A real Greek salad

The Greek salad is something of a tradition in American pizzerias and sandwich shops. A pile of iceberg lettuce, some tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, onions, olives, and feta cheese with a vinaigrette dressing, it's not a bad salad, but they can be a bit bland. They're apparently common in other countries, and maybe more authentic, but to be honest, there are times I go into a Greek restaurant and the most interesting thing about the salad is the pita bread it comes with.

Enter the classic Greek salad, the horiatiki salata. For reasons that I'm sure make sense to Greeks, the original name translates to "peasant-style salad", and unlike its American equivalent, the dominant vegetable is ripe tomatoes -- no lettuce, just some mint and oregano leaves to serve as greens. You can make a decent one any time of the year, but the ideal late-summer beefsteak or plum tomato is best for this. During the off-season, look for Camparis from Canada, or the increasingly rare tasty winter Roma (usually from Florida or Mexico). Also, for best results, slice everything but the tomatoes and cheese as thin as you can. And finally, I can't stress enough that it's about the tomatoes. If you can't get good tomatoes, go get the stuff from the pizza shop.

Salad ingredients

ripe tomatoes, diced or quartered

cucumber, sliced thin (peeled if necessary)

bell pepper, sliced thin

red or yellow onion (Spanish or sweet onions are fine), sliced thin

Kalamata olives

feta cheese, crumbled

Mint leaves, julienned, to taste

a large pinch of oregano

Vinaigrette

Three parts good extra virgin olive oil (in my experience, Spanish and Greek do well for this)

One part red wine vinegar

salt and pepper

A dash of prepared mustard

Mix the ingredients for the vinaigrette and shake in a cruet or cocktail shaker until emulsified. Combine the other ingredients in a salad bowl and add vinaigrette to taste, then toss together and serve with bread.