Authentic Greek Salad! (Sort of…)

 

Those of you who know me well know that I lived in Greece doing archaeology work for the last two summers of my undergraduate years at UVM. Unlike your conventional tourist vacation to Greece, my time was spent living outside the city of Ancient Korinthos in a historically and naturally vibrant place called Kechries. The advantage of living in rural Greece is that the locals don’t waste time trying to impress you with touristy food or money-making spectacle like you’ll find permeating Athens or the other big cities.

Most notable of course is the food scene. In my time in Greece I was invited to an incredible multi-generational “Garden of Eden” (the owner’s words not mine) in Isthmia. I was drafted as a line chef in his taverna (paid in ouzo, not euros of course) and learned how “real Greeks” (again his words), eat down home style food. Today we’ll talk Χωριáτικη (pronounced “hoar-ee-aa-tee-key), known to the rest of the world as Greek salad!

What you’ll need:

-Ripe tomatoes, cut into large bite sized pieces (variety doesn’t matter like quality)

– Red onion

– Light green peppers

– European cucumber (variety DOES matter this time, these are just simply better)

– Ρíγανη (OREGANO! The best of all herbs in my humble opinion)

– Extra virgin olive oil (from Greece, don’t buy any mass produced Italian crap!)

– Feta cheese (in brine, in whole blocks if you can find it. That the best kind.)

-Greek olives (With pits usually when actually in Greece, since they are homegrown!)

How it’s done:

Chop up your veggies! Large bite sized pieces for the tomatoes/cucumbers, half moons for the onions and large chunks for the pepper! Take a look at the pepper above to see what I mean about “light Green” peppers. It’s a different variety of traditional green pepper with a slightly different taste. Don’t confuse them with a hot pepper of some kind though!

Remember! You want about equal parts cucumber and tomato and they should be cut to the same size. I use about 1 part onion for every two parts cucumber/tomato because they generally have a more powerful flavor profile and can overwhelm the comparatively understated tomato and cucumbers. Toss everything together! We managed to forget the olives on our trip to the store, so you won’t see them in our bowl! But they are needed to be TRULY authentic, not just sort of…This is the stage you’d add them!

Now for the pìece de résistance! Take a thick cut slice of feta cheese and put it straight on top of the pile. For larger bowls of salad, use multiple slices as desired! Then drizzle some of that awesome Greek olive oil over the whole thing (you neither want to swamp it, nor leave it wanting more. GENEROUSLY apply oregano as a finishing touch and you have made yourself simply but utterly authentic Χωριáτικη! Enjoy!

***A note on how the Greeks eat it… It generally served before (and often concurrently) with entrees and it is always served family style! You just break off a big chunk or two of those feta slices and scoop that healthy goodness onto your plate!***