This thread goes out more to the Greek restaurants than households out there who have lost touch with their own cooking (not all but many).
One of the cornerstones of the Greek table is the salad and in particular the Horiatiki Salata. We’ve all had it by now at a Greek restaurant or at a Greek home, be it in Greece or abroad. What I find blasphemous is to eat a Horiatiki salata with bland, unripe, watery tomatoes! Furthermore, choose a good feta for your salad and that means avoiding the crumbled variety you find packaged in a bag.
It’s back to basics here. The Horiatiki lives & dies by the ingredients in it. Pick your ingredients well and you’ll realize why a Greek salad with some bread is a hearty summer lunch.
Greek Horiatiki Salata
3 ripe red tomatoes, halved & sliced
1 English cucumber (skin on, halved and sliced)
1 sweet banana pepper, halved & sliced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
extra-virgin olive oil &red wine vinegar (usual 3 to 1 ratio)
dried Greek oregano
1 slab of good Greek goat/ewe milk feta
Black Kalamata or sun-dried olives
chopped parsley for garnish
- Incorporate all the ingredients in a bowl, toss well & serve immediately.
When in Greece I never tired of Horiatiki Salata. I eat tomatoes every day here so why not eat salad every day. In Greece I was never once served a tomato that wasn’t at its juiciest. They serve only the freshest ingredients!!
Peter, did you know you can get locally made sheep’s milk feta now?
I just discovered this brand: http://www.shepherdgourmetdairy.com/index.html
It’s made in Tavistock Ontario, and it’s amazing. I got it at Costco of all places.
This looks really good! I love greek salads. I thought that lemon juice was usually part of the dressing, is it not?
Ferdzy, thanks for the link…I’ll have to check it out next time I’m at Costco.
Pam, like any dressing, viengar or lemon juice are fine. Also, some “greek salad purists” will only use oil!
The other day my friend sent me an e-mail to ask if I had a good Greek Salad recipe… I came to your site looking for one. Well now I have a great lookg recipe to give her… thanks!
Janet, there are varied twists to greek salad but this is the old school version. I also have some varieties of which I will soon post.
I had Greek salad many-many times last summer in Greece (as well as in 2002 and 2004), and I was curious to see that the feta was almost always served as a block/thick slice, and hardly ever crumbled on top of the salad. Any thoughts on that?
I think the “slab of feta” is to show the patron that they paid for a good piece of feta, rather than the “botton of the barrel” pieces. I must enquire further when in Greece.
I recall always getting the very generous slab of feta in Greece as well.
That sounds like a good explanation to me :)
peter hi from Greece!ΜΠΡΑΒΟ ΓΙΑ ΤΙΣ ΩΡΑΙΕΣ ΣΟΥ ΣΥÎΤΑΓΕΣ… ΣΟΥ ΕΧΩ ΚΑÎΕΙ LINK ΣΤΟ BLOG ΜΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΣΤΙΛΕΙ ΠΡΟΣΚΛΗΣΗ ΑΠΘΕΣ ÎΑ ΓΙÎΕΙΣ ΜΕΛΟΣ ΚΑΙ ÎΑ ΓΡΑΦΕΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΚΕΙ ΤΙΣ ΣΥÎΤΑΓΕΣ ΣΟΥ…. ΣΕ ΠΕΡΙΜΕÎΟΥΜΕ ΣΤΟΥΣ magires.gr