serves 6
Most classics become so for a reason, and Greek salad—that savory mix of good tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, kalamata olives, green peppers, onions, feta, olive oil, and oregano—is no exception. The combination is universally appealing, timeless, and never tiresome.
There are a few rules of thumb, at least in my book, when it comes to making a real Greek salad, aka horiatiki (which literally translates as “village” salad): Make it in season with really good tomatoes. Make sure the feta is Greek. Never cut iceberg or any other lettuce into it—that’s an American aberration. Serve it with a little salt, preferably Greek sea salt, and great extra-virgin Greek olive oil. Don’t even think about drizzling vinaigrette over it!
That said, it is tempting to experiment a little with a classic, and in the past decade or so, Greek chefs have turned Greek salad inside out and upside down in an attempt to add a personal touch to this time-honored, iconic dish. Is that like scrawling graffiti on the Parthenon? Maybe! But the combination of ingredients in a Greek salad is so appealing that it lends itself, at the very least, to alternative uses and a few variations. Here’s my classic recipe, as well as a few ideas for how to tweak and serve this classic while staying true to its core flavors.
1 pound (450 g) ripe but firm juicy tomatoes
1 red onion
2 medium green bell peppers
1 large firm cucumber
Salt
12 kalamata olives
1 (3 x ½-inch / 7.5 x 1.5 cm) wedge Greek feta
Optional additions (see here), as desired
1 teaspoon dried Greek oregano
6 to 8 tablespoons (90 to 120 ml) extra-virgin Greek olive oil
Working over the bowl in which you plan to serve the salad in order to retain all the juices, use a sharp paring knife to cut the tomatoes in half through their stem end and core them. Cut into uneven chunks by first slicing them into wedges, then halving the wedges and dropping them into the bowl.
Halve the onion. Following the onion’s natural contours, cut the onion into ⅛-inch-thick (3 mm) slices and place them in the salad bowl over the tomatoes.
Remove the crowns from the peppers. Using a paring knife or small spoon, remove the seeds and ribs. Cut the peppers into ⅛-inch-thick (3 mm) rings and place in the salad bowl over the tomatoes and onions.
Peel the cucumber, if you prefer it peeled (personally, I like it with the peel on). Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and scrape out the seed bed if it is too large and wet. Cut the halves into roughly ⅛-inch-thick (3 mm) crescents or half-moons. Place them in the bowl with the tomatoes, onion, and peppers.
Season to taste with salt. Add the olives and place the feta wedge on top of the salad. Add optional additions as desired. Sprinkle with the oregano and drizzle with the olive oil, using more or less to your liking. Toss and serve.
NOTE: The best part is on the bottom, after the salad has been consumed and all that’s left is the satisfying mixture of vegetable juices and olive oil. There’s a word for this in Greek: papara, which refers to the act of dunking good bread into all those juices.
Peperoncini peppers, capers, pickled sea fennel, fresh oregano, and broken-up chunks of the rusks called paximadia (see here) are all great additions to a Greek salad.
One of my favorite additions is something I borrowed from an Indian friend, which has become a signature salad at Committee, the Greek restaurant in Boston where, as of this writing, I am consulting chef: crispy fried fresh okra. To use okra, you’ll need ½ pound (225 g) fresh okra pods. With a sharp paring knife, trim around and discard the top, right under the stem. Soak the pods in vinegar for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat 1 inch (2.5 cm) of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it registers 350°F (170°C) on an instant-read or deep-fry thermometer. Drain the okra pods, pat dry, and cut them in half lengthwise. In a medium bowl, season ½ cup (65 g) all-purpose flour with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss the okra in the seasoned flour to coat. Working in batches, fry the okra in the hot oil until crisp and golden. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the okra to paper towels to drain. Sprinkle over the salad as a garnish.
Make a sandwich. Mash olives with some feta cheese and spread it over some good bread and layer it with sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and red onions.
Make a cold soup. The ingredients of a Greek salad make a great iced soup. Make sure you use pitted olives, and blend everything but the feta and olive oil together in the bowl of a food processor. Chill. Right before serving, garnish with the feta and drizzle with the olive oil.
Make a heartier Greek salad with bread or rusks. Toss all the ingredients for a Greek salad with 1 broken-up barley rusk or a handful of homemade pita chips (here).
The hardest part of perfecting a Greek salad is finding the right tomato. Sweet or acidic? Firm-fleshed or juicy? Thin- or thick-skinned? These choices are all really a matter of personal taste.
If you lean toward tomatoes that have a sweet, almost fruity flavor, look for Campari tomatoes. They’re a hybrid variety and easy to find and recognize: Camparis are usually sold attached to their stems and vine in neat rows.
If you’re like me, wanting a slightly more complex tomato flavor, then look for any of the heirloom beefsteak varieties or the dark-purplish Black Cherry tomato, which has a mouth-watering acidic quality. My favorite heirloom tomato is the Lucky Cross, which closely resembles a variety in Greece called Vravrona or Batales. It is uneven and ribbed, with a beautiful balance of both sweetness and acidity.
