What kind of cheese is included in a Greek salad. Greek salad, classic recipe (5 step-by-step unusual Greek salad recipes). Cooking secrets. Cheese recipe

Generous Greece willingly shares its unique recipes with the world. No one will be surprised by the variety of cheeses, sea cocktails and a variety of meat dishes traditional for this country. In addition, various salads are very organically combined in the national cuisine. Horiatiki is rightfully considered the most famous - a rustic salad that has become famous all over the world under the name "Greek". The simplicity and availability of ingredients, excellent taste and nutrition at a relatively low calorie content, coupled with an unusually appetizing appearance - all this guaranteed success.

Our article will tell you how to cook a Greek salad according to a traditional recipe and how you can replace some of the ingredients.

As often happens, this ingenious dish "came from the people", so the authorship is not known for certain. At certain stages, new ingredients were added to the dish, thanks to which its taste was modified and saturated. So, for example, it happened after the appearance of tomatoes, which were brought into the country no earlier than the 19th century.

Now a classic Greek salad is not complete without this vegetable. In addition to the tomato, other ingredients should be mandatory in the salad, some of them are typically "Greek" products.

Today we can say with confidence that the best traditions of Greek cuisine, coupled with the gifts of the fertile land, are collected in this surprisingly simple and tasty dish.

Greek Salad Ingredients:

  • Vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, onions (preferably red);
  • Olives, capers;
  • Lots of greens: parsley, oregano, lettuce;
  • Chees Feta;
  • Olive oil for dressing.

The presence of cheese in a salad is a somewhat unusual combination, but it is this ingredient that gives an exceptional taste and aroma to the finished dish.

Important nuance: greens and vegetables for salad should be cut into fairly large pieces.

It is this carelessness that creates the special charm of a typical "village" recipe. An attractive look is also achieved through a variety of shades and shapes. In Greek restaurants and cafes, this dish is served with slices of toasted white bread, which will be doubly delicious when dipped in a salad bowl.

Classic Greek salad recipe

It doesn’t take much time to prepare, it’s not for nothing that this dish was popular with peasants, whose daily work did not encourage long pastime in the kitchen. To make a salad according to the classic recipe, you need to pick up and grind all the ingredients, and do not spare herbs and olive oil for dressing.

  • Medium-sized tomatoes - 4 pieces;
  • One small cucumber;
  • One medium onion, preferably red, "sweet" variety;
  • Bulgarian pepper, depending on the size 1-5 pieces;
  • Olives - about 20 pieces;
  • Pickled capers - 2 teaspoons;
  • Feta cheese - 200 grams;
  • Dried oregano - 1 tsp;
  • Olive oil - 3 tbsp. l.;
  • Salt to taste.

Wash the salad vegetables well, cut the tomatoes into slices, slice the cucumber, onion and pepper into half rings. Add olives, capers and seasoning, salt and season with olive oil. Traditionally, cheese is laid out on top with wide slices.

In European cuisine, cheese is cut into cubes and mixed with vegetables.

Greek Salad Ideas and Recipes

As always happens, recipes are not always used in their original form, most often they are supplemented and modified, adapting to your tastes and looking for new combinations. European chefs have created many recipes based on Greek salad. The main ingredients - cheese and dressing - have undergone many metamorphoses, now almost every restaurant serves its own version of this dish.

A few ideas to diversify the traditional recipe:

  • The use of cherry tomatoes will give the dish greater aesthetics. Very small specimens can be put whole, used for decoration and simply laid out in an “artistic mess” on a dish.
  • Lettuce leaves will also very organically fit into the overall taste of the salad. A small recommendation: it is better not to cut this ingredient with a knife, but to tear it coarsely with your hands, so more useful substances will be preserved, and slight negligence will be quite in the spirit of this recipe.
  • Salad dressing is best prepared separately and mixed with the main ingredients just before serving. Thus, the vegetables do not drain and do not lose their attractive appearance.
  • Figured cutting of vegetables will make the dish more colorful and original. You can use a vegetable cutter, special nozzles and just show your imagination and do something unusual.

Such tricks will help surprise guests and family by creating a mysterious and very unusual dish. The advantage of this salad will be its absolute versatility.. It is traditionally prepared in the summer, during the season of fresh vegetables. On the other hand, now you can buy all the components all year round, so even on the New Year's table, such a miracle would be very appropriate.

Recipe with feta cheese

Feta goat cheese has a slightly crumbly texture and a salty taste. Now in supermarkets you can freely buy this product, it is usually sold in metal or plastic containers and stored in brine. Grinding such cheese is a rather difficult task, it practically crumbles in the hands, you can only get neat cuts with a special knife.

Feta cheese can be used in other recipes, it harmoniously complements many products, making them taste brighter. Despite the rather high calorie content of cheese, the dish itself turns out to be dietary.

The recipe for Greek salad with feta cheese is also very healthy due to the high content of vegetables.

In Greece itself, cheese is not mixed with the rest of the ingredients, but simply laid out on top as a decoration and main snack. Modified recipes call for chopping up feta and pairing it with vegetables and olives. At the same time, the juice itself, which was obtained from such a combination, is very important. In no case should it be poured out, it is better to soak it with a piece of bread and taste this excellent combination.

Cheese recipe

Most often you can find such an interpretation of the classic recipe. Feta cheese, which is a little unusual for us, can be replaced with cheese that is closest to its taste. To do this, the cheese is squeezed a little and cut into cubes or straws, as you like more.

The Greek cheese salad recipe contains less salt, as the cheese itself is quite spicy. Its amount is taken in accordance with the classical proportions, you can slightly adapt the recipe by adding prunes, pre-steamed and cut into pieces. Using bell peppers of different colors will make the salad even brighter and more appetizing.

The second Greek cheese closest in composition - fetax, despite its close relationship with the above-described specimen, is more common with us. Under this brand, it is allowed to produce soft cheese outside of Greece, while feta is an exclusively national product. There are differences both in composition and in consistency: instead of goat's milk, cow's milk is used, and the density of fetaki is higher.

Despite these differences, both types of cheese harmonize perfectly with vegetables and are very suitable for Greek salad.

If you were lucky enough to get exactly the original Greek feta, you can try to cook both options and decide once and for all the dispute about the best use of cheese in this salad.

Greek salad dressing

If regular olive oil seems like a simple sauce for such a gourmet dish, you can try creating different variations. Dressing for a Greek salad at home should be exclusively based on olive oil (this is Greek cuisine, you can’t do without it), as well as spices traditional for this country.

The traditional composition of the dressing is concise and does not require significant costs. For the inhabitants of Greece, olive oil is something so familiar that any dish is unthinkable without it. Olive oil came to us not so long ago, but it has already firmly won a place on the kitchen shelves.

  • Olive oil - 4-5 tbsp. l.;
  • Lemon juice - 2 tbsp. l.;
  • Black ground pepper - 1 gram;
  • Salt to taste.

Ordinary vinegar can also be used as an acid, but it is advisable to take a more “interesting” option: apple, wine or balsamic. This will create the necessary acidic environment, which is just an excellent seasoning for salty cheese and vegetables.

For a unique sweet and sour taste, you can add a little brown sugar. Usually it is better to adhere to such proportions: for 1 tbsp. l. vinegar take 1 tsp. Sahara. It must first be dissolved so that the grains do not come across in the salad.

Adapted version

  • Olive oil 2 parts;
  • Vinegar - 1 part;
  • Pepper, salt to taste.

A slightly unusual taste will turn out if you add a little real pomegranate juice to the dressing (it is better to use freshly squeezed). In addition to the flavor range, the color will change a little, but most gourmets prefer this particular type of dressing.

original pomegranate taste

  • Olive oil - 4-5 tbsp. l.;
  • Pomegranate juice - 1 tbsp. l.;
  • Pepper, salt to taste.

You can bring a little exotic with soy sauce. Despite some inconsistency of cultures, adherents of this sauce insist on an amazing harmony of taste. It is difficult to argue about this, if there are fans of this option, then so be it.

  • Olive oil - 3 tbsp. l.;
  • Soy sauce - 1 tbsp. l.;
  • Pepper, salt to taste.

For those who cannot imagine their life without traditional mayonnaise, you can try this dressing.

The only caveat: the calorie content of mayonnaise is quite high, so the dish can no longer be consumed during the diet, like its traditional recipe.

For mayonnaise lovers

  • Olive oil - 2 tbsp. l.;
  • Lemon juice - 2 tbsp. l.;
  • Mayonnaise - 2 tbsp. l.;
  • Liquid honey - 1 tbsp. l.;
  • Pepper, salt to taste.

Often, finely chopped greens and even garlic are added to the sauce for Greek salad, although the Greeks themselves have not yet clearly defined whether it is worth setting off the taste of the salad with too fragrant spices.

From the greens, parsley, oregano, dill and basil are traditionally taken. For decoration, you can use lettuce leaves, as well as sprigs of dill and parsley. The taste of the salad will be brighter if you do not use mustard, mayonnaise or vinegar, but in some recipes they are present. This, as they say, is a matter of taste, so it is always possible to modify and adjust the recipe “for yourself”.

greek salad calories

Despite the rather high fat content of cheese, salad can be safely classified as a dietary dish. Its calorie content according to the traditional recipe is approximately 87 kcal per 100 g. portions. At the same time, the content of vitamins and proteins necessary for the body is simply a record for a vegetable dish.

Olive oil is also allowed in the diet, unlike most of these products. Its absolute digestibility and high content of nutrients makes it an invaluable source of health.

Almost any cheese can be used for Greek salad, the main thing is to choose a salty taste and soft texture. If "feta" for some reason does not suit you, its analogue is brynza or Adyghe. You can often find options with ordinary hard cheese, but this is most likely a too average version.

A simple Greek salad recipe has already won a wide audience and is not in last place among similar dishes. In our country, its recipe has undergone a few changes, but basically people have already fallen in love with it, gradually replacing Olivier and mimosa on the festive table.

Due to the high content of vegetables and low calorie content, it is very light and perfect for dietary cuisine.

You can diversify the taste of the dish with different varieties of cheese: feta and fetax are traditionally used, “our” version may include brynza or “Adyghe”. A big advantage: experimenting with the type of cutting vegetables and serving, you can simultaneously decorate the celebration with a bright and memorable dish.

A wide variety of Greek salads, whose homeland is Greece, is explained by its wide popularity outside this country. In Russia, the salad became public closer to the new century, only in a slightly modified form. Feta cheese, which is made from goat's or sheep's milk, is added to traditional Greek. A more budgetary version of the salad allowed cheese. Vegan lovers prefer to replace feta with soybean tofu.

The five most commonly used ingredients in Greek salad recipes are:

The classic composition of a Greek salad basket is as follows:

  • Chees Feta
  • tomatoes
  • cucumbers
  • olives
  • shallot
  • olive oil
    From spices only salt, oregano and ground black pepper.

In different variations of Greek, they add to it: capers, anchovies, sun-dried tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, lettuce, assorted greens, garlic, the mentioned cheese, croutons, chicken fillet and much more.

Five of the fastest Greek salad recipes:

The main difference between Greek and any other salads is the brightness and larger cuts of vegetables. At home, the salad is not mixed before serving - this is done directly on the plate. It does not affect the taste in any way, rather, a matter of habit. Brightness is achieved with green cucumbers, red tomatoes, black olives, white cheese and the yellowness of olive oil. Although the Greeks themselves prefer to peel cucumbers.

  • a little lemon juice in olive oil to add a subtle touch to the salad
  • the dish will be tastier if salt and spices are mixed into vegetable oil, then water the vegetables
  • you need to be careful with salt: it is quite enough in cheese and olives

Greek salad is the perfect way to cook raw vegetables in a delicious and original way. The main secret of this dish is that it is prepared just before serving: then the ingredients retain their freshness and appetizing appearance. The classic Greek salad recipe can be changed by adding new ingredients and using all kinds of sauces.

The most popular recipe includes a standard set of ingredients and a dressing of oil and lemon, which is ideally combined with vegetables.

Would need:

  • 2 medium cucumbers;
  • 1 sweet pepper;
  • 1 onion;
  • 100 g fetaks;
  • 2 large tomatoes;
  • 0.5 lemon;
  • 20 pitted olives;
  • 60 ml of olive oil;
  • 3 g oregano;
  • salt and black pepper to taste.

Stages of preparation.

  1. Vegetables are thoroughly washed and dried.
  2. Cucumbers and tomatoes are cut into large cubes, pepper - into strips, onions - into thin half rings.
  3. The vegetables are evenly distributed in the salad bowl.
  4. Juice is squeezed out of half a lemon. Mix it with oil and oregano.
  5. Salad is salted, peppered and watered with dressing. Stir.
  6. Fetaxa is cut into cubes and laid out beautifully on top of vegetables.
  7. Olives are cut in half lengthwise and decorate the salad with them.

Note to the hostess: to make the appetizer look more spectacular, you can take half of the bell peppers of different colors.

Salad like in Greece

The peculiarity of this Greek salad is that the vegetables are cut very large and do not mix. All ingredients for this dish must be chilled.

Required products:

  • 2 medium tomatoes;
  • half an onion (purple);
  • 1 Bulgarian pepper;
  • 1 cucumber;
  • 100 g feta;
  • 12 olives with pits;
  • 2 g oregano;
  • 60 ml of olive oil;
  • 2 ml of table vinegar;
  • 4 lettuce leaves.

Cooking technology.

  1. Peeled cucumber is cut into larger circles, pepper - in large cubes, onion - in half rings.
  2. Tomatoes are cut into 6 pieces.
  3. The bottom of a deep cup is lined with lettuce leaves.
  4. Cucumbers are laid on them, tomatoes and peppers are placed on top.
  5. In a separate bowl, combine onion and oregano, sprinkle with vinegar, mix and leave for a quarter of an hour.
  6. Spread the onion mixture over the tomatoes.
  7. A whole piece of feta is placed on a salad, olives are laid out around.
  8. The dish is poured with olive oil, without stirring.

Greek salad with chicken and croutons

Adding crackers and meat to a Greek salad with fetax will give a traditional dish new notes and make it more nutritious.

Grocery list:

  • 400 g boiled chicken;
  • 2 small cucumbers;
  • 2 tomatoes;
  • half a bell pepper;
  • 0.5 bulbs;
  • 150 g of lettuce;
  • 100 g fetaks;
  • 100 g of white crackers;
  • 70 g olives;
  • salt, oil for dressing, a mixture of Provence herbs to taste.

Recipe.

  1. Clean and dry lettuce leaves are torn by hand and spread on a flat plate.
  2. Cut the peeled onion into half rings, the rest of the vegetables into large pieces.
  3. Vegetables are placed on leaf lettuce, salted.
  4. Fetax is cut into cubes, chicken - into small pieces.
  5. Meat and olives are laid out between the vegetables, on top - fetax and crackers.
  6. The salad is seasoned with herbs and drizzled with oil.

Recipe with cheese and olives

Thanks to the addition of cheese, this salad turns out to be more satisfying and piquant.

Products include:

  • 1 cucumber;
  • 1 tomato;
  • 150 g of salted cheese;
  • 100 g pitted olives;
  • 15 g dill;
  • 40 ml olive oil.

Step by step recipe.

  1. Cheese cut into cubes and put in a bowl.
  2. Add whole olives.
  3. Tomato and cucumber are also cut into squares and placed on top of the olives.
  4. Add chopped dill.
  5. All ingredients are poured with oil and mixed.

Classic recipe with pine nuts

Nuts significantly increase the nutritional value of the salad and give it an original taste.

Ingredients:

  • 2 tomatoes;
  • 1 yellow or green pepper;
  • 2 cucumbers;
  • 40 ml of olive oil;
  • 20 g mustard;
  • 100 g of pine nuts without shell;
  • 2 g salt.

Cooking steps.

  1. Cucumbers are cut into thick half-rings, peppers - into long sticks, tomatoes - into larger slices.
  2. The vegetables are mixed.
  3. Nuts are sprinkled on top.
  4. Greek salad with nuts is dressed with a mixture of olive oil, salt and mustard.

Helpful Hint: Pine nuts can be pre-roasted in a dry frying pan. Then they will acquire a more piquant taste due to the oils released during the frying process.

The original version in lavash

It is convenient to take a salad prepared in this way with you to have a snack at any time.

List of ingredients:

  • 1 thin pita bread;
  • 100 g feta;
  • 3 small tomatoes;
  • 2 cucumbers;
  • 1 sweet pepper;
  • 1 red onion;
  • 100 g olives;
  • 20 ml lemon juice;
  • 50 ml of oil for dressing;
  • 3 g of salt and oregano.

Cooking technology.

  1. Peppers and tomatoes cut into cubes. If the cucumbers have a dense peel, they are peeled and cut into the same pieces.
  2. The onion is cut into thin rings and disassembled.
  3. All vegetables are carefully mixed in a salad bowl.
  4. Add olives.
  5. At the end put feta cubes.
  6. In a separate bowl, mix oil, lemon juice, salt and seasoning.
  7. Spread lettuce on a sheet of pita bread and sprinkle it with dressing.
  8. Lavash is folded into an envelope or a tube. You can cut it into portions.

Greek Salad Sauce - Cooking Methods

The most common dressing for this dish is a mixture of olive oil and freshly made lemon juice. It is important to use only high-quality oil, on the label of which Extra virgin is marked.

Original sauces will help to give a new taste to the dish.

Dressing with balsamic vinegar

  1. Whisk 50 ml of balsamic vinegar with 10 g of brown sugar and a minced garlic clove.
  2. Stirring constantly, add 120 ml of olive oil.
  3. Season the dressing with salt and black pepper to taste.

low calorie sauce

  1. Combine 100 g of natural yogurt (preferably homemade), a garlic clove pressed through a press and 50 ml of lemon juice.
  2. Add 10 ml of red wine vinegar.
  3. Salt and pepper the sauce if desired.

Honey mustard dressing

  1. Mix 100 ml of vegetable oil and 10 g of ready-made mustard.
  2. Add 20 g of slightly warmed honey and stir until it is completely dispersed.
  3. Squeeze half a lemon into the sauce.
  4. Whisking continuously, add 50 ml of olive oil.
  5. Add 10 ml of wine vinegar and 5 ml of lemon juice.

Dressing with soy sauce

  1. 20 ml of liquid honey is mixed with 40 ml of soy sauce until completely homogeneous.
  2. Enter 20 ml of freshly squeezed lemon juice, constantly stirring with a whisk.
  3. Continuing to stir, add 80 ml of olive oil.

Greek, or as it is also called, village salad (Horiatiki), is so simple that its preparation can be described in one sentence: cut all the vegetables into large pieces, add cheese and olives, dress with olive oil and sprinkle with oregano. Everything! Horiatiki Greek salad is ready, you can enjoy its natural Mediterranean taste.

The main rule of a simple, classic Greek salad recipe is a large, coarse cut, “rustic”. The size of the pieces should be about 2-3 cm. It is believed that vegetables retain their taste better in this form, moreover, preparing a simple everyday salad should not take much time. But you don't have to cut the cheese. Most often, large chunks are laid out on top of vegetables, and the eater himself breaks off pieces with a fork. Although in restaurants you can often find serving with diced feta.

Among the required ingredients: tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, olives and cheese. Sometimes lettuce is added. Olive oil is used for dressing. And you can't feel sorry for him. In Greece, housewives pour plenty of dressing on vegetables, firstly, it tastes better, and secondly, after the dish is eaten, a delicious dressing will remain at the bottom of the salad bowl - vegetable juices will be mixed with butter and cheese. It is usually soaked with fresh bread, it turns out such oily pieces (ladobukies), very tasty!

Ingredients

  • feta cheese 200 g
  • tomato 3-4 pcs.
  • cucumbers 2 pcs.
  • red onion 1 pc.
  • bell pepper green or yellow 1 pc.
  • pitted olives 10-15 pcs.
  • olive oil 3 tbsp. l.
  • lemon juice 1 tbsp. l.
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • oregano dried 2-3 chips.
  • leaf lettuce optional

How to make a classic Greek salad


  1. Vegetables need to be washed and dried, peeled onions. I cut the cucumbers into large cubes. If they are bitter, then do not forget to remove the skin.

  2. Onion chopped into thin half rings. It is preferable to use a red onion, but if it is not available, then a regular white onion will do. There is no need to pre-marinate it or sprinkle with lemon juice.

  3. I cleaned the bell pepper from seeds and veins, cut into large cubes. It is advisable to take a yellow or green pepper to make the salad look more elegant and bright.

  4. I cut the tomatoes according to the same principle as other vegetables, that is, large.

  5. Made a dressing with olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt, pepper, and dried oregano. Extra virgin olive oil is best, wine vinegar can be used instead of lemon juice, and dried oregano can easily replace a mixture of Italian herbs if necessary.

  6. I put all the chopped vegetables in a deep bowl, added pitted olives. Drizzle with dressing and stir.

  7. She laid out the Greek salad on portioned plates, added a couple of large slices of feta on top (you can cut into cubes). I sprinkled with dried oregano, lightly rubbing it with my fingertips so that it better reveals its aroma. If desired, you can add fragments of leaf lettuce, it goes well with all vegetables and serves as an additional decoration for the dish.

As you can see, the recipe for Greek salad is simple and quick, you just need to chop all the vegetables coarsely and season them with sauce. The dish should be served immediately after preparation. Enjoy your meal!

Salad "Greek" is a real treasure for lovers of healthy and, moreover, varied food. A cocktail of fresh vegetables, tender cheese and olive pit oil... it looks very bright and appetizing on the table, saturates with vitamins and a fresh, pronounced taste. All these indisputable advantages are complemented by one more and very significant one - a minimum of calories! But how to make this salad tasty, maybe remove olives or add chicken? ..

All this can be done, the salad is so versatile that it easily tolerates harmless modifications and gives excellent results to even the most inexperienced cook. You can find many ways to prepare this salad on the Internet, but the most interesting are still different serving options. For example, sometimes vegetables are cut coarsely, and a piece of cheese, instead of being cut into cubes, is placed as a whole large rectangle on top. The dish takes on a much more spectacular, restaurant look, and all this is so simple and fast. Salad requires only slicing all the ingredients and ... that's it! Can you imagine?

Classic step-by-step recipe for Greek salad with photo

The classic salad recipe includes only cheese, fresh vegetables and the right "dressing". Many people prefer to pour it with ordinary olive oil, but this method is one of the simpler ones. If you want to present this simple and surprisingly popular dish as effectively as possible, you will need to play a little with the flavors of the dressing.


Ingredients:


large tomatoes - 2 pieces;




lemon juice;

salt, black pepper;

How to cook?

Step 1. Wash all vegetables thoroughly, cut off excess parts, remove seeds from peppers.
It is worth noting that tomatoes for salad should be used ripe, red. This greatly affects the taste and since vegetables are the main ingredient, they must be of the highest quality. Therefore, the salad should still be left in the summer collection, because in winter it will not warm you, and the taste of the vegetables brought in will certainly not be very promising.


Step 2. Immediately take a beautiful deep vase for salad. We strongly recommend that you opt for transparent dishes, as it is she who can most beautifully and vividly convey the appearance and taste of the salad and decorate the festive table.

Step 3. And now it's time to cut the ingredients. As a standard, vegetables cut into large cubes go to the salad. Of course, depending on your taste preferences, you can cut all the ingredients into strips, thin slices or a small cube. But we still recommend sticking to the standard - the cubes should be the same size as a whole olive.
So, cut cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and cheese.
But it is better to tear the lettuce leaves into small pieces with your hands.

Step 4. Olives do not need to be cut, so just open the jar and drain the liquid - we definitely won't need it anymore. It is not necessary to spread the salad in layers, since all the beauty is just in the colorful surface. So feel free to put all the ingredients in a vase in any order, only the cheese will need to be added at the end, because it is very soft in texture and can be all smeared on vegetables when stirred.

Step 5. It's time for miracles, let's prepare the most delicious - dressing. Take a small gravy boat or bowl and mix the dry ingredients in it first - salt, black pepper, herbs. And then fill them with a tablespoon of lemon juice. It is much easier to juice a lemon if you heat it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, depending on the power of your microwave.
You will have a paste, stir it well to make sure there are no lumps.

Now start pouring olive oil into it. Add gradually, stirring constantly so that the mixture does not separate. In total, for a given amount of vegetables, you need about 3-5 tablespoons of oil, depending on how much you like its oily taste.
Be sure to use the highest quality oil, because the taste of the salad depends on it. It must be unrefined and cold pressed.


Step 6. Pour the vegetables in the vase with the resulting dressing and mix the salad thoroughly. Then, put cheese cubes on top and mix again, but very gently and very little. The salad is ready, serve as soon as possible to the table and enjoy a healthy and tasty table decoration.

Enjoy your meal!

Classic recipe for Greek salad with croutons

No matter how good the original recipe is, you always want to improve it at least a little, right? For example, many housewives find Greek salad not crunchy enough, not enough good carbohydrates. Therefore, we decided to give you a salad recipe, in which home-made garlic croutons are added to the usual composition, which give the dish satiety and spice, so that it does not lose in appearance, but acquires additional advantages.


Ingredients:

Red bell pepper - 1 large;
large tomatoes - 2 pieces;
fresh cucumber - 2 large or 4 small;
green lettuce leaves - 1 bunch or 1/2 head of Beijing cabbage;
olives and olives (or one thing) are better with pits removed - 1 medium jar;
olive oil unrefined;
lemon juice;
"Feta" cream cheese - one small package;
salt, black pepper;
fragrant herbs (to your taste).
2 cloves of garlic;
3 thick slices of fresh loaf or rolls;

How to cook:

Step 1. First of all, let's cook the crackers, because they need time while they are dried in the oven, we will just have time to prepare all the other ingredients.
So, peel the garlic cloves, crush them with the side of a large, wide knife, and then chop them into small pieces.

Melt the butter, mix it with the garlic and add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the mixture. Then, into large cubes (the size of an olive), cut slices of bread and generously brush them with the oil mixture. Spread the bread evenly on a baking tray and place in an oven preheated to 70 degrees. It will take about 20-30 minutes to bake the croutons, but every 5-10 minutes we recommend that you check them and mix them lightly - in no case should they burn.

Step 2. Thoroughly wash all vegetables and clean from mashes, dirt and places where they were plucked. Remove all seeds from peppers. Do not forget about the high quality of the ingredients, it is very important.

Step 3. Prepare the dishes. Cut all the vegetables into large cubes, tear the leaves of Chinese cabbage.
In this recipe, we use Chinese cabbage to give the salad a similar look to Caesar salad, because we use similar croutons. Of course, you can use a green salad, be guided by your own taste preferences.

Cut cheese into cubes. Open the jars of olives and drain the liquid. Step 4. Prepare the dressing. In a gravy boat, combine pepper, herbs and salt, grind into a paste along with a tablespoon of lemon juice. Whisking constantly, add three to five tablespoons of olive oil.

Step 5 Put vegetables and olives in a salad bowl, pour dressing and mix thoroughly. Add the cheese and again lightly stir it into the depth of the vase. Top with croutons. Do this as gently as possible so that they do not get wet and the salad is fresh and tasty.

Serve to the table and do not forget to wish everyone a good appetite!

Greek Classic Chicken Salad

No matter how much we love Greek salad, something is always missing in it ... It seems that there is cheese, and vegetables, and butter ... But where is the meat? If you have ever wondered this question, then this recipe is definitely written for you.


Despite the traditional recipe that has been kept for years, the tender chicken fillet fits perfectly into the “picture” of the dish and complements it, making it more satisfying and delighting meat-eaters with its aroma. Since this salad is considered a restaurant one, we will cook the chicken in the best traditions - we will juicy fry the fillet until crispy, golden brown, cut it and only then let it go into our chic salad. Shall we start?

Ingredients:

Chicken fillet - 150 - 200 grams;
a clove of garlic for the marinade;
red bell pepper - 1 large;
large tomatoes - 2 pieces;
fresh cucumber - 2 large or 4 small;
green lettuce leaves - 1 bunch or 1/2 head of Beijing cabbage;
olives and olives (or one thing) are better with pits removed - 1 medium jar;
olive oil unrefined;
lemon juice;
"Feta" cream cheese - one small package;
salt, black pepper;
fragrant herbs (to your taste).

How to cook?

Step 1. So, let's get started. To cook the chicken as rich and tender as possible, we will marinate it. To do this, you must first peel the garlic and wash the chicken fillet. It is not necessary to cut the fillet, we will do this with ready-made meat. But the garlic needs to be crushed with the flat side of a large knife and finely chopped. Mix in a small bowl half a teaspoon of salt, garlic, a little black pepper. You can add chicken seasoning. Pour the mixture with a tablespoon of lemon juice and brush the fillets with this paste. Leave to marinate at room temperature for half an hour to an hour.

Step 2 Now rinse and decontaminate the vegetables. Remove the seeds from the peppers and cut off the "roots" of the tomatoes and cucumbers. Cut the vegetables into strips, in this recipe this will be the best solution. Tear the cabbage with your hands as well. We use Beijing cabbage because of its excellent compatibility with chicken meat. It can be replaced with a regular salad.
Drain the liquid from the jars of olives, cut each olive into 3-4 rings.
But we also cut Feta cheese into large cubes.

Step 3. Prepare the dressing by mixing lemon juice with salt and herbs, stirring in olive oil.

Step 4. You need to fry the chicken. To do this, heat a heavy-bottomed pan over high heat and brush the surface with oil. When the pan is hot, add the chicken fillet and fry on each side for at least 5 minutes, each side should be golden, crispy. To check readiness, you can pierce the fillet with a fork. If cloudy or pinkish juice comes out, you need to fry further. If there is no juice or it is transparent, everything is fine, you can remove the chicken.
Let it cool down for 10-15 minutes.

Step 5. All the same, cut the chicken that has cooled down at least a little into strips. Put all the vegetables, olive and meat in a bowl, pour dressing and mix everything thoroughly. Add the cheese on top and mix lightly again, but don't overdo it.

Serve to the table as soon as possible. Enjoy your meal!

Greek salad without olives

It would seem, what can be a Greek salad WITHOUT olives? After all, this is its basis, you can say a visiting card! It turns out that there is nothing wrong with this, you just need to change the dressing recipe a bit and add a different, more saturated type of cheese. But this is not bad or scary at all, so do not rush to fix the holiday menu or rewrite all plans.


Ingredients:

Green salad - 1 pack;
red bell pepper - 1 piece, large;
fresh, ripe tomatoes - 2 large;
pickled cucumbers large, spicy salting - 2 pieces;
cheese;
vegetable oil - 3 tablespoons;
salt, herbs, pepper;

How to cook?

Step 1. As you can see, to replace pickled olives, we replace them with pickles. This is an excellent solution to restore the acidity and taste balance of the salad. In the same way, tomatoes can be replaced if pickles were not at hand.
So, wash and clean the vegetables from seeds and "roots", cut into large cubes.
Pickled cucumbers are also best rinsed lightly under running cold water to wash off excess salt from the surface and cut in the same way as other vegetables.

Step 2. Cut the cheese into small cubes. If you do not like cheese, you can return your favorite "Feta" to its well-deserved place. The fact is that cheese has a brighter and more salty taste, which plays into our hands when eliminating olives and olive oil. In general, in almost any cooking option, you can use cheese or, for example, sulguni cheese. Only then you need to change the way of slicing and cut it into small cubes so that the salad does not scare away the guests with its excessive salinity.

Step 3. Prepare a vase and put all the vegetables in it, tear the salad. Prepare your dressing. To do this, mix salt, herbs and pepper with vegetable oil, pour dressing over the finished salad. In this version of the salad preparation, cheese can be added to the dishes along with vegetables and boldly mix everything, since you will have to try hard to spread the cheese, right? Thoroughly mix the salad with dressing and ... That's it! Your salad is ready, serve it to the table.

Enjoy your meal!

Greek salad dressings

Do you think there is only one way to cook dressing? But no! No matter how authentic a salad seasoned with olive oil is, it turns out to be much more interesting if you use complex dressing recipes consisting of various spices, juices, oils and other things. Just such a simple and insignificant thing, as many people think, like dressing can radically change the whole dish, and we want to tell you how, offer different options and ideas, be sure to try it!



Let's first identify a number of ingredients that are great for this particular salad. It's no secret that there is a certain principle of food compatibility and not every ingredient for such a salad will be a good choice.

1. Olive oil.
Of course, you can't run away from him. It is the main dressing ingredient and always works great.

2. Lemon juice.
And this is not a surprise for you. Combining mild acidity and a pleasant, delicate taste, lemon juice fits perfectly into a vegetable smoothie.

3. Mustard.
Almost any restaurant salad improves in taste if you add mustard to it. Of course, you shouldn’t get carried away, but in small quantities it will turn out to be that very cherry on top of the cake.

4. Honey.
For many, the amazing properties of honey and its ability to reveal the subtlest notes of the taste of products seem like a legend, but this is actually so. For almost any restaurant sauce, a few drops of honey is the best solution, which is always used by experienced chefs.

5. Balsamic vinegar.
Balsamic vinegar is a hard-to-find product in Russia, but if you have it in your kitchen, any salad will become a masterpiece in a matter of minutes. What should be done? Just add a few drops to the surface of the salad and stir! Its unusual taste will not disappoint anyone.

6. Garlic.
You don’t even need to talk about the taste of garlic, everyone knows them. Pound one small clove into the sauce and you can achieve the best praise from your guests. But do not overdo it, this is the biggest mistake of many housewives. Excessive sharpness will simply block the taste of all other ingredients and spoil the mood for you and the children who will refuse to eat it at all.

7. Basil.
Oh, how much praise we hear about fresh, fragrant basil leaves. Although they are used mostly in Italian cuisine, in small quantities they are great as an additive to various dressings. The fact is that it is its rich, bitter taste that perfectly reveals fresh vegetables.

8. Dried Italian herbs.
And this is a small, kind of life hack. Just keep dried herbs among your spices and add small amounts to any salads and main dishes - the spirit of the Mediterranean will not keep you waiting.

Experiment with mixing these ingredients in different proportions and you will always get a new, unusual and surprisingly tasty salad. I wish you success!

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