If you ask different people what a classic Greek salad looks like, you won’t get a definite answer. Some will recall that all the ingredients in this appetizer are cut very large. Others - that in the salad there are tomatoes, black olives and feta cheese. And others will say that this light meal is the very embodiment and quintessence of sophisticated Mediterranean cuisine. In Greek salad, it is not customary to give free rein to culinary imagination. The maximum that a cook can afford is to replace the feta with another similar cheese, add lettuce leaves or increase the calorie content of the snack by adding fried chicken breast or boiled shrimp. In this article, we will look at how to make a classic Greek salad without going beyond the canon. Below you will read the most correct step-by-step recipe, supplemented by photographs. We will also tell you how to discreetly diversify the dish so that it is recognizable “Choriatics” and not something else.
Ingredients
What should the world famous and very popular Greek salad consist of? The classic recipe is very strict in this regard. We certainly need fresh ripe tomatoes. And it should not be cherry, and not yellow vegetables, but real full red tomatoes - three pieces. We stock up with the same amount of fresh cucumbers. They can be small - their taste should not dominate. It is intended only to add freshness to the whole dish. It may seem to an inexperienced chef that it is better to take pitted olives for a salad - eaters do not risk breaking their teeth. But this is not so. Choose only large black olives with pips for Choriatics. It will take three hundred grams of such olives or a can of canned. An indispensable ingredient in the appetizer is red lettuce. He has no bitterness, on the contrary, even a little sweet. From spices, add only black pepper, salt and dry oregano. And you need to fill the salad with real Extra Virgin olive oil.
Her Majesty Feta
This cheese is dominant in the taste of classic Greek salad. It only in form and consistency resembles our feta cheese. But Greek feta cheese is special. Made from goat or sheep’s milk, it has a delicate taste, absolutely not overshadowing vegetables and other snack ingredients. On the contrary, feta favorably emphasizes the ripeness of tomatoes, the freshness of cucumbers and the spice of olives. But feta cheese and Adygea cheese have a too sharp and sour or salty taste. The whole harmony of Choriatics will be broken if you replace the feta with some domestic ersatz. When laying salad, cheese with vegetables in the classic recipe is not mixed. When everything is ready, feta cubes are gently laid out on top. As for dressing, for the same reasons, do not replace olive oil with sunflower, corn or rapeseed.
Greek salad. Turn-based classic recipe
Making an appetizer served in the most gourmet restaurants around the world is very simple. Even a novice culinary specialist, if he follows the recipe, will cope with this business perfectly. The main and indispensable condition for cooking is that all the ingredients must be cut coarsely. The only exception is the red lettuce onion, which must be chopped with thin rings. "Choriatics" gives the impression of a simple set of the freshest vegetables, so according to the classic recipe, Greek salad does not even need to be mixed. So, we take the dish - rather deep than flat - and begin to cook. First, cut large tomatoes and cucumbers. We shake the onion rings on them. Spread the olives on top. Note that we don’t take out the bones according to the classic recipe. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, half a teaspoon of dry oregano. We spread feta cheese, cut into large cubes. Water the dish with 50-70 milliliters of olive oil.
Bell Pepper Recipe
Photos of the Greek salad in the classic version often show the appetizer as a multi-colored mixture of red, green, white, black and yellow ingredients. What gives the dish the last shade? This is sweet bell pepper. In principle, you can take both red, and green, and a white pod. This will not affect the taste. But for beauty, for a harmonious palette it is better to take a yellow or orange pepper. Cut the stalk, remove all seeds, rinse, cut obliquely in large strips. Stack the appetizer in the following order. We put tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and onions in a salad bowl. Pour four tablespoons of olive oil into a jar with a lid. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon. Salt, sprinkle with black pepper and dry oregano. Screw the lid on and shake it vigorously with a jar until the dressing turns into an emulsion. Pour salad dressing. Then we put feta and olives on top. We serve. Such a salad is called "Village" in Greece itself.
Recipe with Salad Leaves
Often this gourmet light meal is served on lettuce. This makes her look like the equally famous Caesar. But lettuce leaves are different. Some have a pronounced spicy or nutty taste, others are neutral, while others, like Iceberg, have crispy properties. We need those with more juice. The salad itself has enough of it. Recall that the ingredients include ripe tomatoes, fresh cucumbers, and olives add liquids with their marinade. To make all the components look organic, take an Iceberg salad for the “stand” under the “Horiatics”. Leaves of Romaine are also suitable. But the recipe does not recommend adding arugula and other herbs to the classic Greek salad. Their strong taste can disrupt the delicate harmony of the dish. Salad leaves can be used not only as a bowl into which a snack is laid out. But then they need to be torn by hands into large pieces. When should they be added? Cut tomatoes, peeled cucumbers and onions. We tear with our hands two medium lettuce leaves. Mix the mass. We put olives and cheese on it. Dress with sauce.
Classical Greek salad with Beijing cabbage
A small head of shred in large stripes. To restore freshness, it is advisable to wash Beijing cabbage with ice water and dry it quickly. Given that ripe tomatoes will inevitably start juice, it is better to get rid of excess fluid. Peking cabbage, even cut into slices, will be the bottom layer. On a light green rug we lay out red tomatoes, cut into large slices. Peel the cucumbers. This green layer will lie on red tomatoes. From above will go red or orange pepper, sliced ​​in thick straws. Sprinkle it all with sweet onion rings. Put black olives and feta. The classic recipe for Greek salad with Peking cabbage recommends seasoning an appetizer with a sauce of olive oil, juice of half a lemon and dry oregano with salt and black pepper. This dish is served without stirring.
Greek salad with Italian accent
This appetizer only slightly departs from the canon. Instead of dry oregano - a typical spice of Hellas - we will take fresh basil, which is very popular in Italy. It should be remembered that a plant with purple leaves is more spicy, with a strong aroma, and less greens. How to cook, that is, in what order to put the ingredients in such a Greek salad? The classic recipe has the following requirements in this regard. First, chop the sweet onion in half rings. We crush, salt, sprinkle with a few drops of balsamic vinegar (it is possible to replace it with wine). Romaine lettuce, Lollo Rossa or Iceberg (several leaves) we tear with our hands ... You can do otherwise. If you use salad leaves as a bowl, we cover them with the bottom of the dish. We lay out cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes in layers on them. Solim. Then place the half rings of pickled onions. Feta, black olives and basil complete the appetizer decoration process. We season Greek salad with classic extra virgin olive oil.
White Cabbage Recipe
Unlike our Beijing sister, our "Queen of the Garden" is tougher and more juicy. Therefore, it must be chopped as thin as possible. It will take half a small head of cabbage. Shredded cabbage should be washed with your hands to cause the release of juice and softening of the vegetable. Two peeled carrots, shabby with large chips, will also help. Further, in a Greek salad with cabbage, the classic recipe recommends putting an ordinary set of vegetables. You can include in the list of ingredients and yellow or orange pods of bell pepper. Mandatory in this dish are tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, olives and feta. Do not forget to salt the salad and sprinkle it with ground black pepper and dry oregano. Season the appetizer with olive oil mixed with lemon juice. And although white cabbage and carrots make this dish a little like Greek salad, the classic recipe allows such a small Slavic liberty.
Feta, fetax, feta cheese - are substitutions permissible?
A rich man, to whom all products are available, will say that in any classic dish only those ingredients are used that are listed in the recipe. But a good culinary specialist, who is forced to exist in conditions of import substitution, can create a delicious Greek salad, even using processed cheese "Friendship". And even more authentic is the snack, if you use a product like fetax in it. Despite the consonance of the names, this cheese differs from that prescribed by the classic recipe for Greek salad. Feta is made from sheep’s milk with the addition of goat milk. This cheese is almost unsalted, very tender, loose texture. Fetaxa is a cheaper option. Cheese is made on the basis of cow and sheep milk. It is similar to feta in delicate texture. But it is sharply distinguished by too salty taste. It is he who is related to fetax with feta cheese. Is it possible to replace tender sheep’s cheese with such ersatz? Does a Greek salad with fetax have any right to exist? The classic recipe allows such a replacement. But given the taste of such an analogue, it is necessary to salt the dish very carefully.
We increase the nutritional value of the dish
Greek salad is considered a very light snack. It is usually served with a hot dish of fish or meat. But we can do only one salad for lunch if we increase its calorie content. How? Here is one of the recipes of a hearty dish. We cover the dish with lettuce leaves. Drain the jar of sardines from the oil. Cut the fish in half, spread on the leaves. Place cucumbers, tomatoes, black olives without stones on top. We make dressing from olive oil, wine vinegar (or lemon juice), salt, oregano. We spread feta cubes on top. We decorate the dish with twigs of purple basil and capers.
Chicken Recipe
We bring the breast or fillet to full readiness. It can be boiled, fried in oil or baked on the grill. Given the neutral taste of this type of meat, we are preparing a classic Greek salad with fetaxa. The salinity of the cheese will be balanced by chicken. We stack the products in the same way as in a salad with canned sardines. On lettuce leaves we put meat sliced ​​in longitudinal pieces. Put onion rings, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, olives, cheese on top. Refuel a little differently. To olive oil, lemon juice, oregano and salt we add one more ingredient - finely chopped garlic clove.
Interesting fact
But did you know that the classic Greek salad, with the step-by-step recipe of which you got acquainted above, was in the Guinness Book of Records? And all thanks to the inhabitants of the Cretan town of Ierapetra. In 2010, they spared no effort and created a Greek salad that weighed more than twelve tons. The Cretans estimated that eight hundred kilograms of first-class sheep feta was used to create such a dish. Since you know the recipe for this delicious snack, you can also cook at home something epic called a Greek salad.