Shopska salad (Šopska salata)

In the summer time, beside Greek, Shopska is my favorite salad. Actually, they are very similar. For Shopska salad you need Serbian white cheese made of cow's milk. If you can't get it, Feta will be a good substitute. Since it is an "inland" salad, there is no olive oil but sunflower one.

It is interesting that this salad is very popular in Bulgaria and Macedonia too. Not surprising, because Serbs, Bulgarians, Macedonians and Greek are neighbors, all populate the Balkan Peninsula, and share the similar food.

The cool thing about the salad from the picture above, is that was made with vegetables from my garden. This year, my little urban garden is amazing, it is producing a lot of things, more than I expected... I am very grateful for the rainy summer in Baltimore.




You need for two people:

1/2 cucumber, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/2 bell, Cuban or Italian pepper, chopped
1 spring or 1 small white onion, sliced


1 tablespoon sunflower olive
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Salt and black pepper

50g Serbian white cheese or Feta cheese, crumbled
1 teaspoon chopped chives for decoration


Steps:

Chop tomatoes, cucumber, pepper and onion. Make dressing with vegetable oil, vinegar and salt and black pepper. Toss vegetables with dressing in a bowl.

When serving the salad, place crumbled cheese on the top, and add chives.

This salad goes great with any summer dish. In Serbia, it is usually eaten as a side dish, not as an appetizer. It is so refreshing, full of flavor and great aroma.

Garden galery



Cucumber vine



Six varieties of tomato (and jalapeno peppers)



Chives

Jalapeno, chili, bell peppers