My vision of a perfect salad includes lots of things, but not leafy greens, oh no. Keep your raw, flavorless crunchy stuff to yourself - I like my greens nicely sauteed (or baked, or boiled into a soup or sauce) and my salads stuffed with lots of raw everything-else-but-lettuce.
All of which makes salad-eating difficult for me. But I've found ways around it.
The Perfect Greek Salad
6 fingerling or baby red potatoes
2 pints cherry tomatoes
1 medium red onion
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 kirby cucumber
1/2 cup green pitted olives
basil (dried or fresh) to taste
5 tablespoons chopped chives
1/2 lb feta cheese
salt and pepper to taste
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Let's get started! Bowl some water and add the potatoes.
While they boil, let's work on the other ingredients.
Take your cherry tomatoes and pour then onto a nice, comfortable cutting board.
Slice those pretty little gems in half...
...and plop them right into the biggest bowl you can dig out of your cupboard.
Now grab a nice, fresh red onion.
Give it a slice and a chop (the whole thing!)...
...and throw it into the bowl with the tomatoes halvsies.
Let's throw in a red pepper. How about this one?
Chop, chop!
...and into the bowl!
We have red - why not green? Let's get colorful!
Chop it all up...
...and add it to the rest of the goodies.
While we're with the green, let's toss a cucumber in there.
We're chopping!
Wait, what that?
Aw, someone wants a snack! Here you go, little guy.
Where were we? Oh yes - cucumbers into the bowl!
I'm sure you have some plump green olives lying around somewhere.
Let them join the party!
How are those potatoes doing? Once they are tender...you got it! Chop and into the bowl!
Whatever basil you can get, throw it in - I happened to have some freshly dried in the fridge that I crumpled on top of that bowl of healthy, colorful summer vegetables. You can tear some fresh leaves in there or regular dried.
You'll want some feta. I highly recommend Greek...but it's pretty expensive. If you can't justify that, go for the Bulgarian at half the price - it's almost as good.
Using a fork - or your fingers, if you're like me - crumble the feta over the pile of yummy vegetables in that bowl.
If you have chives lying around, they'd make a great addition about now. Chop, if you wish, or use kitchen shears.
Give it all a shake. Taste it. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Give it a shake and taste it again.
Separately, mix equal parts red wine vinegar and a good quality olive oil and pour over your salad to taste.
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