Greek Salad

How do you make a Greek salad?

If you ask 10 Greeks how to make a Greek salad you’ll get 10 different recipes. When my husband and I visited Greece, a Greek salad was considered a plate of feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers and maybe olive oil. If that’s what you’re into then check out my recipe for what I call a genuine Greek salad. I think at the end of the day, if you have good feta cheese then you can’t go wrong with whatever else you add to the plate.

A few weeks ago I had dinner with my parents and my mom made a Greek salad. I was so blown away with how delicious it was that I decided to make it myself. Here’s the rub. Even though I’m using all of the same ingredients, my salads never come out tasting as good as my mom’s. I guess I’m missing one ingredient… mom’s magic touch. 🙂

Okay, maybe it was also better because I didn’t have to make it myself. I think the biggest problem with Greek salad recipes is that they are all “some of this” and “a little of that” and “stir it all up” type of recipes. You go home with a list of ingredients and a basic pattern to follow and you end up just a little bit off. What you get is, not surprisingly, a totally different recipe when you are done.

Please, please, please, use fresh and good quality ingredients for this recipe. It makes all the difference in the world. That means good olives if you use them. It means a brand of feta cheese that you know you like. It means that the olive oil you use is actually olive oil. Other flavorless oils are great for cooking but really won’t help your salad. It even means that when you use herbs, even if they are dried, they shouldn’t be older than you are. Trust me, it makes a difference.

At the end of the day, like I’ve said with several of my other “super basic” recipes, make this one yours. Pick a different kind of lettuce or swap the olives for tomatoes. This is just the version I ended up with today. It was inspiring enough to share, but I won’t be offended if you make it your own. 🙂

Greek Salad Recipe
(about 2 servings)

Ingredients:

3 teaspoons olive oil
1 and 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
chopped lettuce (I used iceberg)
kalamata olives, sliced
feta cheese, chopped

Directions:

To make the dressing, into a measuring cup, add the olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, oregano, and garlic powder and whisk everything together. Set it aside.
In a big bowl, add the chopped lettuce, sliced olives, and chopped feta cheese.
Pour the dressing on top and gently mix everything together.

Source: My mom (sort of)

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