Greek food has become a staple in our home. We love a good Bifteki or Gyros with Tzatziki. It’s just really good food, especially during summer time. But being the girl I am, I simply need some green on the side; a salad to compliment all the meat.

This Greek salad makes me happy. Probably because it contains mostly ingredients I absolutely adore, but also -and I’m not kidding- because I taste Greece in it. Probably has to do with my very first trip to the beautiful islands of Greece and eating this salad there. There’s something so enticing about the combination of olives, onions and feta.

I’m not giving quantities because, well, it’s a salad. You just can’t go wrong!

Ingredients:

2 slices bread
romaine lettuce
1 large garlic clove
1 tbsp oil
bell pepper
tomato
cucumber
black olives
red onion
feta

Dressing:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 heaping tsp yogurt
1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
lemon juice
oregano
salt

Directions:

I like adding crunchy garlic croutons to my salad. Any salad. Get yourself 2 slices of bread, trim off the crusts and cut them into cubes.

Grate a large garlic clove.

Pour 1 tbsp oil and half the garlic in a skillet. Heat it together and throw in the bread cubes. Add a pinch of salt and some parsley. Bake the croutons until crispy brown.

Big storyboard. Grab yourself a bowl and combine 2 tbsp olive oil, the other half of garlic, 1 heaping tsp yogurt (I’ve used Greek yogurt, but regular yogurt works just as well) 1/4 tsp Dijon mustard, a few drops of lemon juice (fresh or from a bottle),  some salt, pepper and oregano. Whisk like a madman.

I’ve bought ”Little Gem’ lettuce for this salad; it’s a really cute name for a very small head of romaine lettuce. The short leaves are sweet and crunchy, but any type of lettuce will do. Wash the leaves. I’ve slimmed down the core a little. Personal preference.

I’ve also thinly sliced half a small red onion. You could use a shallot in stead. Just remember; no salad benefits from big chunks of raw onion, so keep the slices thin.

My salad only contains one, big, juicy red tomato. I’ve quartered it and then quartered the quarters again. Am I still making sense? Anyway, I ended up with 8 pieces of tomato :)

Wash and thinly slice a cucumber. I’ve used about 1/3 of a fairly large cucumber. Come on, live a little; leave the skin on!

Black olives. Throw in as many as you like. To the Dutchies; I wouldn’t recommend these. They weren’t very good.

Red bell pepper. Not too much, it can be very overpowering. I’ve thinly sliced about 1/3 of the pepper. Look at how juicy it is!

Add everything to a big bowl. Add as much coarsely crumbled feta as you like and add your dressing.

Carefully toss the vegetables so they’ll be lightly coated with the dressing. Now grab a pretty plate, and start building your salad. Top with the garlic croutons or serve them on the side.

Just as I wanted to take a few more shots of the salad, MY photo salad, I saw a little hand sneaking into my composition. Eating my photo! He actually ate my posting! The kid even pulled up a chair and I heard a loud ‘yummy‘ as he was stuffing his little face with feta and olives. The nerve!

In his defense I must say; he did use utensils. Well, at least he tried to.