Olive oil and tomato…best combination ever! The latest season of Proof is out. Season 16, episode 1 is titled “It’s All Greek Salad to Me.” Go to your favorite podcast source and listen now! The episode explores the origins of, Horiatiki, the original Greek salad.
After listening to the podcast, I was inspired to make my own. This is less about a recipe and more about a technique. In Wisconsin, it is too early to pull a tomato from the garden. Instead, I went to Private Selection for some Campari tomatoes. These almost bite-sized tomatoes are perfect and always ripe in store. To build a flavorful dressing, the only other thing you need is some excellent olive oil. The acid from the tomatoes and the grassy notes from the olive oil make for an amazing combination. Sprinkle a little flaky sea salt on your sliced tomatoes before you marinate with your olive oil.
This time of year, I also don’t have fresh oregano from the garden. That bright, spicy, grassy herb embodies what is Greek flavor to me. Each year, I dry oregano from the garden and crushed some into my tomatoes to let them rehydrate and permeate. I don’t recommend store-bought dried oregano. So if you don’t have home-dried, buy fresh at your local supermarket. As the tomatoes start to release their juices, thinly slice onion and stir in to begin softening their bite and marrying the flavors.
The next step in this simple process is to marry in some cucumbers and feta. For cucumbers, Simple Truth cucumbers were a perfect pre-summer solution. Simple Truth, like Private Selection, is another great brand available at the Kroger family of stores. For feta, watch out for feta “style” cheese made with cows milk. It’s not feta! Dodoni is a great brand found in the U.S. and is available in many stores.
The last thing to work on is patience. This salad is great eaten right away…but tastier after 30 minutes of marriage and even better an hour or two later at room temperature.
Proof is a podcast produced by America’s Test Kitchen. Click here for a larger image of this inspirational salad.
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