Cookbook author David Hagedorn offers several variations.
Greek salad salad DAVID HAGEDORN
Washington Post
The Greek salad is a pretty simple affair that represents Mediterranean cuisine at its best. Healthful, refreshing and balanced, every bite of what the Greeks call “horiatiki salata” invites a sensation — be it the saltiness of the olives and feta cheese, the sweetness and acid of the tomatoes, the bite of the onions, the richness of olive oil or the herbaceousness of Greek oregano.
Add to that the vibrancy of the ingredients’ colors, the contrasting textures and the fact that the salad requires so little to put together, and the sum total is unfettered satisfaction.
As would be the case with a dish that no doubt was made in ancient times, opinions run strong about which deviations from the basic recipe are allowable.
Even the olives can be a non-starter.
“It was forced into my head from an early age by my father’s father, who was from Kalamos, that a horiatiki salad was only tomato, cucumber, white onion, olive oil, feta cheese, salt and really good oregano,” says chef John Manolatos of Cashion’s Eat Place in Washington. “No additional acid at all, no peppers and definitely no olives. That was a bastardization.”
Manolatos pretty much adheres to that. In the summer, he combines heirloom tomatoes at their peak with fresh oregano, Dodoni feta cheese and Lakonian extra-virgin olive oil made from kalamata olives, the kind often found in horiatiki iterations.
Dodoni brand feta, made from ewe’s and goat’s milk in the Epirus region of northwestern Greece, has a pleasant tang and a less-chalky texture than does the cow’s-milk feta prevalent in American grocery stores, such as Whole Foods’ 365 brand feta.
Per Greek law and the European Union, only cheese made in Greece from 70 percent sheep’s milk and 30 percent goat’s milk can be called feta. (It’s the same sort of protection awarded to Roquefort cheese, though the feta designation doesn’t extend to the United States. And what is called Bulgarian feta, for example, is made from sheep’s milk and yogurt culture, which accounts for its shrill tang.)
As the feta is the crowning glory of a Greek salad, its quality makes all the difference.
The Greek version of panzanella, the Dakos salad, hails from Crete. That salad is made by dressing tomatoes, black olives, oregano and capers or caper berries with olive oil and piling them on top of dried barley bread to absorb juices.
Because the Greek salad is my favorite, I don’t limit myself to making it in summer. I know it’s sacrilegious to some food folk to use tomatoes out of season, but I’ve found certain greenhouse-grown varieties, such Kumato and Campari, to be juicy, flavorful and perfectly acceptable, provided their thick skins are removed.
In my take on the Dakos salad, I use Camparis, pureeing a couple of them to use as soaking liquid for toasted ciabatta bread slices that anchor the dish. As flavor enhancements, I throw in dill and scallions.
I have a laissez-faire attitude toward horiatiki. I use small, organic pickling cucumbers, mini seedless cucumbers or English cucumbers because they don’t need to be peeled and are less watery than regular cucumbers. I like to include red and daikon radishes, some avocado if I have one on hand and slices of jalapeno to inject heat. Others like to add bell or peperoncini peppers and capers.
As noted before, the traditional horiatiki doesn’t call for vinegar, but I like red wine vinegar’s extra touch of acid in the mix.
Two ingredients, in my opinion, are vital to any version of Greek salad: dried Greek oregano and Greek olive oil. If you place Greek oregano next to generic oregano or what’s called “Mediterranean oregano,” you’ll notice that the Greek is darker and finer.
It has a more pungent, earthier flavor than the others, which have a touch of marjoram sweetness to them. Greek olive oil (high-quality, of course), to me, is greener, sweeter and more luxuriant than many Italian or Spanish ones I’ve tried.
While performing my Greek salad experiments, I used the horiatiki profile to fashion an intensely flavored salsa as an accompaniment to grilled fish or seafood. I cut the cucumber into small, neat squares, tossed them with semi-dried cherry tomatoes in oil (a great find at Whole Foods Market), feta cubes, cured black olives and preserved lemon bits.
Spread on labneh and served with pita triangles, the salsa transformed into a meze.
One item most everyone agrees does not belong in an authentic Greek salad is lettuce. Naturally, I couldn’t resist spreading a mixture of cucumbers, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, feta cheese and labneh on overlapping romaine leaves and rolling it all into a cylinder, to be sliced into medallions for a first-course, restaurant-worthy presentation. It’s a method chef-restaurateur Michael Richard created for his riff on Caesar salad.
I call mine a Greek Salad Salad.
Hagedorn is a food writer and former chef. He recently co-authored “The New Jewish Table: Modern Seasonal Recipes for Traditional Dishes” with Todd Gray and Ellen Kassoff Gray (St. Martin’s Press).
Greek salsa meze
Semi-dried cherry tomatoes packed in oil make a great addition to this salsa, which goes well with grilled tuna, swordfish or shrimp. Spooned over labneh and served with warm pita slices or pita chips, the salsa makes a terrific meze, or appetizer. You can buy labneh at Mediterranean markets, or you can make your own; see Notes.
Make ahead: The salsa can be made a day in advance, but it’s best to add the cheese just before serving. From food writer, former chef and cookbook author David Hagedorn.
2 mini cucumbers (seeded) or half an English (seedless) cucumber, cut into 1/4-inch cubes (unpeeled)
1/2 cup semi-dried cherry tomatoes packed in oil, such as Isola brand, drained (see Notes)
1/2 cup cured pitted black olives, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup minced red onion
1 teaspoon minced preserved lemon (optional)
1 teaspoon dried Greek oregano
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons Greek olive oil, plus more for drizzling
One 3-ounce piece feta cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup homemade or store-bought labneh (see Notes)
Warm pita triangles or pita chips, for serving
Combine the cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, onion, preserved lemon, if using, the oregano, lemon juice, the 2 tablespoons of oil and the feta cheese in a medium bowl. S
pread 1/4 cup of labneh on each plate, then spoon the salsa over it. Drizzle with oil and serve with pita bread or chips.
Notes: To dry fresh cherry tomatoes, cut each one in half, spread them on a lined baking sheet, season them with salt and bake at 200 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. To make labneh, place Greek-style yogurt in a cheesecloth-lined strainer and let it drain at room temperature for 8 hours.
Almost classic horiatiki
6 servings
In this recipe, radishes add to the cucumbers’ crunch; jalapeno pepper and red wine vinegar add zestiness. Whether you peel the cucumbers is up to you.
Make ahead: The ingredients can be prepped and refrigerated separately a day in advance, but assemble the salad just before serving. From food writer, former chef and cookbook author David Hagedorn.
2 pounds Campari or Kumato tomatoes, peeled, hulled and cut into 2-inch pieces (see Note)
4 mini cucumbers (seeded) or 1 English (seedless) cucumber, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 small red onion, cut into thin slices
1/2 small daikon radish, peeled and cubed
10 red radishes, trimmed and cut into quarters
1/2 small jalapeno pepper, seeded, if desired, cut crosswise into thin slices
1 cup pitted kalamata olives (may substitute other Greek olives)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried Greek oregano
1/2 cup Greek olive oil
One 8-ounce block feta cheese, cut into 6 equal slices
Combine the tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, daikon and red radishes, jalapeno, olives, salt, vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon of the oregano and 1/4 cup of the oil in a large bowl. Toss to coat evenly and incorporate.
Divide evenly among individual plates. Top each portion with a slice of feta. Sprinkle the cheese with the remaining oregano and drizzle with the remaining oil.
Note: To peel and seed tomatoes, bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Have ready a bowl of ice water. Cut an “X” in the bottom of each tomato and remove the stem. Working with one at a time, place the tomato in the boiling water for 15 seconds. Use a slotted spoon to quickly transfer it to the ice water. The skin should slip off.
Dakos salad Dakos salad
6 servings
This is a Cretan salad similar to Italy’s panzanella. A hard rusk made from barley flour is softened slightly with water, then piled with tomatoes, oregano, olives, olive oil and feta or mizithra cheese. Capers or caper berries are often added as well.
It’s best to make this salad just before serving, although the bread could be toasted in advance.
From food writer, former chef and cookbook author David Hagedorn.
6 slices ciabatta bread (may substitute barley rusk, available at Mediterranean markets)
2 pounds Campari tomatoes, peeled, hulled and cut into 1-inch pieces (see Note)
Pinch kosher salt
4 teaspoons capers, rinsed and drained (may substitute caper berries, cut into quarters)
3/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup chopped scallions (white and light-green parts)
1/4 cup chopped dill
1/4 cup Greek olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2 teaspoons dried Greek oregano
8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the bread on a baking sheet and toast it until crisp, about 25 minutes. Place one slice on each serving plate and let cool.
Combine 3/4 cup of the tomatoes and the salt in a food processor; puree until smooth. Spoon the pureed tomato over each piece of toasted bread.
Combine the remaining tomatoes, capers, olives, vinegar, scallions, dill, oil and oregano in a mixing bowl. Spoon the mixture over each piece of toast. Top with feta cheese and a drizzle of oil.
Serve right away.
Note: To peel tomatoes, use a sharp knife to score a shallow “X” on the bottoms. Drop the tomatoes into a pot of boiling water; leave them there just long enough for the skins to start to separate and curl. Transfer to a bowl of cold water. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel and discard the skins.
Greek salad salad
6 servings
This is a sophisticated presentation of a Greek salad based on chef Michel Richard’s concept of a Caesar salad rolled and presented in this manner. In this version, cucumbers and red onion are combined with labneh (Greek-style yogurt that has been strained into a ricotta-like consistency) to make a filling that gets rolled up with romaine leaves, olives and sun-dried tomatoes.
To make labneh, place Greek-style yogurt in a cheesecloth-lined strainer and let it drain at room temperature for 8 hours. Or it’s available at larger grocery stores and at Mediterranean markets.
Make ahead: The salad needs to be rolled 6 hours ahead of time, but will become soggy if prepared much more ahead of time than that.
Adapted by food writer, former chef and cookbook author David Hagedorn from a recipe by chef Michel Richard.
1 English (seedless, unpeeled) cucumber, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/4 cup minced red onion
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 heads romaine lettuce, very dark green outer leaves removed (about 24 leaves, plus small inner leaves)
1/2 cup labneh
8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (about 1 1/3 cups)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
1/2 cup pitted green or black Greek olives
1 teaspoon dried Greek oregano
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Greek extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Combine the cucumbers, onion and salt in a small bowl. Transfer them to a strainer set over a bowl and let them drain for 30 minutes.
Trim the tops of the romaine heads so the leaves have a flat edge. Discard the cores. Separate the leaves, wash them and dry them in a salad spinner. Then lay the leaves flat on paper towels to blot them completely dry. (Damp leaves can make the salad soggy.)
Combine the labneh, 1 cup of feta and the garlic in a food processor; puree until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Transfer the cucumbers and onion to a towel and gently squeeze and excess moisture from them. Stir them into the labneh.
Combine the sun-dried tomatoes and olives in a small bowl.
Lay 36-inch lengths of plastic wrap on a clean work surface, overlapping them horizontally to form a 3-foot square. Starting 3 inches in from the edge of the plastic wrap closest to you, use the romaine leaves to form a rectangle that is 6 leaves wide and 4 leaves long, overlapping the leaves a bit. (Top the rectangle randomly with any small inner leaves left over.)
Spoon two parallel, horizontal rows of cucumber mixture onto the rectangle of romaine leaves. Then spread a row of tomatoes and olives below each row of cucumber mixture. (You should have 4 stripes of the mixture now.) Sprinkle the entire surface with oregano and pepper.
Starting at the side closest to you, roll the lettuce leaves over themselves and into a cylinder, like a jelly roll; you can use some of the plastic wrap as a guide to facilitate the rolling (as you would use when rolling a log of compound butter). Do not let the plastic wrap get caught in the lettuce roll.
Once the lettuce rows have rolled over themselves into a completed cylinder, fold the piece of plastic wrap that’s closest to you over it to cover the cylinder completely.
Use your fingertips to tighten the lettuce roll so that most of the air trapped inside is pressed out. Finish rolling with the plastic wrap that’s left on the counter. Twist the ends to tighten the roll as though you were wrapping a piece of toffee. Refrigerate the roll for 6 hours.
To serve, use a sharp knife to cut a total of 12 equal-size slices through the plastic wrap, forming salad “medallions,” laying two on each individual plate. Use scissors to cut and remove the bands of plastic wrap.
Garnish each portion with a sprinkle of the remaining feta cheese and a drizzle of oil.