Photo by Bobbi Misiti
Ingredients
- 1/4-1/2 red onion thinly sliced pole to pole
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- Mixed ripe tomatoes, cut into slices and chunks (about 2 heaping cups when cut up)
- 2 small cucumbers, peeled (or partially peeled or unpeeled, if you want some of the bitter skin); quartered lengthwise; and thinly sliced crosswise
- 1 small red or yellow sweet pepper cut into bigger chunks, or other vegetable (I like golden beets thinly sliced)
- 1/4 cup pitted Kalamata or other briny black olives
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- Kosher or sea salt
- 2 big pinches dried Greek or Mediterranean oregano, divided
- 4 ounces sheeps milk feta cheese, preferably cut into slabs
- A few fresh romaine lettuce leaves, chopped
Instructions
In a small bowl, combine onion with vinegar and let soak while you prepare the other ingredients, about 15 minutes.
In a salad bowl or large mixing bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, olives, olive oil, and vinegar and pickled onion. Season with salt and one large pinch of oregano, toss gently to combine, then adjust to taste with more salt and vinegar, if desired. Lay this mixture over your chopped romaine leaves.
Lay slabs of feta on top, sprinkle with remaining pinch of oregano, and drizzle with olive oil and a dusting of freshly ground black peppercorns. Serve, soaking up juices with bread.
Pit-in olives are often better-quality than pre-pitted ones; to pit your own roll your olives on a cutting board and use your fingers to pop the pit out.
Why It Works
Topping the salad with slabs of feta, instead of crumbling the cheese and mixing it in, allows diners to control just how much they get in each bite.
A quick soak in red wine vinegar tames onion’s raw pungency and adds a tart pop of flavor to each thin slice.
Notes:
I modified this recipe from Daniel Gritzer
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Find high quality extra virgin olive oil here.
In south central PA, you can find organic veggies here.
Excellent culinary salts are available from here.