Greek Heritage Cooking Goes to Work

The favorite summertime dish all over Greece is bound to be horiatiki salata, a.k.a. Greek village salad, followed closely by souvlaki (the pork or lamb or chicken grilled skewers). When faced with a lunchtime decision, this salad will be my choice ninety percent of the time, and why not? It's loaded with fresh summer flavors and the fragrance of eating in Greece. It's the epitome of traditional Greek cooking...without actually having to cook. This salad is found all over Greece and in just about all of the restaurants and tavernas throughout Greece, but it's never as good at the restaurants, because of one tiny step.

Here's the secret to preparing a Greek salad. First, you must salt the tomatoes, then you wait. Five minutes should be enough, but it can be longer. Then you can add the remaining ingredients and toss. What's the big deal, you say? Well, contrary to popular belief, there is no vinegar in this iconic salad. The acidity in the dressing comes from the juicy tomatoes, and if you don't salt the tomatoes and wait a bit, you'll miss out.

No recipe? Yes, no recipe. You can determine how much of each ingredient you want in your bowl, all the way to the feta cheese. Remember that the predominant ingredient is ripe, juicy tomatoes and that you need enough olive oil to make a dressing. Read on for details.

Horiatiki salata tossed and ready to eat right at your desk

This salad is easy enough to assemble, but it shouldn't be tossed until the last minute. So how do you assemble this in your kitchen and carry it to work? How can you ensure that it's as delicious as if your yiayia (grandmother) had come to work with you and prepared it at your desk? I'm glad you asked.

Preparation:

• In a large individual bowl, pour olive oil while saying, alpha, beta, gamma, delta. This should amount to four tablespoons or so.
• Slice the green pepper and red onion and place on top of the oil.
• Cut up the cucumber and set that on top of everything else.
• Sprinkle with dry oregano.
• Top with a generous amount of ripe, juicy tomatoes* and sprinkle generously with salt and more oregano.
• Finish with Kalamata olives if you wish, and with a slab of feta cheese equal to your taste for this tangy and salty traditional Greek cheese. Please use whole feta, not the crumbled kind--it just tastes salty and brings nothing else to this dish.
• Cover your bowl and carry to work. Don't forget a fork and a big piece of a crusty bread like a French baguette.
• Do not refrigerate. This will kill any tomato flavor (really, look it up) and aroma and may cause the tomatoes to turn mealy. Yuck! We don't want that. Just set your lunch on your desk away from keyboards and files, and all will be fine until your tummy tells you it's time for lunch.
• Once you're ready to eat, uncover the bowl and toss everything gently but thoroughly with your fork. Dip a piece of your bread into the lovely dressing and begin enjoying a healthy and satisfying bowl of yumm.

*I make this salad in cold weather also, using hothouse cucumbers and Sunset's Campari tomatoes, which seem to be the only tomatoes with true tomatoey flavor and aroma during the colder weather.

A visual representation of your salad assembly