Greek Heritage Cooking--SO Easy

This was lunch yesterday. It was also Greek Heritage Cooking. Remember the hashtag, #GreekHeritageCooking. It's going to be used a lot on Instagram as I begin moving forward with my project, which is part family memoir, part cookbook. Stay tuned!

In the traditional (or heritage) Greek kitchen, you can take almost any type of protein--boiled eggs, green beans, chickpeas, navy beans, shrimp or even sardines--and make a salad by adding the following ingredients:

• a generous amount of chopped parsley (flat leaf)
• 1 part red wine vinegar
• 2 parts extra virgin olive oil
• a generous amount of thinly sliced or finely chopped red onion

Now, you may be wondering, "What is a generous amount," and "How much protein," and how to assemble it all. Wonder not. Here are your answers. While they're somewhat vague, that's a good thing; if you want more parsley, add more, if you want less onion...well, surely you know what to do about that!

• Use three cups cooked protein. In today's example, I used a mixture of canned sardines and salmon (drained), bones and skin too, for extra nutrition.
• Two tablespoons red wine vinegar and four tablespoons olive oil. 
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley, more if you want more. Parsley is loaded with vitamin C.
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion, more or less as you wish.
• Mix it all up and serve alone or over half a peeled and pitted avocado.

Here's a visual of my "recipe" for today:

Dress an avocado.

Next, dress UP an avocado.

The good news is that this is so easy! It's also loaded with nutrition, and if you wish, you can substitute white wine vinegar for the red. And you can pack it for an easy work lunch!

If you like potato salad, but don't have time to spare, cook 2 to 3 lbs of potatoes, drain and pour into a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and 1 tablespoon of dried oregano. Drizzle with 1/8 cup fresh lemon juice and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Toss in a few chopped onions and it's ready to go. Try it and let me know what you think.

Did you ever imagine that authentic Greek cooking could be so easy?