Method of preparing Greek salad. Greek salad, classic recipe (5 step-by-step unusual Greek salad recipes)

In Greece, this salad is made from fresh vegetables, coarsely chopped, with the addition of feta cheese and olive oil... This is an unusually tasty, aromatic and light salad. The key to success is fresh vegetables and large olives with pits, oregano and real olive oil.

Greek salad is loved all over the world, it is usually served in a classic form, and is rarely improvised with the ingredients. The changes affect only the components of the dressing, for example, some add cloves of garlic to the dressing. Cooking salad may differ in the way you cut vegetables, one thing remains unnamed - the cutting should be large. Depending on the place of preparation, they can be added to the salad chicken breast, mushrooms, shrimps or other seafood.

By the way, in Greece itself, this salad is called rustic.

Greek salad classic

Ingredients:

• Fresh ripe tomatoes - 3 pcs.,
• Cucumbers (small) - 3 pcs.,
• Salad onion (red) - 1 pc.,
• Olives (large with pits) - 1 jar (or 300 g),
• Feta cheese - 180 g,
• Oregano (dry) - 0.5 tsp,
• Olive oil - 50-70 ml,
• Ground black pepper,
• Salt.

Preparation:

Cut the prepared tomatoes and cucumbers into large pieces. Put in a salad bowl. Peel the onion and cut into thin rings. Add to cucumbers and tomatoes. Place olives and diced feta cheese on the onion. Sprinkle with dry oregano, salt and pepper. Pour olive oil over the salad. Can be served without stirring.

This is a juicy, colorful and healthy snack that everyone has probably heard of. It will come in handy in a dietary diet, suitable for a family dinner and even for meeting guests. Let's see how to cook Greek salad, following the tradition, and with the addition of other components.

The classic recipe is the simplest. To implement it, you only need the available components.

Required products:

• one salad onion;
• tomatoes and cucumbers - two each;
• two tablespoons of olive oil;
• any spices to your taste;
• 0.3 kg of pitted olives;
• about 200 grams of Fetax cheese.

Cooking process:

1. We wash the vegetables from the list, cut them into squares and send them to the salad bowl.
2. Put on top onion rings, olives and add cubes to Fetax.
3. Sprinkle the ingredients with the selected spices and pour over the oil. Now you can serve the dish to waiting eaters without even stirring.

Provencal herbs go well with fresh vegetables. But in season when young greens are available, it is best to use them.

Cooking recipe with feta cheese

Greek salad with feta cheese is an option for those cases when there is no cheese, which is used in the traditional recipe.

Prepare a set of products in advance:

• half a can of olives;
• spices to your taste;
• two large spoons of olive oil;
• 0.1 kg of feta cheese;
• one Bell pepper.

Cooking process:

1. Cut the cucumbers and tomatoes into large pieces, put them in the chosen container. Remove the cap and seeds from the pepper, cut it into small pieces and mix with the rest of the ingredients.
2. Next, olives and salty cheese are sent to the salad bowl, which we also grind into neat small squares.
3. Pour in the indicated amount of vegetable oil and season with any spices as you wish.

With chicken and croutons

In this version of cooking, croutons are used, which give the dish a special piquancy and some resemblance to the popular "Caesar".

Crackers can be made on their own in the oven, and if there is no time, then without prejudice to the taste of the dishes, purchased dishes will do.

Prepare such a grocery set in advance:

• 100 grams of olives;
• small sweet onion;
• herbs and spices to taste;
• two cucumbers and the same amount of tomato;
• 0.3 kg of chicken fillet;
• lettuce leaves;
• three tablespoons of olive oil;
• 0.1 kg Fetax;
• 50 grams of white croutons.

Cooking process:

1. We wash the salad, tear it into any pieces and put it on a plate. Top will go tomatoes and cucumbers, cut into medium-sized pieces, as well as onions in half rings.
2. The chicken must be boiled, chopped and added to the rest of the ingredients.
3. It remains only to cover the dish with olives, Fetaxa cubes and crackers, season with spices and pour in olive oil.

How to make Greek bean salad

This is not the most common way to prepare the dish under discussion, but be sure to try it. Perhaps you will love it even more than the classic salad.

Required products:

• a bunch of lettuce leaves;
• 40 milliliters of olive oil;
• two cucumbers and two dense tomatoes;
• a glass of beans;
• 100 grams of olives;
• one blue onion;
• 0.15 kg Fetax.

Cooking process:

1. Before starting cooking, you need to soak the beans, and then boil them until ready.
2. Place chopped lettuce on top of a platter and top with diced vegetables. Next comes the turn of onion half rings, and then beans.
3. Mix olive oil with various spices, such as Provencal herbs- an interesting fill will come out. Pour it over the dish.
4. It remains to add olives and cheese, chopped into medium-sized cubes.

With feta cheese

Light, bright salad is ideal for any side dish and meat dish... It can also be prepared using not only the already reviewed cheeses, but also Feta cheese, which is made from goat's milk.

Required products:

• any mix of fresh herbs;
• two tablespoons of olive oil;
• 0.2 kg of cucumbers;
• up to 200 grams of feta;
• half a can of olives;
• fresh salad - a bunch;
• a small head of lettuce onions;
• pod of sweet pepper.

Cooking process:

1. Prepare a large platter on which you will lay out all the ingredients.
2. Rinse the lettuce leaves, tear them with your hands and place them on a plate.
3. Next, grind cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers, which must first be cleaned of seeds. We place all vegetable cuts over the leaves.
4. Add onion, chopped in half rings, cheese, diced, and olives. We fill all this with the selected spices, based on our taste. Pour olive oil over the appetizer and then serve.

With Chinese cabbage

Prepare all the food you need in advance:

• goat cheese 200 grams;
• the same amount of Peking;
• a pod of not hot pepper;
• a couple of tomatoes and the same amount of cucumbers;
• olive oil - three tablespoons;
• seasonings to taste;
• 0.1 kg of olives.

Cooking process:

1. We wash and grind all the vegetables listed in the list: cabbage - into strips, cucumbers and tomatoes - in small pieces. We preliminarily free the pepper from seeds and also turn it into cubes or short strips.
2. We spread all the crushed components in the selected container, add to them goat cheese and olives.
3. It remains only to pour the olive oil over the dish and add the spices.

Don't salt the salad until you've tasted it. The cheese is already salty enough, you can not guess and overdo it with the usual proportion.

Greek salad in pita bread

This dish rather an appetizer than a salad. If you use a small pita or pita, then it can be served in portions.

Required products:

• 0.2 kg of any goat cheese;
• a couple of fleshy tomatoes;
• one salad onion;
• two cucumbers;
• spices to your taste;
• two pita bread;
• 30 milliliters of olive oil;
• 100 grams of olives.

Cooking process:

1. Preparing such a salad is no more difficult than a regular one. Prepare all the ingredients on the list: rinse the vegetables, remove the seeds from the peppers, and cut everything into small squares or strips. Onions can be chopped in half rings - this will make the dish even more beautiful. Put everything first in a bowl.
2. Add the selected chopped cheese and olives there, pour in olive oil, sprinkle with spices. You can also mix the oil with the herbs in advance and let it stand for a while for a more flavorful sauce.
3. We mix the resulting mass, send it to the expanded pita bread and twist it tightly in the form of a roll.

Sauce options

It is not at all necessary to season this dish only with olive oil and spices, because you can always prepare a sauce for a Greek salad.

Classic dressing

My dear lovers of delicious, simple and unusual, today I will tell you which salad is the easiest and fastest to prepare, besides, you will need a minimum of cheap products. It will be about the already popular among Russians at the holiday and at New Year platter - Greek salad according to the classic usual recipe.

Greek salad - classic recipe

Such a healthy and light (low-calorie) dish is prepared quickly. And many already know the real classic recipe Greek salad - it is simple and, on the other hand, piquant because of the Feta cheese (Fetaxa, Brynza) that was present in its composition.

And now you will see a completely different, unusual "Greek" and its 5 step-by-step recipes.

Greek salad - a classic step-by-step recipe (with photo) from a real Greek chef. Cooking secrets

When traveling, many people love not only to study exotic flora and fauna, to get acquainted with the history of the country, but also to learn its culinary secrets.

And now you can travel not only physically, getting on a train, car or plane, but also virtually. And thanks to the appearance in many cities of many restaurants of world cuisine, you can enjoy overseas dishes without even leaving your home, but simply by placing an order by phone.

All this is wonderful, but sometimes you want to master the preparation of your favorite dishes in order to enjoy them at any time. Along with the traditional Russian "", "" and "", with the French "" and with Italian pizza, Japanese sushi, French sauces our people are very fond of some dishes of Greek cuisine, the most popular representative of which is Greek salad.

Surely this dish is familiar to many: it is prepared not only in restaurants and cafes, but also served at the table in many homes. Another thing is that it does not always have the same appearance and taste.

As for the "appearance", different options for serving and decorating are really possible here, but the taste of this salad is a matter of principle. In order for it to match the one enjoyed by real Greeks, it is necessary to be aware of all the secrets of its preparation and use only those ingredients that are in original recipe, without any initiative in the form of boiled potatoes or eggs.

Yes, with them the dish will turn out to be more satisfying, but it will no longer be a Greek salad.

Traditional Greek Salad Recipe

Making Greek salad is easy. If you are already familiar with it, then you probably noticed that all its ingredients are cut quite large, which further simplifies the task.

As a rule, these are large cubes, but if you want the salad to be not only tasty, but also beautiful, then you can experiment with the shapes.

Ingredients

You will need for 8 servings:

• leaf salad,
• cucumbers - 3,
• tomatoes - 6,
• onion - 1,
• sweet pepper - 1,
• greens (preferably basil),
• olives (200 gram jars are enough),
• lemon juice
• and, most importantly, good olive oil,
• and Feta cheese (200-250 grams).

"Feta" - This is sheep's or goat's cheese, somewhat reminiscent of the cheese we all know. It is also a good idea to use dried herb "oregano" to make Greek salad, which will give it spicy taste... It is allowed to put a little chopped garlic in the dressing.

Preparation

First, the gas station is prepared.

It consists of a mixture of olive oil and lemon juice (or balsamic vinegar), which can be lightly salted, pepper, garlic and oregano.

Chopped vegetables are placed in a salad bowl on top of whole lettuce leaves, garnished with olives and coarsely chopped herbs, and poured with dressing.

Then on top of all this colorful splendor, Feta cheese, cut into large cubes, is placed.

That's it, you don't need to put anything else in the Greek salad. Believe me, any other products will be simply superfluous here.

For those who like to see everything with their own eyes (I mean cooking), here's a video recipe.

Bon Appetit!

And do not stop at traditions yet - experiment and look further - how you can complement the usual classics various additives... And it turns out even very nothing!

Greek salad recipe with Chinese cabbage

A variation of our today's Chinese cabbage dish. What are we doing? Instead of lettuce leaves, we will take cabbage, and it is Peking cabbage, as it is juicy and strong, with its “refined crunch”.

That's all for girls and boys, everything else in terms of the availability of products and the cooking process is given above. I think it makes no sense to repeat (just go up to the classic recipe).

And if you're really unbearable - here's a little bit:

We prepare the dressing: oil, lemon juice, chopped garlic, herbs, salt and pepper, mix in a separate bowl.

The cabbage should be cut into strips, but not very finely.

Cut cheese "Feta" (if there is no such thing and was not found, it will do - "feta cheese" or "Fetax") cut into large cubes. You can add it to the dressing, so that it becomes as if "speckled" (more interesting, after all), or then put on top of all the ingredients.

Take the washed vegetables, cucumbers and tomatoes. We shred them in the same way as cheese.

After the onion and sweet pepper cut into half rings.

We combine all this "richness of taste" in a common deep plate (do not forget about olives) and mix (just stir slightly).

Friends, our Greek salad with Chinese cabbage is ready! Go ahead for the "biggest spoon"!

And for viewing:

Greek salad with croutons and chicken (classic recipe)

Croutons and chicken - nothing reminds you of anything? "Caesar"? Yes, something looks like it. This time in our culinary creation we will add just a couple of things: croutons and chicken meat. Such a salad is no longer quite dietary and light - it is already gaining weight.

With this cooking method, as with any other, you can not mix all the products, but give the guests the opportunity to do it. By the way, look at the composition and its quantity above (scroll up the page or press :).

You either buy croutons in the store, or cook yourself. Take the usual White bread- a couple of cuts from a loaf. Remove the crusts and cut into cubes. Fry in a skillet with oil until lightly browned.

Cook the chicken (chicken fillet), cool and into cubes.

The turn of our vegetables has come - we do with them, as in previous recipes - we prepare squares, strips and halves.

Put the leaves on the dish, top with tomatoes and cucumbers, onions, peppers, olives and cheese, and the last thing - sprinkle fried croutons. Salt, spices and herbs to taste.

Greek salad with feta cheese or fetaxa instead of Feta cheese, as in a restaurant

It's okay if "Feta" is replaced by "Brynza" - both have their own specific salty taste, which gives the dish a pronounced piquancy. Such a light meal is just a treasure for those who preserve their figure and take care of their health!

As you may have noticed, if you read the article from the beginning, the classic Greek salad recipe and its basis remain unchanged. Only some of the ingredients are changed and added. At first, instead of lettuce leaves, we used Chinese cabbage, then updated with chicken and croutons. And now the time has come to diversify the main product of the dish - cheese.

For the rest: the composition and preparation method will be the same. Almost…

• fresh tomatoes (cherry tomatoes are also suitable) - 4-5 pieces,
• cucumbers (it is better only that from the garden, if not, then cut off the bitter skin) - 2-3 pcs.,
• olives (pitted, olives are also suitable) - 1 can,
• green lettuce leaves (or Chinese cabbage),
• bell peppers (you can have two different colors: orange and red),
• cheese (fetax) - 100-150 grams,
• onions (preferably red, if ordinary onion, then pour boiling water over it before putting it out) - one onion is enough.

For dressing (sauce):

• lemon (its juice),
• olive oil (again, the most excellent),
• a clove of garlic
• a mixture of herbs (there is already a ready-made set, and it is called "Greek" or oregano),
• salt, pepper and a little sugar.

Let's start cooking:

As always, first of all, we start with the sauce - we combine all the spices and spices with oil in a separate small container. We give it to infuse - put it aside.

Wash the vegetables and cut into medium pieces. Onions and bell peppers - in strips. If using cabbage, also in strips.

Be careful with feta cheese (fetax), it may be too soft and tender, we divide into identical squares.

Now we put everything together (special attention: do not mix!). We make separate portions, pour over with the present sauce. If desired, decorate with herbs (with a special aroma of mint). We invite guests!

Best dressing (sauce) for Greek salad

Have you ever met any salad without sauce? Refueling must be! Dry dish not the best option!

The classic recipe for Greek salad dressing is to use common products for the Greeks (required):

• flawless olive oil - 100 ml.,
• lemon juice - a tablespoon,
• dry crushed fragrant herbs of oregano,
• ground pepper and salt to taste.

Preparation:

Take a medium-sized bowl (a wide glass will do). Pour in oil and lemon juice. Add herbs and spices. Mix thoroughly until the salt is completely dissolved. We leave the "walk" for 10-20 minutes. In general, while you are preparing the base.

Best Sauce Secrets:

1. For a sweetish taste, instead of lemon, you should use Apple vinegar sparingly with sugar (cane can be used).
2. If you add finely chopped garlic, the dish will acquire a tangy taste and spicy aroma.
3. Add melted honey and soy sauce- Greek salad becomes sweet-salty and unique.
4. For lovers of thick dressing, add yogurt or mayonnaise to the recipe.
5. And don't forget about the freshness of the food.

“There are no comrades for taste and color,” so you can always improvise and prepare your own special sauce.

Dressing preparation video:

Video: Greek salad a simple classic recipe and its delicious dressing

As you can see, my dear gourmets, lovers of tasty, new and unusual, there is nothing difficult and impossible in cooking. This science requires one thing - vivid imagination and the correctness of the alternation.

And today's masterpiece: Classic Greek salad plus 5 excellent step by step recipes, proved our exact and correct direction - “Cooking is tasty and even tastier”! Until next time.

The most important thing about Greek salad is fresh produce, not slicing or serving. The Greeks usually cut their salad into large chunks, and the olives are put directly with the bone, moreover, the Greek ones with an oily taste. The main herb in the salad is oregano and a little basil.

Cucumbers, shallots, and olive oil are often used in salad. In general, various tricks and variations are allowed here. After all, Greek salad is a simple version of a rustic salad made from the most basic ingredients available in every village house.

Often, instead of shallots in recipes, sweet salad onions or even regular onions are taken. You can substitute olive oil for sunflower oil. Olives, olives are better to take pitted. If there is no oregano and basil, they can be replaced with simple lettuce leaves or any fresh herbs from the garden - the main thing is that it will be summer and light salad.

An important ingredient, feta cheese can be found everywhere today, but as a last resort can be replaced with Adyghe cheese, cheese.

Classic Greek Salad

Ingredients:

• cucumber - 2 pcs.;
• bell pepper - 1 pc.;
• tomato with dense pulp - 2 pcs.;
• medium-sized Crimean blue onion - 1 pc.;
• olives and olives large and pitted - 20 pcs.;
• olive oil - 2-3 tbsp l .;
• feta cheese - 80-100 gr.;
• oregano - ½ tsp dry grass;
• lemon juice - 1-1.5 tbsp. l .;
• salt, pepper - to taste.

Cooking process

Wash all vegetables. Cut cucumbers and tomatoes into large pieces (2-2.5 cm). Cucumbers can be pre-peeled if the skin is too tough.

Chop the blue onion into half rings. Pepper to remove seeds and white membranes, cut into squares of 2-2.5 cm. Olives and olives can be left whole or cut in half.

Pour vegetables into a salad bowl, season with salt and pepper to taste. Gently mix everything with two large spatulas.

Beat the olive oil with lemon juice, add oregano to it, rubbing the grass with your fingers a little. Season the salad with the resulting sauce.

Cut the feta cheese into large pieces, similar to vegetables, and put on top of the salad. Top with a pinch of oregano. Salad ready.

It is allowed to replace part of the onion with garlic in the salad, but the cloves will have to be chopped with a knife into a small cube.

Options for preparing ingredients for Greek salad

Onion

Onions for Greek salad

Onions can be pre-pickled before adding to the salad. The easiest way is to chop the onion and cover it with a mixture of vinegar (3 parts) and sugar (2 parts) with a pinch of salt. Let stand for half an hour, put in a colander and add to other vegetables.

To reduce the bitterness, you can chop the onion finer or mix the two varieties - white and blue onions in the desired ratio of 1: 2 or 1: 1.

Cucumbers

Cucumbers for Greek salad

Cucumbers can be cut figuratively or, for example, by alternating pieces with peeled and left. A zebra cucumber looks beautiful in a salad, when each piece in the salad looks white and green.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes for Greek salad

It is better to experiment with tomatoes not with slicing, but with a combination different varieties and flowers. Cherry tomatoes look great in salad. They need to be cut in half. The colors combine well red and orange fruits. It looks spectacular, in addition, rich and low-acid orange tomatoes will add meatiness to the salad, reducing the sourness. If desired, tomatoes can even be peeled by scalding them with boiling water.

Pepper

Pepper for Greek salad

With pepper, the multicolor option is also suitable. In this case, it is better to cut the fruits of different colors into a thin strip, and not into cubes. For those who like to experiment, there is an unusual idea: peel the vegetable from the peel with a sharp knife or pill. This option is for those who want to make the dish more elevated and delicate taste, it is also perfect for serving Greek salad on the festive table.

How to replace feta cheese

Usually, in Russian cuisine, feta cheese is replaced by salted feta cheese, a product made from goat's milk is especially suitable.

As a last resort, you can take large pieces processed cheese with a strong aroma of herbs or smoked meats. In this case, the salad needs to be slightly salted.

Another option for Greek salad is with Dutch cheese. Only the pieces need to be made smaller. This recipe is no longer a classic, but it may well please, especially men.

How to season a Greek salad

Classic Greek salad provides for dressing from a mixture lemon juice, olive oil and fresh or dried oregano herb. But if for some reason you cannot find these components or you want to diversify the taste of your favorite dish, the option of mixing other seasonings and herbs is also allowed. For example, you can add to the dish coarsely torn lettuce of different varieties (curly, Iceberg), chopped strips of wild garlic. It is allowed to include thyme and parsley to your taste.

As a bold idea, housewives who love experiments can be offered to season a portion of Greek salad with honey-mustard sauce.

Honey mustard sauce: an unusual and tasty dressing option

Take in a 1: 1: 2 ratio of mustard of medium or low pungency (with grains possible), honey and olive oil. Mix everything and beat with a whisk. If the sauce is too thick, add more oil. Serve with salad in a separate gravy boat.

You can also vary the dressing for Greek salad by adding other oils (mustard, corn, sesame), bread crumbs, or toasted salty croutons for flavor. For lovers of a strong taste, you can put garlic passed through a garlic press in the sauce.

If you're using lightly salted cheese like feta cheese or Dutch cheese for your salad, try the recipe for dressing with soy sauce, which is traditionally salty and rich.

Ingredients:

• olive oil - 2 tablespoons spoons;
• soy sauce - 1 tbsp a spoon;
• apple cider vinegar - 1 tbsp a spoon;
• mustard (medium or low pungency) - 1 tsp.

Whisk all ingredients to prepare the sauce. Serve the dressing separately in a gravy boat.

Greek salad with oregano, dill and mint: a step by step recipe

Ingredients:

• cucumber - 2 pcs.;
• cherry tomatoes - 300 gr.;
• yellow sweet pepper - 1 pc.;
• handfuls of olives and olives;
• mint leaves - to taste;
• wine vinegar (can be replaced with apple cider) - 1 tbsp. l .;
• vegetable oil - 3 tbsp. l .;
• oregano - 1 tsp;
• salt to taste;
• salad onions - 1 head;
• dill and lettuce to taste;
• feta cheese - 200-300 g.

Cooking process

Wash and dry all vegetables from excess water. Cut the cucumbers into medium slices. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half or in 4 pieces. Place the cucumbers and tomatoes in a deep dish.

Cut the pepper into large strips. It is advisable to take yellow peppers so that the colors in the dish combine beautifully.

Add pepper to cucumbers and tomatoes. Cut the onion into thin half rings and disassemble into thin strips. Add to the dish, mix everything gently.

Finely chop mint leaves, dill and other herbs, add to the total mass in the dish. Salt and pepper the salad, put olives or olives, mix everything.

Making salad dressing

Pour 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil (or other vegetable) into a deep bowl, add a teaspoon to it wine vinegar... Stir and add half a teaspoon of oregano. Mix everything thoroughly.

Season the salad with the prepared dressing, leaving a little, a little more than a teaspoon. Stir the salad.

Put lettuce leaves on a serving dish, put half of the whole mass of vegetables from the bowl on them. Spread the salad evenly throughout the dish.

Cut the cheese into cubes the size of the olives. Put some of the cheese in a cup with the remaining dressing and roll the cheese in it, so the pieces will not stick together. In addition, such pieces look beautiful.

Carefully put the cheese with a part of the dressing on a dish to half of the salad. Place the second half of the vegetables on top of the cheese. Carefully level everything. Put the remaining cheese in the bowl where the salad was, add a spoonful of olive oil, sprinkle with oregano on top and mix everything.

Put the cheese with oregano in the salad, spread it over the surface. Sprinkle a little oregano on top of the whole hill of salad. In total, the whole salad will take about 1 teaspoon of oregano. Serve the Greek salad.

You can decorate the salad with a mint leaf.

Greek salad tricks and options

The portioned serving of salad, practiced in restaurants in Greece, is interesting. It is extremely laconic: the client receives a deep plate of vegetables, where there is no sliced ​​cheese. All the cheese is placed in one piece on top of the vegetable slices. Thus, the client himself decides how he will eat it.

Likewise, the sauce is now almost always served in a separate container with each serving. So everyone will determine for himself how much and when he needs to add dressing to Greek salad.

This is very convenient for the hostess. As long as the salad is not seasoned with gravy, it keeps better. You can cut vegetables a few hours before the arrival of guests, and pour the sauce already before serving. Moreover, if possible, you need to season the salad after serving in portions so that guests do not suffer with putting salad on their plates and distributing the sauce.

Sometimes very large pieces of vegetables and cheese are mixed in a salad without much stirring. Innings in large pieces many do not like it, but it has its advantages: whoever does not like onions or olives will easily remove them.

Let's start with the incredible: Greece has everything except ... Greek salad! No, of course, in numerous restaurants aimed at receiving and entertaining foreign tourists, the staff learned well that when asked whether they have the above-mentioned salad on their menu, they should answer in the affirmative and at the same time nod their heads vigorously to hide their own attitude. to such a widespread myth. However, the truth is that what we call Greek salad in Greece itself (like many other Mediterranean countries) is called by dozens of different names, among which there is not only the one to which we are accustomed.

The most common local "name" that a hero has of today's article - "village salad" (in the original language - χωριάτικη σαλάτα, "horiatiki salad"), which very eloquently, accurately and fully reflects the essence of the treat served to guests: natural products, affordable, delicious in quality. The second common name is trite and obvious: vegetable salad... However, they say that over the past few decades, another name for Greek salad has come into use among the Greeks - Russian salad: apparently, our compatriots order it en masse in restaurants, tightly linking the Greek dish with their own customs.

To avoid further confusion, let's just agree that we will allow ourselves to discount our own traditions and we will call the dish of fresh vegetables and cheese, which is commonly prepared in the Mediterranean countries, Greek salad, however, at the same time we will certainly keep in mind a little notch in memory of how to properly call it.

So let's go through the basic ingredients of Greek salad? Special value of this dish due to the fact that it contains almost everything that a person needs: proteins, fats, carbohydrates. A portion delicious salad, rich in taste and charming in its color saturation - and we can assume that a full meal has taken place. The salad recipe is optimal: such a dinner not only gives a feeling of satiety for a long time, but also normalizes metabolism, delicately cleanses the intestines, saturates the body useful substances and trace elements.

Products for Greek salad

Tomatoes

If you believe that Greek salad can be made from tasteless, odorless semi-plastic greenhouse tomatoes that lie in straight, beautiful rows on supermarket shelves, you are committing a crime against the entire Greek culture of healthy eating.

A prerequisite for a real Greek salad is aromatic tomatoes grown in open ground, it is better - farm or village. Ideally - tomatoes grown with your own hands in your own garden.

There are no restrictions on the variety of tomatoes. Depending on personal preference, you can choose fleshy red tomatoes, juicy pink tomatoes, rich blacks in taste, restrained yellow ones.

Cucumbers

The rule regarding the way tomatoes are grown is equally true for cucumbers: the fruits must be fresh, firm, juicy and very aromatic. Flabby green sticks, which modern stores offer in abundance, are absolutely not suitable for Greek salad.

If a crazy thought runs through your head to peel the fruit from the skin, take a good old broom and chase it away. Not a single self-respecting Greek will deprive cucumbers of their important component!

Bell pepper

Remember again that Greek salad is a rustic and simple dish, and we pass by the perfect bell peppers that can be purchased at the supermarket. In the absence of access to personal gardening, the destination is a farmer's market, where grandmothers with string bags, sturdy grandfathers on bicycles, brisk ruddy young ladies in colorful headscarves come.

Choose firm fruits with a fresh stalk: if it has grafted, it signals that the pepper was picked several days, or even weeks ago. They can be used for stuffing or making sauces, but they are completely unsuitable as a component of Greek salad.

Feta

Do you want to make a Greek salad or a Greek-like salad? This moment is very important when it comes to cheese. The fact is that, according to the decision approved in 2007 in the EU, feta can only be called cheese of Greek origin, made from cow's or sheep's milk. Anything that you buy in stores with that name, but not made in Greece, is not feta.

Thus, it turns out that an authentic Greek salad can only be prepared using cheese brought from a distant and sunny country on the Mediterranean coast. You can buy a real feta in supermarkets, but few people dare to spend a lot of money on what there are domestic counterparts, no less worthy and high quality. Which cheese to buy to make a real Greek salad is, of course, up to you.

Olives

To make Greek salad, you will need quality pitted olives. When choosing a product, try to do without canned something in metal cans with attractive labels, look for small shops specializing in the sale of goods from Italy or Greece - these are the shops where you can buy top quality pickled olives and olives. You need juicy, firm fruits of a beautiful chocolate color with a well-visible eggplant hue. The stuffed options are good and tasty, but totally unsuitable for making a real Greek salad.

Olive oil

Many famous chefs believe that high-quality olive oil is one third of the guarantee of success: it is this oil that unites the disparate components into a single whole, enveloping them with the extraordinary spirit of the Mediterranean. Naturally, we are talking about Extra Virgin olive oil, which is obtained by the mechanical extraction method.

This oil does not contain any additives, has a rich taste and aroma, and is extremely beneficial for human health. Please note that the color of Extra Virgin olive oil should not be close to yellow and amber tones, but rather green - thick, rich and herbal. The taste of such oil is very characteristic - it is barely perceptibly bitter, deafens with a mixture of salty, sour and sweet, amazes with its richness, surprises with its subtlety.

Onion

People in the know say that in many ways the perfect taste of Greek salad depends on how you cook the onion. Yes, just cook it - there are a lot of recipes for Greek salad on the Internet, but only some sources slightly open the veil and say that before adding onions to the salad, you should remove bitterness, stiffness and anger from it. The taste of this dish should make you love the world and be happy with people, so peel the onion, cut it into rings and put it in a marinade prepared in advance for a couple of minutes: a little hot water, salt, a spoonful of sugar. Taking out the onion from the marinade, in no case do we squeeze it out or deform it, it should remain intact and beautiful.

Oregano

Oregano is the main Greek culinary herb and is added wherever possible - the taste of many Greek dishes have an oregano accent. You can, of course, season the salad with Italian basil, French rosemary, or Georgian cilantro, but it won't be quite a Greek salad, or even a salad at all. Oregano (although it is nothing more than oregano) is a magical herb, do not neglect it if you decide to experience the true taste of an authentic classic dish.

Classic Greek Salad Recipe

Of course, there is no need to talk about some clear recipe with the exact amount of each ingredient, however, you can deduce a certain formula-proportion. Basic recipe Greek salad is needed for orientation - after feeling the overall balance of the components, you can experiment and play with additives to your liking.

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber;
• 1 tomato;
• 1/3 bell pepper;
• 1/2 blue onion;
• 5-7 olives;
• 80 g feta;
• salt, a pinch of dry oregano;
• 50 ml of olive oil.

Preparation

1. We wash vegetables, cut them into large pieces. We put it in a salad bowl.
2. Peel the onion, cut into half rings, pickle a little if desired. We put it in a salad bowl.
3. Add olives without brine.
4. Salt. Mix gently.
5. Put several slices of cheese on top of the vegetables. Even more correct - solid - one! - a hunk. This is an old village tradition. Differs from the modern fast food style of cutting feta into cubes.
6. Sprinkle with oregano.
7. Sprinkle the salad with olive oil and serve. It can be with a slice of lemon.

Dressings and dressings for Greek salad

The classic Greek salad is dressed with the highest quality olive oil, however, variations are allowed that will diversify the taste of the salad, make it interesting and unusual.

Try a dressing with olive oil and lemon juice. You can add some white wine and balsamic vinegar... A drop of honey, soy sauce, narsharab, a little grain mustard, orange peel will make the dressing even more original.

The main rule for preparing salad dressing is that the sauce should be very rich in taste, but pleasant. If you have prepared a dressing, but you do not like it (yes, you must try it first!), The salad will not fix it, rather, it will ruin the salad itself.

Ways to diversify a classic recipe

There are many options that allow you to diversify the usual rustic salad. In some recipes, lettuce is invariably included in its composition. Lightly salted salmon and canned tuna, cooked cold pasta and baked bell peppers, cooked lentils and raw cauliflower, capers and anchovies, avocados and mushrooms - everyone chooses additives according to their taste and wallet.

By the way, another option is endive leaves. They are good not only with an additional flavoring note - they are very cool to serve salad in a portioned version. It turns out to be unusual and stylish.

Feeding options

Greek salad is so popular all over the world that numerous experiments in serving it became a completely natural course of development of this dish.

Many chefs of famous restaurants build "turrets" of vegetables, alternating them with cheese. They are served in "boats" of bell pepper or lettuce, in pita bread and on toasted slices of bread, in small glasses like verrines and huge bowls, the contents of which can be fed to half of China.

Vegetables are laid out on a plate in bright colorful rows, alternate in a salad bowl with appetizing layers, roughly cut into a couple of pieces, carefully cut into small cubes - there are a lot of options for serving Greek salad, and it seems that every day chefs from all over the world come up with new and new ones interesting ways treat your guests delicious dish from fresh vegetables and tender soft cheese.

5 rules for real Greek salad

Summing up, I would like to write separately about the basic and very important rules, without which you can cook anything but Greek salad.

1. Ingredients for Greek village salad are cut into large pieces. No, not just large, but as large as possible - they should hide the maximum taste in themselves, plus for cooking the most ordinary everyday meals it is inadmissible to spend more than 5 minutes of time.

2. Do you prepare salad for yourself and your family? Then put your doubts aside- and stir the contents of the bowl with your hands. Ru-ka-mi! This will not only add soulfulness to the salad, but will also allow you to keep the vegetables whole without crushing or even crushing them.

3. When adding olive oil, you should not only pay attention to its quality (only the best, only proven!), But also to the quantity. The canonical Greek salad should be oily, very oily - no real Greek woman will regret olive oil, because she knows that after the salad bowl is empty, a delicious "juice" from vegetables, cheese and dressing will remain at the bottom. The Greeks dip pieces of freshly baked bread into this liquid and enjoy the extraordinary taste of homemade food.

By the way, for this process, the inventive people of the sunny country even invented a separate word - "ladobukies" ("oil slices"), which means completely indecent, but incredibly savory soaking bread in a salad sauce.

4. Don't slice the cheese. Limit yourself to one large chunk that is laid out on top of the vegetables. It's prettier, tastier and more "Greek" this way.

5. Greek salad is prepared just before serving, and when served, immediately eaten. He does not need to insist, the products should be as fresh as possible and just chopped.

The history of the emergence of Greek salad

They say that the birth of lettuce falls on the 20-30s of the 19th century. The fact is that tomatoes, one of the main components of Greek salad, appeared on the territory of this country only in 1818 - and it was after they almost instantly gained popularity and popular love that they began to be used in salads.

However, history claims that it was only a prototype of the modern Greek salad - say, its distant genetic ancestor, nothing more. At the time when the first tomatoes and onions appeared in Greece, these vegetables were not cut into pieces, but eaten exclusively whole. Only almost a century later, with another wave of emigrants, one of the Greeks arrived in the United States, who guessed to cook favorite dish in a slightly modified format - after cutting vegetables into small pieces.

In Greece, among other things, there is a proverb: having learned a village salad, you will get to know Greece (or another formulation: a village salad is all of Greece in one plate). Enjoy the taste of fresh vegetables and soft cheese and get to know Greece!