Inspiration: This salad has been kicking around my kitchen for several years now. Whenever I’m having a Greek-inspired main dish, I throw it on the menu. For some reason, I don’t tend to make foods from Greek cuisine as often as from other cuisines (Mexican, anyone??), but I really do love any Greek foods that I’ve had. It seems that every time we have a few drinks downtown on a summer night and are ravenous for supper, the gyro platter at our favorite Greek place just calls our names :)

What we Loved: Fresh vegetables, earthy olives, salty feta – what’s not to love? This is a very light, vegetable-packed salad that goes well with nearly any Greek meal, or it could even be a great vegetarian meal on its own. Everything is coated in a dressing of olive oil, vinegar, and oregano, which results in a tangy, earthy flavor that is just fabulous. Oregano is a key ingredient to Greek food in my mind, so I really enjoy its inclusion here. This salad pairs beautifully with a main dish of lamb – lamb chops or shish-kabobs marinated in oregano, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and olive oil are a great pairing.

Helpful Hints: You can present this salad in a number of ways. Sometimes I slice the vegetables into small pieces, and sometimes I chop them into larger chunks. You can keep the olives whole, crumble or slice your feta, buy grape tomatoes instead of large tomatoes, etc. Varying the presentation is a great way to give this recipe a little bit of a different spin every time that you make it. This particular time, I bought goat’s milk feta, which is another variation that you could try. I really enjoyed its fresh, tangy flavor and its consistency, which I thought was much creamier than other fetas.

Greek Salad
Source: Adapted from Cherrapeno

1 cucumber
1 tomato
2 slices onion
1/2 large can black olives
3-4 oz Feta cheese
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Slice into half-rings.

2. Cut the tomato into quarters, remove the seeds, and slice. Slice the onions and the olives.

3. Add all of the vegetables to a bowl. Cut the feta into cubes, and add to the bowl. 

3. Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle over the salad and serve.