WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS: Most versions of Greek salad consist of iceberg lettuce, a few bits of green pepper, and a couple of pale tomato wedges, sparsely dotted with cubes of feta and garnished with one forlorn olive of questionable heritage and a few rounds of cucumber thrown in for good measure. For our Greek salad, we left out the lettuce altogether in favor of a “country style” salad that is popular throughout Greece. Naturally, it features an abundance of crisp, thinly sliced cucumbers. For the bright tasting dressing, we used a combination of lemon juice and red wine vinegar and added fresh oregano, olive oil, and a small amount of garlic. Briefly marinating the cucumbers and onion in the vinaigrette both flavored the cucumber and tamed the onion’s harshness. We then added ripe tomatoes, roasted red peppers, kalamata olives, and fresh mint and parsley, and topped it all with a generous amount of crumbled feta.
SERVES: 6 to 8
TOTAL TIME: 35 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- Salt and pepper
- 2 English cucumbers, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
- ½ red onion, sliced thin
- 6 large ripe tomatoes, cored, seeded, and cut into ½-inch-thick wedges
- 1 cup jarred roasted red peppers, rinsed, patted dry, and cut into ½-inch strips
- ½ cup pitted kalamata olives, quartered
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- ¼ cup chopped fresh mint
- 5 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (1¼ cups)
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Whisk oil, vinegar, oregano, lemon juice, garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, and ⅛ teaspoon pepper together in large bowl. Add cucumbers and onion, toss to coat, and let sit for 20 minutes.
- Add tomatoes, red peppers, olives, parsley, and mint to bowl with cucumber-onion mixture and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to serving dish and sprinkle with feta. Serve.
