Recipe: Greek Salad

This recipe is from the upcoming cookbook, Decades Of Decadence, by Rebecca Klemke.

Here's what Rebecca had to say about the recipe:

Most people enjoy a tasty greek salad, with its fresh flavours and relative lightness, and I am no exception. This is my Grandma’s interpretation of a Greek-style salad. I serve this vegetable salad with lightly seasoned and grilled or pan-seared shrimp or jumbo prawns. Remember, lettuce wilts very quickly when tossed with dressing, so it is important to keep it separate until just before serving. I prefer this served on a bed of lettuce as opposed to tossing the lettuce in with everything else, I consider the lettuce “for the plate."

Yield: 6 servings, 2 cups dressing

Greek Dressing

¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

¼ white onion

1 shallot

1 stalk celery, ends removed

1 carrot, medium sized

3 radishes

1–2 cloves garlic, minced

1½ tbsp organic sugar cane (substitution: honey or white sugar)

½ tsp oregano

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper, freshly ground

Dash of cayenne pepper

Greek Salad

1 cucumber, diced large or sliced thickly on an angle

2 ripe tomatoes, cored and wedged

½ red onion, sliced into rings

1 red bell pepper, cut largely as desired

1 yellow or orange bell pepper, cut largely as desired

Black olives, such as ripe kalamata olives

1 cup (250g, 9 oz) feta cheese, diced small

Romaine lettuce, shredded or sliced finely, for the plate

How to Prepare the Greek Salad

Combine Greek dressing in a blender or food processor. Purée for at least 2 minutes on high speed.

Combine vegetables and olives, mix with dressing and top with crumbled feta cheese. Reserves for up to one day refrigerated.

Serve on a bed of finely julienne romaine lettuce.

Suggested Wine Pairings

Boutari 2009 Moschofilero

Sigalas 2008 Santorini

Tsantali 2008 Halkidiki

Forstreiter 2009 Grooner Grüner Veltliner

Photo courtesy of Rebecca Klemke