Authentic Greek Salad

And it's you and me in the summertime
We'll be hand in hand down in the park
With a squeeze and a sigh and that twinkle in your eye
And all the sunshine banishes the dark.

Summertime, The Sundays

I just love this refrain...


Yes, it is summertime... used to be my favorite season before I moved to Baltimore... humid climate is killing me, you feel like 15 degrees more than it actually is.

Back to food and good things about summertime. I like to eat Greek salad when it's hot outside... it is very refreshing and reminds me of great vacations that we had in Greece. Now, when I am so far away from that gorgeous place, I can only long to go back.

I have to tell you, I've tried many Greek salads here in the U.S. and none was authentic. Yeah, there are many Greek restaurants here, but what they serve is for the most part adjusted to local taste and not original Greek food.

What you see on my pictures is original Greek salad, no lettuce, no anchovies, no stuffed grape leaves, no pepperoncini, no special dressing, just good olive oil.

Cucumber, tomato, pepper, onion, olives, feta cheese with dried oregano and olive oil... that's it. I have been to Thessaloniki, Athens, Thasos, Corfu, Zakynthos, Naxos, Santorini, Sithonia... enough places to know the salad that Greek people eat.

You need for 2 people:

1 small cucumber
3 small tomatoes
1 medium bell pepper
1/2 medium red onion, sliced into rings
10 black olives, Kalamata is the best
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and black pepper
Block of Feta cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano


Steps:

Slice cucumber, tomato, pepper and onion as in the pictures, or chop them if you prefer. Place them in a bowl, add olives, salt, black pepper, olive oil, and toss slightly.

Serve the salad on the plate. Place the chunk of Feta cheese on the top of salad, sprinkle it with dried oregano and drizzle with the rest of olive oil.

Tip: Before you use the vegetables, keep them in the fridge for few hours. In summertime everything tastes better when cold.


Few old pictures from Greece.