search best foodSalads & sides · Greek
Greek Village Salad
No lettuce. Salted ripe tomatoes, crisp cucumber, olives, and a whole slab of feta with oregano on top.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Total
- 20 min
- Serves
- 4
Added . Suitable for: Vegetarian, Gluten-free.
Why this version
- Salting the tomatoes for 10 minutes draws out juice that mixes with the oil into a dressing worth mopping up.
- Soaking the onion in iced water keeps its crunch but removes the harsh bite.
- Feta left as one block on top, rather than cubed, stays creamy and gets broken up at the table.
Ingredients
- 600 g ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
- 1 cucumber, about 300 g, peeled in stripes and cut into thick half-moons
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 green pepper, sliced into thin rings
- 80 g kalamata olives
- 1 tbsp capers, optional
- 200 g feta, in one block
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp flaky salt
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil
Method
Put the tomato wedges in a wide bowl, sprinkle with half the salt and leave for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, soak the onion slices in iced water for 10 minutes, then drain and pat dry.
Add the cucumber, pepper, onion, olives and capers to the tomatoes. Drizzle with the vinegar and most of the oil and toss once, gently, with your hands.
Set the feta on top, sprinkle it with the oregano and the rest of the salt, and finish with the remaining oil. Serve with bread for the juices.
What we tested
- Without salting the tomatoes first: the salad was drier and the dressing never came together.
- Cubed feta tossed through: it broke into crumbs and clouded the dressing.
- Lemon juice instead of vinegar: brighter, but tasters preferred the rounder red wine vinegar.
Keeping
Best within an hour of making. Leftover juices make a good base for a tomato bread or a pasta sauce.
Swaps and notes
In winter, use cherry tomatoes halved; they have more flavour than out-of-season large ones.
