Greek salad is a delicious, beautiful and easy to prepare dish, ideal for a healthy diet. The classic version of this light salad includes only fresh and natural products. All Mediterranean cooking is famous for this, Greek salad is a vivid confirmation of this. In addition, it is a low-calorie, weight loss dish. Even an inexperienced hostess can easily make a Greek salad, the recipe for cooking is very simple, it will take no more than fifteen minutes. This dish can be prepared every day, but, in addition, it is indispensable for a summer party, a picnic or a holiday in the fresh air.
So, Greek salad, recipe for cooking
(main)
The following products will be required:
- a pound of fresh, non-bitter cucumbers, fresh tomatoes, not too salty feta cheese (goat cheese is best suited. Salted feta cheese can be soaked in milk in advance.);
- one can of pitted black olives;
- natural olive oil for dressing;
- fresh basil or other spicy greens (cilantro, watercress).
Cooking
Cut tomatoes, cucumbers and feta cheese into small cubes, cut olives into halves, and chop the greens. Mix all the ingredients and season the salad with olive oil, salt. Let it brew for fifteen minutes and serve.
This is a classic Greek salad, the cooking recipe can be slightly changed and varied, replacing or adding ingredients.
You can cook a Greek salad with the addition of bell pepper; add one pod of red and green pepper to the above products, cut into small cubes.
The original taste is Greek salad with tuna; to the main ingredients add a can of canned tuna (or mackerel), you need to pre-mash canned food with a fork. Boiled shrimp is also good for such a salad.
Salad cucumbers can not be cut and grated on a coarse grater (the juice that has stood out must be drained). Black olives - replace with green olives. You can decorate the salad with chips.
Salad dressing is also permissible to replace. Greek salad can be seasoned with low-fat sour cream or yogurt, or just with mayonnaise (preferably with mayonnaise in olive oil). You can also use yogurt (a thick product of sour milk, used in Caucasian cuisine).
Basil (sometimes also called "regan") gives the Greek salad a special, Mediterranean taste and aroma. You can take any kind of basil: Italian (green) or Armenian (red). If you can’t find the basil, you can add cilantro, a little watercress or, in extreme cases, parsley, celery. Do not put dill and dried herbs in this salad, this can ruin the harmonious taste of the dish (in this case, you can make a salad without any greens). Garlic lovers can add a couple of cloves to the salad.
You should talk about cheese for this salad separately. In Greece, feta cheese is used for it (now you can find special cheese for Greek salad on sale ), sheep’s cheese - cheese or Adyghe cheese is the best choice. Not bad turns out a Greek salad with suluguni cheese. You can, in principle, use any homemade cheese close to cottage cheese.
Fans of more satisfying salads can make a Greek salad with crackers; you can use ready-made ones (from the package), but home-made crackers will make your salad much tastier.
Cooking crackers
cut the white loaf (preferably yesterday) into cubes about 1-1.5 centimeters in size. Put on a baking sheet, sprinkle liberally with olive oil and dry briefly in a preheated oven. You can simply fry the bread cubes in a pan, also in olive oil.
Greek salad goes well with white bread, pita bread or croutons. You can serve sour milk (Bulgarian or Ayran, yogurt). This salad can be not only an independent dish, it can be served with roast beef, meat, poultry or fish, grilled, or barbecue. The taste of Greek salad goes well with white or red dry wine. You and your guests will surely enjoy the Greek salad, the recipe for which will be your signature.