Greek Salad/Horiatiki
Here’s a photo of a typical, beautiful, perfectly feta’d, Greek salad. And as you can see, there’s no lettuce, or soft, green, leafy thing. Ever, period. Lettuce doesn’t grow in the hot Greek summers, when tomatoes and cucumbers are at their peak. If you want to add something green or leafy here, that’s your business, but you should know it’s not exactly authentic. Vinegar doesn’t belong on a Greek salad either.
If you look closely at the photo, you’ll see the ingredients are
- tomatoes
- cucumbers
- green pepper
- red onion
- olives
- olive oil
- feta
- a sprinkling of oregano
I think you could put tomatoes, feta, olive oil, and any one or more of those other ingredients together in any proportion you would like to and get away with calling it a Greek salad. This salad needs ripe, summertime tomatoes and vegetables, the nicest you can get. Drizzle with the best olive oil you have. Be grateful.