
2. Rinse medium tomatoes, core, remove stem, then cut in wedges. Toss in salad bowl along with cherry tomatoes.
3. Rinse cucumbers, chop in 1/2 inch rounds. Discard ends. Once chopped, cut each cucumber round in half moons. Toss half moon cucumber slices in salad bowl with tomatoes.
4. Chop red onion in thin slices.  Toss onion slices in salad bowl with tomatoes and cucumbers.
5. Add 1/2 cup of pitted Kalamata Greek olives to salad bowl with tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion.
6. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of dried Greek oregano to veggies in salad bowl.  Remove any long wooden stems from dried oregano.
7. Add 4 tablespoons olive oil to salad bowl.
8. Add 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar to salad bowl.  
9.  Toss well.
10.  Season with sea salt and black pepper, to taste.
11.  Toss well.
12.  Add block of feta cheese on top of mixed salad.  Sprinkle with oregano and dollop with a few olives.  

Options:
• Add sliced green pepper or red pepper.
• Add chopped fresh mint, dill or basil.
• Use lemon juice or red wine vinegar instead of white wine vinegar.
• Substitute tofu for goat cheese feta.

Enjoy!

february 4, 2016 • recipe 12
a recipe by Carol Giardino • all rights reserved.