It’s been said many many times that money can’t buy happiness and it’s probably true. Having said that if you pop to the supermarket, for a few quid you can get the makings of this (slightly untraditional) Greek salad which is as close to complete foodie happiness as I personally ever get!
I had to learn to love “rabbit food” when I was doing one of the slimming programmes a couple of years ago and it was a struggle. Yes, a bowl of cool refreshing salad is really nice when the mercury is hitting the late 20s in the middle of summer but I always need something more – tuna, ham, eggs, an exciting salad dressing, something to jazz it up a bit otherwise it’s just a bit boring and bland!
So, in search of ideas for an exciting salad (is that an oxymoron?) I came across a Greek salad. I’ve never been anywhere near Greece (love the idea of seeing all the history but it’s a bit hot for my liking) but the salad had one of my new found favourite ingredients in it (at the time), namely tangy crumbly lovely feta.
The first time we tried it, I didn’t follow a recipe, just made a note of the ingredients and made it up as I went along (or what I call the Kieran method of cooking as that’s what my other half does!). Not a good idea as it resulted in me adding far too much lemon juice and the salad being so sour that our faces didn’t unpucker for about 2 weeks! We had to start over and safe to say that was not a mistake I’ve made with any recipe ever again.
My Greek salad may be a few miles from the traditional version but it’s still a beautiful, fresh, vibrant bowl of happiness. It’s delicious, easy and the perfect meal for those 2 or 3 weeks in the UK when it stays intolerably hot until midnight and you don’t really want much to eat. Plus you can add pretty much anything to it and it will work – we particularly liked it with tuna or some sliced ham.
I have talked at length about my passion for fresh herbs in cooking and I’m very excited because last week I finally bought myself a mini mezzaluna (having tired of spending 3 hours chopping up parsley on a board with a regular knife). It received its baptism chopping the parsley for our Greek salad and I’m happy to share with you that it was a good purchase – as long as I don’t lop off a finger, it’s very very sharp! If you love using fresh herbs in your cooking you can see one like mine here – it’s definitely a worthwhile piece of kitchen kit to invest in and they are not hugely expensive.
So let me know what you thought via the comments or by using the Contact Me form. Also please tag me in your Greek salad pictures on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter – I’d love to see your #bowlofhappiness. DDx
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Greek Salad
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 as a main (4 as a side salad) 1x
Description
An English-ified Greek salad – cubes of tangy feta mixed with red onion, sweet pepper, lettuce and refreshing cucumber all tossed in freshly squeezed lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Delicious!
Ingredients
- 1/2 iceberg lettuce, shredded
- 100 g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cucumber, cut into chunks
- 1 pepper (any colour), cut into chunks
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 200 g feta, drained and cut into cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 10 g fresh parsley, chopped finely
- Salt and pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Put the lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red onion, cucumber and pepper in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the feta, chopped parsley, oregano, fresh lemon juice and a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
- Sprinkle over some salt and pepper and toss everything together to combine.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Add some olives, or (highly untraditional but delicious) sweetcorn!
- Try adding some sliced ham, tinned tuna or cooked sliced chicken!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Calories: 396.57kcal
