Whole Foods prepared food department is a good source of inspiration when I’m in a salad rut. Much to their employees’ annoyance, I like to hover around the glass display case and read each label carefully to decipher the list of ingredients for every item. I was jonesing for recipe to make use of cucumber, purple bell pepper, and an assortment of grape and cherry tomatoes I have in the fridge. When I saw a bowl of their Peasant Greek Salad sitting front and center in all its colourful chopped vegetable glory, I knew I found my answer.
A really neat thing about going to Whole Foods for inspiration is their online recipe database. In most cases, I can find a close approximation or even the exact recipe for what I see at the store. A quick look at their Greek Salad recipe shows a dressing made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, and fresh oregano. It doesn’t match the ingredients I saw in store but it’s already a good starting point. Until I found every fresh and dried herbs in my home except for oregano.
I usually keep a good selection of fresh herbs with standards like thyme, rosemary, parsley, cilantro, dill, and perhaps the occasional sage. As for dried herbs, I get plenty from my winter CSA shares. Somehow, I can’t seem to keep oregano around the house. When I do remember to buy them, I use them up quickly. I think a review of my shopping habit is in order.
Here I was, looking at my salad bowl filled with tomatoes, cucumbers (salted and drained), bell peppers, kalamata olives, and crumbled sheep milk feta. In my hand, chopped red onions were marinating happily in a dressing made with olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, and chopped fresh dill. I desperately needed oregano but dinner time was fast approaching and a trip to the store was not to be. Resourceful as always, I remembered the jars of spice blends I bought at Penzeys.
See that ingredient list for herbes de Provence? Oregano is in there somewhere! So what if there are also lavender and rosemary which have no business in a Greek salad? I told you I was desperate and herbes de Provence would have to work in a pinch. And it worked. My Greek salad had a certain je ne sais quoi which kept my family guessing. But next time, I’ll be sure to put oregano on my shopping list.
Not-So-Greek Salad
serves 4 generously
Ingredients
- 1 medium size cucumber, chop to 1/2 inch pieces
- kosher salt
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
- juice from 1 lemon, about 3-4 tbsp
- 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp chopped dill
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 tsp herbes de Provence
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 pint grape tomatoes, cut in half only if they are too big for one bite
- 2 sweet bell peppers, seeded and chop to 1/2 inch pieces
- 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
- 1/2 cup crumbled sheep milk feta
Method
- In a colander, toss together cucumber and 1 tbsp of kosher salt. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes to draw out excess moisture.
- In the mean time, marinate the red onion in lemon juice and red wine vinegar. Set aside.
- Toss out the water sweated by the cucumber. Rinse cucumber under cold water and pat dry with paper towel.
- Complete the dressing by stirring dill, parsley, herbes de Provence, and olive oil into the marinated red onion mixture.
- In a large mixing bowl, toss together cucumber, tomatoes, bell peppers, olives, feta, and red onion in dressing. This salad is salty enough from the olives and feta but a few turns of freshly ground black pepper would be nice. Salad can be made up to an hour in advance.
