Friday, April 11, 2014

Greek Salad - My Style

I have been craving Greek Salad for the better part of this week. So we picked up the ingredients that we needed and decided to make it for dinner tonight.  I haven been so excited for dinner in a while. I couldn't wait to eat this. ( I really had been craving it for a while). 

Greek Salad is super easy to make once you find the right olives. Kalamata olives are the onces called for in the recipe and most super markets carry them nowadays.  Be sure to buy them pitted, because spending a lot of time pitting the olives makes this toss together salad much much harder to make. 

I also add lettuce to mine, while it is not traditional it makes the expensive ingredients like the cheese and the specialty olives go a lot further while using them as ingredients that contribute to taste as well as bulk. 


Ingredients
1 head Romaine Lettuce, Chopped
4 whole Ripe Tomatoes, Cut Into Six Wedges Each, Then Each Wedge Cut In Half
1 whole (large) Cucumber, Peeled, Cut Into Fourths Lengthwise, And Diced Into Large Chunks
1/2 whole Red Onion, Sliced Very Thin
30 whole Pitted Kalamata Olives, Cut In Half Lengthwise
6 ounces, weight Crumbled Feta Cheese
 Fresh Parsley, Roughly Chopped
1/4 cup Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
1 teaspoon Sugar (more To Taste)
1 clove Garlic, Minced
6 whole Kalamata Olives (extra), Chopped Fine
1/4 teaspoon Salt
 Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 whole Lemon, For Squeezing

Preparation Instructions
Add chopped lettuce, tomato wedges, cucumber chunks, onion slices, halved Kalamata olives, half the feta, and parsley to a large bowl.
Combine olive oil, vinegar, sugar, garlic, salt, pepper, and chopped olives in a bowl. Whisk together until combined. Taste and adjust seasonings (I almost always add a little sugar.)
Pour dressing over salad ingredients, then add salt and pepper. Toss with tongs or clean hands. Just before serving, top with additional feta and squeeze a little lemon juice over the top.



 Adding the extra diced olives to the dressing makes all the difference in the world and makes every single bite extra zingy and special.


You can also wrap all this deliciousness into a pita and make a wrap with it. 

Enjoy! This is something that you can eat and crave all summer long.