Quick, what do the following salads have in common: fruit salad, egg salad, and waldorf salad?
That’s right — no lettuce. A traditional Greek salad (or “horiatiki”) also has no lettuce despite what countless recipes and restaurant menus here in America would have you believe. It’s a very simple and satisfying salad, and you don’t have to worry at all about the latest lettuce scare.
In Greece this salad is practically a given at any restaurant. Every time I’ve visited Greece it’s been one of my go-to meals. Here’s how to make your own meal-sized serving of Greek salad.
Ingredients and prep
- Small or half of a medium sized ripe tomato, sliced into big wedges
- Half a green pepper sliced lengthwise into strips
- A few slices of cucumber *
- Couple of small cubes of red onion
- Half slab or a few of chunks of feta
- Olive oil
- Red wine vinegar
- Dried oregano
- Kalamata olives, unpitted
* Personally I prefer to skip or go easy on the cucumber. Up to you.
Steps
- Wash and prep the vegetables as described above
- Put the vegetables in a bowl
- Drizzle olive oil and red wine vinegar over the vegetables
- Place the feta on top of the veggies
- Sprinkle some oregano on top
To eat the salad, cut the cheese and veggies into smaller chunks with a knife and fork and eat them together. If you’re used to cheese plates at fancy restaurants and wine bars this should be pretty familiar.
A word of caution: the olives are meant to be eaten separately, don’t injure your teeth on the pits.
In Greece these salads are usually served in a larger quantity than this, intended for the entire table. They’re never mixed, instead served with a large spoon or fork for everyone to remove the cheese and vegetables as they wish, transferring them to their own plate. You don’t need a separate plate for the serving size described above, just something to keep in mind for large quantities.
Also many restaurants in Greece serve meals with bread. It’s completely optional, but the bread can be used to soak up any extra olive oil and vinegar in your salad.