Greek salad

Can a salad be a main course?  Hell yes!  Cheese makes a salad and feta cheese is one of my favourites.  It's a great source of vegetarian protein but it tastes great too.

In my post about fish with chorizo, I was harking back to holidays in mainland Spain.  This makes me think of holidays when I was a child.  I love Greek food.  It is much maligned but I don't think any culture has such a natural feeling for how to subtly enhance good fresh food.

It's been a long time since I've been to Greece, maybe 15 years, but making Greek salads is a little bit of my history and happy memories of when I was younger.  Although I can't replicate eating outside in the warm breeze with the sun setting on the beach in the background, that's how I feel when I eat it.

Greek Salad - serves 1

Ingredients

Approx 5cm, 2 inches cucumber
Half a small onion
2-3 Ripe tomatoes
10-20 Kalamata olives, stone in
80-100g 3-3.5oz Feta cheese
Fresh thyme
Wine vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil

Method

Slice the cucumber into thick slices.  Peel and slice the onion into thin rings.

Slice the tomatoes, discarding the core where the stem met the fruit.  Layer the cucumber, onion, tomatoes and olives.

Top with the feta and thyme.  Drizzle with vinegar and olive oil.

Somehow it would feel right to serve this with a small jug of slightly rough but endearing home made white wine with a hint of resin.

I would love to return to Greece but I'm almost scared the Greece I knew of beautifully blue seas and sparkling sands might not exist any more but I hope it does and some day I will return.  Until then I will dream of salads and barbecued fish with the cheeky jugs of home brewed wine.

I've added this to Lavender and Lovage's September challenge.