Greece - Food & Drinks - Salad: Choriatiki.

A fresh cut 'Choriatiki salad' or 'Greek salad' writes like a fairy tale in your mouth. Its wide range of tastes is a real sophisticated pleasure that explodes on your tongue and your palate.

The sweetness of the tomatoes, the bitterness of the cucumber, the saltiness of the olives, the sourness of the lemon and the complex taste of the onions in combination with the creaminess of the feta cheese and the freshness of the mint make it 'a real match, made in heaven'.

The addition of the lemon juice and the fresh mint is my personal interpretation of how (I believe) a Greek salad should taste. Many friends told me that there is 'something special' about my salads. Well, here you have it, this is my secret.

A 'Choriatiki salad' is mainly served, as a side dish, to complement a lot of other main dishes but I prefer to accompany it with (just) some fresh white bread. Simple, yet healthy and tasty. During the summer, I can eat it nearly every day. After a very hot summer day, it brings immediately joy and refreshment. I LOVE IT!

Like all good fairy tales, also this one has a 'happy end' and it looks like this:

This juice is 'precious', like liquid gold. You will notice that most Greeks will 'race' over a Choriatiki salad, in an extremely fast way, to be the first one to 'discover' this juice and then take a piece of fresh white bread and dip it (as deep as possible) into it. It's taste is just HEAVENLY!

Ingredients:

• - 3 tomatoes.
  - 1 cucumber.
  - 1 onion.
  - 150 ml. olive oil.
  - juice of 1/2 lemon.
  - 10 leaves of fresh mint.
  - 20 - 25 black olives. (I prefer the Throumpa Thassou ones as they are very soft and juicy).
  - 1 slice of feta cheese. (I prefer the Epirus one as it has a very fresh taste).
  - 2 teaspoons of oregano.

Preparation:

• - (1) Cut the tomatoes into small pieces and put them in a salad bowl.
  - (2) Peel the cucumber.
  - (3) Cut the cucumber into small pieces and add them to the bowl.
  - (4) Peel the onion.
  - (5) Cut the onion into (half) slices and add them to the bowl.
  - (6) Pour the 150 ml. olive oil over the salad.
  - (7) Cut (or break) the fresh mint leaves into the bowl.
  - (8) Mix all this very well. The secret here is to do this by using your hands as you want the tomatoes to be slightly bruised. (don't put any pressure though).
  - (9) Press the juice of the 1/2 lemon over this mixture.
  - (10) Spread the olives over the salad.
  - (11) Cut the slice of feta cheese into small cubes and add them on top of the salad.
  - (12) Sprinkle the 2 teaspoons of oregano over the salad.

• Finally:
  - Serve the 'Choriatiki' salad with fresh white bread.

Enjoy!