With chunks of tangy feta cheese, salty black olives and a red wine vinaigrette, Greek salads are meant to be bold flavor statements. But too often, they suffer from pale lettuce, watery tomatoes and cucumbers, and a greasy pool of dressing at the bottom of the bowl. I enjoy Cook's Country magazine because the recipes are accompanied by detailed descriptions of how and why they were tested and developed. Here's an example of comments on how this staple salad was improved ....it is terrific!
"To reduce the amount of liquid released from the vegetables, seed the cucumbers and use fleshy cherry tomatoes rather than larger (and juicier) tomatoes. The taste of raw onion can overpower the other ingredients. Marinate sliced onion in the dressing for 20 minutes to tame its harshness. We lost the iceberg lettuce for the crunchiness of romaine.For creamier dressing with better cling, we added a bit of plain whole-milk yogurt. Blending some of the feta cheese into the dressing ensures that every bite has tangy cheese flavor"
Process together: 1/2 c. feta cheese, 3 TB whole milk or Greek style yogurt*, 1 tsp organo, 1 garlic clove, minced, 3 TB red-wine vinegar, 6 TB extra virgin olive oil in blender til smooth, about 30 seconds. In a large bowl, combine the dressing and 1/2 red onion ,sliced thinly, and let sit 20 minutes.
Add 3/4 c. crumbled feta, 1 cucumber - peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded & sliced thin, 1 pint cherry tomatoes, 3/4 c. pitted Kalamata olives, and 2 heads romaine ( about 8 c.) torn into bite -size pieces. Toss everything to combine, season with salt and pepper, and serve.
*Use regular yogurt if necessary, but you can duplicate the creaminess of whole milk- or Greek style- yogurt by draining skiim or regular yogurt on a coffee filter for an hour or longer.
