Greek salad: a classic recipe

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

If you ask different people what a classic Greek salad looks like, you won't get a clear answer. Some will remember that all the ingredients in this appetizer are cut very large. Others say that the salad contains tomatoes, black olives and feta cheese. And still others will say that this light snack is the very embodiment and quintessence of sophisticated Mediterranean cuisine. In a Greek salad, it is not customary to give free rein to culinary fantasy. The maximum that a cook can afford is to replace feta with another similar cheese, add lettuce, or increase the calorie content of an appetizer by adding fried chicken breast or boiled shrimp. In this article, we will look at how to make a classic Greek salad without going beyond the canon. Below you will read the most correct step-by-step recipe, supplemented by photographs. We will also show you how to discreetly diversify the dish so that it is recognizable "Horiatiki" and not something else.

Ingredients

What should the world famous and very popular Greek salad consist of? The classic recipe is very strict in this regard. We definitely need fresh ripe tomatoes. And it should not be cherry tomatoes, and not yellow vegetables, but real full-fledged red tomatoes - three pieces. Stock up on the same amount of fresh cucumbers. They can be small - their taste should not dominate. It is intended only to add freshness to the whole dish. It may seem to an inexperienced cook that it is better to take pitted olives for a salad - eaters do not risk breaking their teeth. But it's not. Choose for Horiatiki only large black olives with a stone. It will take three hundred grams of such olives or a jar of canned ones. An indispensable ingredient of the appetizer is red lettuce onion. It has no bitterness, on the contrary, even a little sweetish. From spices, add only black pepper, s alt and dry oregano. And you need to dress the salad with real extra virgin olive oil.

HM feta

This cheese is the dominant flavor of the classic Greek salad. It only resembles our cheese in shape and consistency. But Greek feta cheese is special. Made from goat's or sheep's milk, it has a mild flavor that doesn't overshadow the vegetables and other snack ingredients at all. On the contrary, feta favorably emphasizes the ripeness of tomatoes, the freshness of cucumbers and the spice of olives. But feta cheese and Adyghe cheese have a too sharp and sour or s alty taste. The whole harmony of Horiatika will be broken ifyou will replace feta with some domestic ersatz. When laying a salad, cheese and vegetables in the classic recipe are not mixed. When everything is ready, the feta cubes are carefully laid on top. As for dressing, for the same reasons, you should not replace olive oil with sunflower, corn or rapeseed oil.

Greek salad. Step by step classic recipe

It's easy to make an appetizer served in the finest restaurants around the world. Even a novice cook, if he follows the recipe, will cope with this business perfectly. The main and indispensable condition for cooking is that all ingredients must be cut coarsely. The only exception is the red lettuce bulb, which must be chopped into thin rings. Horiatiki gives the impression of a simple set of the freshest vegetables, so according to the classic recipe, the Greek salad does not even need to be mixed. So, we take a dish - rather deep than flat - and start cooking. First, coarsely chop the tomatoes and cucumbers. We shake onion rings on them. Lay olives on top. Note that we do not pull out the bones according to the classic recipe. Sprinkle with s alt, pepper, and half a teaspoon of dry oregano. Spread the feta cheese cut into large cubes. Drizzle the dish with 50-70 milliliters of olive oil.

Recipe with bell peppers

Photos of Greek salad in the classic version often show the appetizer asmulti-colored mixture of red, green, white, black and yellow ingredients. What gives the dish its final touch? This is a sweet bell pepper. In principle, you can take both red, and green, and white pod. It won't affect the taste. But for beauty, for a harmonious palette, it is still better to take a yellow or orange pepper. We cut off the stalk, remove all the seeds, rinse, cut obliquely into large strips. We put the snack in the following order. Put tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and onions in a salad bowl. Pour four tablespoons of olive oil into a jar with a lid. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon. S alt, sprinkle with black pepper and dry oregano. Screw on the lid and shake the jar vigorously until the dressing emulsifies. Pour dressing over salad. Then top with feta and olives. We serve. Such a salad in Greece itself is called "Rustic".

Recipe with salad leaves

Often this gourmet light snack is served on lettuce leaves. This makes her look like the no less famous "Caesar". But salad leaves are different. Some have a pronounced spicy or nutty taste, others are neutral, others, like Iceberg, have crunchy properties. We need the ones with more juice. The salad itself has enough of it. Recall that the ingredients include ripe tomatoes, fresh cucumbers, and olives add liquid with their marinade. To make all the components look organic, let's take Iceberg lettuce for the "stand" under Horiatiki. Romaine leaves will do as well. But arugula and other spicy herbs in a classic Greek saladThe recipe does not recommend adding. Their strong taste can break the delicate harmony of the dish. Lettuce leaves can be used not only as a bowl in which an appetizer is laid out. But then they need to be torn by hand into large pieces. When should they be added? We cut tomatoes, peeled cucumbers and onions. Tear two medium lettuce leaves with your hands. We mix the mass. Put olives and cheese on it. Season with sauce.

Classic Greek salad with Chinese cabbage

Shred a small head of cabbage in large strips. To restore freshness, it is advisable to wash Beijing cabbage with ice water and dry it quickly. Considering that ripe tomatoes will inevitably release juice, it is better to get rid of excess liquid. Beijing cabbage, even cut into pieces, will be the bottom layer. On a light green rug lay out red tomatoes, cut into large slices. Peel cucumbers. This green layer will "lie down" on the red tomatoes. Red or orange peppers, cut into thick strips, will go on top. Sprinkle it all with sweet onion rings. Throw in black olives and feta. The classic Greek cabbage salad recipe recommends dressing the appetizer with a sauce of olive oil, the juice of half a lemon and dry oregano with s alt and black pepper. This dish is served without stirring.

Greek salad with Italian accents

This appetizer is only slightly off the canon. Instead of dry oregano - a typical Hellas spice - we will take fresh basil, whichvery popular in Italy. It should be remembered that a plant with purple leaves is more spicy, with a strong aroma, and with green leaves less. How to cook, that is, in what order to put the ingredients in such a Greek salad? The classic recipe has the following prescriptions in this regard. First, chop the sweet onion in half rings. We crush, s alt, sprinkle with a few drops of balsamic vinegar (it can be replaced with wine). Lettuce Romaine, Lollo Rossa or Iceberg (a few leaves) tear with your hands … You can do otherwise. If you are using lettuce leaves as a bowl, line the bottom of the dish with them. We spread cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes on them in layers. S alt. Then we place half rings of pickled onions. Feta, black olives and basil complete the garnish. Dressing Greek salad with classic extra virgin olive oil.

Recipe using white cabbage

Unlike the Beijing sister, our "Queen of the Garden" is tougher and juicier. Therefore, it must be chopped as thin as possible. You will need half a small head of cabbage. Shredded cabbage should be mashed with your hands to cause the release of juice and soften the vegetable. Two peeled carrots, shabby with large chips, will also help this. Next, in a Greek salad with cabbage, the classic recipe recommends putting the usual set of vegetables. You can include a yellow or orange bell pepper in the list of ingredients. Mandatory in this dish are tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, olives and feta. Let's not forgets alt the salad and sprinkle it with ground black pepper and dry oregano. Season the appetizer with olive oil mixed with lemon juice. And although white cabbage and carrots make this dish a little like a Greek salad, the classic recipe allows such a small Slavic liberties.

Feta, fetax, cheese - are substitutions allowed?

A rich person who has access to all products will say that in any classic dish only those ingredients are used that are listed in the recipe. But a good cook, who is forced to exist in the conditions of import substitution, will be able to create a delicious Greek salad even using Druzhba processed cheese. And the appetizer will be even more authentic if you use a product such as fetax in it. Despite the consonance of names, this cheese differs from that prescribed by the classic recipe for Greek salad. Feta is made from sheep's milk with the addition of goat's. This cheese is almost uns alted, very tender, loose consistency. Fetax is a cheaper option. Cheese is made from cow's and sheep's milk. It is similar to feta in a delicate texture. But it is sharply distinguished by too s alty taste. It is he who makes fetax related to cheese. Is it possible to replace tender sheep's cheese with such ersatz? Does Greek salad with fetax even have a right to exist? The classic recipe allows such a substitution. But given the taste of such an analogue, you need to s alt the dish very carefully.

Increase the nutritional value of the dish

Greek saladconsidered a very light snack. It is usually served with a hot fish or meat dish. But we can get by with just one salad for lunch if we increase its calorie content. How? Here is one of the recipes for a hearty dish. We cover the dish with lettuce leaves. Drain the jar of sardines from the oil. Cut the fish in half, spread on the leaves. Place cucumbers, tomatoes, pitted black olives on top. We make a dressing of olive oil, wine vinegar (or lemon juice), s alt, oregano. Lay the feta cubes on top. Decorate the dish with sprigs of purple basil and capers.

Chicken Recipe

Bring the breast or fillet to full readiness. It can be boiled, fried in oil or grilled. Considering the neutral taste of this type of meat, we are preparing a classic Greek salad with feta cheese. The s altiness of the cheese will be balanced by the chicken. We stack the products in a similar way, as in a salad with canned sardines. We put the meat cut into longitudinal pieces on lettuce leaves. Place onion rings, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, olives, cheese on top. Let's go a little differently. Add one more ingredient to olive oil, lemon juice, oregano and s alt - finely chopped garlic clove.

Interesting fact

Do you know that the classic Greek salad, with a step-by-step recipe of which you have read above, got into the Guinness Book of Records? And all thanks to the inhabitants of the Cretan town of Ierapetra. In 2010, they spared no effort and created a Greek salad that weighed over twelve tons. The Cretans calculated that to create such a dish was usedeight hundred kilograms of first-class sheep's feta. Since you know the recipe for this delicious appetizer, you too can make an epic Greek salad at home.