Greek Salad

My trip to China was great (pictures of roasted baby pigeons to come), but frankly, after two weeks of half-familiar vegetables and proteins swimming in a pool of MSG-infused oil, I was really excited about coming back and eating some crunchy, non-greasy foods. Solution? A diet consisting of cereal and salad has never tasted so delicious and chemical*-free.

The Dupont Circle farmers market was going on the day I got back. Not only was it nice to walk around in the beautiful weather under blue skies, which incidentally, I saw precisely twice on my entire trip to China, but it was also great to see all the wonderful produce I can start playing around with. I bought some lovely little Persian cucumbers, which are infinitely tastier, crispier, and more fragrant than their fat, overly seeded and thick-skinned counterparts, whose existence is as inexplicable to me as America's obsession with chicken breast. Seeing those cucumbers immediately inspired me to make a Greek salad.

I had made this salad a few times before, after seeing a recipe on Saveur. Sometimes I make fun of salad recipes because, well, are they just a recipe for lettuce and whatever you have on hand at the moment? But, after making this salad with and without Saveur's guidance, I can attest to the fact that sometimes a recipe is there because it has the ratios down pat, as opposed to whatever I feel like sticking into my bowl at the moment.

Greek Salad
Adapted from Saveur

Make sure to use good feta in this recipe. As in, stuff that doesn't come pre-crumbled. I've tried both the stuff that comes in brine from Whole Foods and St. Vikos, which comes in a white package with success.

2 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into 1 1⁄2" pieces

1 small cucumber, peeled and sliced

1⁄2 red onion, thinly sliced

3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp. red wine vinegar

dried oregano

Salt and pepper

6 oz. feta, cut in bite-sized chunks

8 kalamata olives, pitted

Put tomatoes, cucumbers, and onion in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and a pinch of oregano. Pour over salad. Top with feta, olives, and a sprinkling of more oregano. Voila! Serves 2, maybe.

I would have felt guilty about eating onions at work if it didn't taste so delicious:



*Unfortunately, MSG is probably the least harmful chemical I ate while in China. In the brief time I was there, I heard about one case of poisoned milk, numerous instances of people making and selling fake eggs, pigs fed chemicals such as clenbuterol to increase lean mass... In comparison, rRBH and BPA suddenly seem a lot less frightening. More discussion on this to come, I'm sure.