Traditional Greek salads, however, as well as Greek cuisine in general, are distinguished by the extreme simplicity of recipes, however, many national dishes are known worldwide as fragrant, healthy and very tasty.
Vegetables, meat, seafood, local wine, sheep’s cheese and, of course, olive oil - all these are the main ingredients of Greek cuisine. However, smart Greeks managed to get the maximum result from this minimal set of products, first of all, due to the correct use of various spices in salads and special attention to the quality and freshness of the products. It seems easier than ever to make a Greek salad, you just need to purchase the necessary ingredients and chop them, and then season. This is where the hostess often faces the question of which sauce for the Greek salad will be the most optimal.
It should be said that in the recipes of classical Greek cuisine as such, the concept of "sauce" does not exist, there is a concept of filling or dressing. As a rule, the fill consists mainly of olive oil, where the Greeks add a variety of seasonings, mainly black pepper, thyme, oregano, dried dill. The Greeks usually do not use a large number of seasonings when preparing a sauce for a Greek salad, since the task is to highlight, to tone off the main taste of this (or any other) dish, and not to change it completely. In addition to these seasonings, salad lovers sometimes pour lemon juice or more grape vinegar into olive oil , for example, not one, but 3 tablespoons.
In recent years, many chefs are passionate about interpretations of Greek salad options, adding eggplant, young potatoes, pieces of salted fish, chicken, and shrimp. Many people like this, but the solid and old-fashioned residents of Greece do not perceive such delights. In restaurants you can find all this, but hardly at the tables of the Greeks.
However, if you want to experiment - please. If you want to add shrimp to the salad, we advise you to make such a sauce for shrimp salad, for which you need: 6 tablespoons of mayonnaise, 4 tablespoons of olive oil, juice of half a lemon, 2 garlic cloves.
For salad, both fresh garlic and baked are used. At the same time, fresh garlic will give the sauce a more pronounced smell and taste. If you do not like it, you should take a head of garlic, grease it with olive oil, wrap in foil and bake until soft at 180 C (about half an hour). Baked garlic must be cooled.
Next, you will need 1 tablespoon of Worcester sauce, half a teaspoon of fish sauce. This sauce can be found in stores that sell products for Asian cuisine. Instead, you can take anchovy paste or the anchovy fillet, which should be grinded to a paste.
Also take 1 teaspoon of red hot pepper seasoning. If you don’t like it, you can not use this seasoning. In addition, you will need about two tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and a pinch of black pepper.
This, of course, is not a sauce for Greek salad, but if you add shrimp to the salad, this sauce will be very useful.
If you have a blender, then this will allow you to prepare the sauce very quickly, simply, without much effort. Put in the dishes all prepared ingredients (except grated Parmesan) and wipe in a homogeneous substance, which will resemble mayonnaise in consistency. At the very end, put grated parmesan.
Place the sauce in the refrigerator until the time for salad dressing comes.
Today arugula grass is gaining great popularity. Of course, you can use regular sauce for Greek salad, but we advise you to make a special sauce for salad with arugula. It is necessary to mix chopped (or crushed) garlic, a small amount of salt, black pepper, oregano, dried Provence herbs in a small bowl , then pour the mixture into olive oil and let it brew for at least 15 minutes. Then fill the salad with the resulting sauce.