Greek Salad – A Delicious Taste of the Mediterranean in Your Own Kitchen!

Greek Salad

Roma Tomatoes
Cucumber
Green Pepper
Onion
Pitted Kalamata Olives
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
pinch of pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon fresh oregano
Feta Cheese

Cut your tomatoes into large bite-size chunks. Slice your unpeeled cucumbers into half circles. Slice your green pepper into strips. Slice your onion into quarter rings. Drain the Kalamata Olives very well. Place all your vegetables in a bowl and toss.

Using a small jar, shake together the extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, dried oregano, and fresh oregano. Drizzle the dressing over your salad and toss again just before serving. Sprinkle the top of the salad with a tiny bit of salt and pepper and some additional fresh oregano. Top with slices of Feta Cheese. Serve immediately.

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Hello everyone. Welcome to Come Sit at My Table. We’re Tom and Melissa and we sure do appreciate you being here for our video. Today we are doing a wonderful, wonderful summer salad. It’s one that I absolutely love and I really didn’t know I loved it until this summer. Now, there’s a story with that, and I’m going to tell it to you while we’re chopping up our ve our vegetables for this salad, but I’m going to tell you, I have fallen in love with Greek salads. Let’s talk about what we’re going to use to make our Greek salad, and then I’m going to tell you a story. We’re going to start with tomatoes. Now, these are Roma tomatoes. You can see they’re the small oblongshaped tomatoes. And there’s a reason we’re using these. We’ll talk about that in a minute. We’re not going to need this many though. No, no, no. We’re just using part of these for our salad. And this is going to be the our dinner tonight. Melissa and I are having a Greek salad for dinner, which proves to you I have fallen in love with this salad. We’re also going to use some cucumber, one green pepper, and actually I’m not using the whole green pepper. I’ll probably use about half of it, maybe not even half for the two of us. We’re going to use some onion. And you’ll notice I’m not giving you amounts. We’re going to use some colomata olives. Now, these are pitted Greek colomata olives. And those are the five vegetables that we’re going to put in our salad. Now, the reason that I’m not giving you amounts is because I don’t know, it’s a salad. Now, when you make a tossed salad and you use lettuce and cheese and whatever you put in it, carrots, you probably don’t measure out every ingredient. You just throw some in until it looks like you have enough. And that’s what we’re going to do with this. And there’s a story there and I’ll tell you what it is. For our dressing, we are going to use 1/4 of a cup of extra virgin olive oil. And this comes from a wonderful place called Markellos’s. It’s an olive farm in Greece. And we’re using this olive oil today. We’re going to use 1/4 of a teaspoon of salt and a big pinch of black pepper. We’re going to use half a teaspoon of minced garlic. We’re going to use about 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano leaves. And then we’re also going to use some fresh oregano that I have just pinched the leaves off the stems. And we’re using both dried and fresh because we really want that oregano flavor. We’re also going to use some Greek feta cheese. And that will just go on top in a triangular piece laying on top of the salad. And then we’re also going to use some bread. Now, I know it’s kind of funny that I’m doing a Greek salad and I got a loaf of Italian bread, but there was no Greek bread at the Walmart bakery. So, we’re going to have some bread with it. And I’m just going to slice that and toast it and we’ll put that on the side with our salad. Okay, I’m going to start cutting up the tomatoes. And I’ll talk to you about each vegetable as we go. But I’m also going to tell you the story of this salad. So, some of our friends from church quite a while ago, I don’t know how long ago, Melissa, probably a year and a half, maybe a little longer. Yeah. mentioned to us that they wanted to do a trip to the Mediterranean, specifically to Greece, and they wanted to do some of the Holy Land, some of the the sites where the disciples had been, and you know, that kind of thing. And they asked if we were interested in going with them. I’m going to jump in here and say you’re just kind of making big chunks of this as we Yes. Yes. Yes. We’re not cutting it up. fine. It is big chunks and you’re using the Roma tomatoes because they’re not real juicy. That’s right. We want meaty tomatoes. And I am This one’s got a big core down in it. So, I’m going to take that out because nobody wants to eat that big hard core. So, that’s coming out there. Okay. So, they asked if we wanted to go and all you have to do. I’m kind of like my grandmother, my mama, my mom’s mom. All you have to do is say go and I’ll beat you to the vehicle. But anyway, they asked if we wanted to go and we said, “Sure, we’d love to go.” So earlier this summer, 10 of us from our church went to Greece and several other places, but we started in Athens, Greece. Now, you’ll notice that these are not real juicy. They are meaty, which is why I’m using Roma. Melissa mentioned that already, but I just wanted to reiterate that. So, we got to Athens and I think it was the very first night we were there. I ordered a Greek salad. Was that right, Melissa? That’s right. Okay. I thought it was the first night. Honestly, I mean, I I read the description in the the um menu, but I really wasn’t sure exactly what I was getting, and I didn’t care because I love to try new foods. such a part of the culture when you go someplace new. Absolutely. You have to try the local foods. So, I ordered a Greek salad. Well, they brought it and this is an old country term, but I was like a hog in slop. I absolutely loved it. It was so delicious. One of the other men with us, Charlie, also ordered it. And I looked down the table at him and I said, “Is yours as good as mine?” And he said, “Oh, it is so good. This is delicious.” Well, while we were on that trip, four different days while we were in Greece, I ordered a Greek salad. Three of those were in restaurants. I’m just going to ask how much. Are we getting close to how much we’re going to use? Well, I don’t know. I was busy talking and I forgot to watch how many. That’s what I I thought I’d better jump in here before you sliced up the whole bowl. Sorry. So, I ordered four Greek salads, I think, in four or maybe five days. And I’m telling you, they were just so good. Except for one. I ordered one on our cruise ship in the dining room for dinner one night, and it was it wasn’t bad. It just was the worst of the four. But I fell in love with Greek salads. So every single place that I had a Greek salad, I asked, and you know, I know a lot of times they don’t want to tell you um how they make something or their recipe, but I mean, it’s just a salad. So I every single place I said, “Would you care to tell me how you make this?” And surprisingly, every single restaurant told me what they did, which is very simple. And I pretty much already had it figured out anyway, but I just wanted to make sure. Now, you can tell that I did not peel this cucumber. And that’s because they did not peel their cucumbers. The skins were left on and they were cut into half circles just like that. Okay. So, every one of them told me it’s tomatoes and they said we use a very meaty tomato and I said like a Roma tomato and some of them didn’t know what a Roma tomato was but it was like a Roma tomato. They said we use cucumber. We use a sweet onion. Now, one of the places used a red onion and I liked it but red onion is not my favorite onion. Vida is the other two places, the other two restaurants used a white onion. So that’s what I’m doing, but you could use a red onion. And they said we use some green pepper, we use colamada olives, and then we make a dressing. And I asked, “So what’s in the dressing?” And they were very free with sharing how they made the dressing. They said, “Oh, it’s very simple. It’s just olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, some dried and fresh oregano.” And we just mix that up. We shake it up and then we pour it on just before we serve it. So, I knew that they didn’t let it soak in that cuz they said, “And we just pour that on right before we serve it.” So, that’s what we’re using. Now, the onion that they had was quarter circles. So, I cut my onion in half. You can see I’ve got the two halves. And then I’ve just cut that half down the middle so that when I slice it now I get quarter circles. And they were just broken up right in there. And I’m just going to tell you there wasn’t a ton of onion in any of them, but there was enough in there that I knew there were onions. I mean, it was obvious they were there. And the one that had the red onion, that was very visible. This is one of those things you just kind of do to your taste preferences. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so I loved all three of the salads that I got in restaurants. I got one in Athens, one in Santorini, and one in a beautiful little place. Oh, that little seaside village. It’s called Nath Pleo. And that’s where this shirt came from. I don’t know if you noticed my shirt, but my shirt came from that little town cuz we just fell in love with that little town. My shirt came from that little town called Nath Pleo. Turns out that little seaside town, little village was the first capital of the country of Greece. In 1929, it became the capital of Greece when Greece became independent from the Turks. And it was the capital of Greece only for 5 years from 19 1829 to 1834 and then the capital was moved to Athens. I’m going to tell you that little village. Wow. So charming, so cute. I think every single one of us that was in that in that group of 10 said this is a place we could live. I mean, it’s just that beautiful of a place. All right, so I have my tomatoes, my cucumber. I did half of a cucumber because this is just for Melissa and me. I did almost half of an onion. I don’t know how many tomatoes I did. One, two, three, four, five. I might do another tomato or two. And I’m probably going to do about half of this um green pepper because it’s just for us. Now, I’m going to need to seed and take out the membranes from this over at the trash can. So, let’s just take a little bit of a pause here and let me get this cleaned out and then we’ll come back and get this sliced up and in our salad. Now, the green peppers that were in the salads I had were half sticks and they were sliced into long pieces. They weren’t chunks. They weren’t diced up. They were long sticks like this. They weren’t really skinny, but they weren’t huge thick chunks. So, just about like that. Oops. This is a really pretty salad. It’s a beautiful salad and it’s so delicious. You know, I know it’s a Greek salad, but it’s I I just feel like it’s a summer salad because it’s so full of fresh vegetables. I mean, tomatoes are in season right now. Green peppers are setting on. Um, onions are available. Onions are pretty much available all year, but it’s just such a good summer salad. The dressing, I think, is what makes it more of a Greek salad than the vegetables that are in it. Um, I’m only going Well, I’m telling you, if I didn’t drop those, I’m only going to use half of this green pepper for Melissa and me, cuz I think that’s going to be plenty for us. And neither one of us are starving, are we, baby? Had a pretty good lunch. So, this will be good for dinner. Okay, so I’ve got all the green pepper in. And now we have to do our colomata olives. This is another reason that this is a Greek salad. I don’t want to take these out of the juice they’re in and put them right in the salad because I feel like that dark juice will maybe color the other vegetables. So, I’m going to drain them and then I’m going to rinse them and get some of that off of there. I probably shouldn’t rinse them. Maybe I won’t rinse them because it’s probably got some flavor from that juice. But I am going to drain them. So, I’m just going to go over here to the sink and I’m going to open these and just put them through a strainer. And I am going to keep that juice because I may need to put it back in there for the olives we don’t use. And you know what? I think I’m I don’t think I am going to rinse those. Melissa, they look beautiful. Aren’t they pretty? Anything you want to say about olives? I didn’t really like olives until about three years ago. Our first trip to the Mediterranean in 2022. I really was not a fan of olives at all. I guess you know, we got ready to go to the Mediterranean on our first cruise there. And I said to Melissa, “You do realize we’re going to be in the Mediterranean and they’re not going to have American food and you don’t like olives and olives is going to be in just about everything.” And she said, “It’ll be fine. I could eat anything. I I’ll make myself eat them.” And I thought, “Oh, this is going to be fun.” Well, let me tell you, she was a trooper. The very first restaurant we went in, we ordered a cheese cheese and olive platter. And I thought, “She’ll eat the cheese. I’ll eat the olives.” She dug right in. And when we finished that meal, do you remember what you said to me? Well, no, of course not. But I will have to say they’re just better there. They just are. They are. I agree with you. She said, “I didn’t know I loved olives, but I do.” And she’s been eating olives ever since. So, I’m just going to toss these together. Get get it mixed up a little bit. And now, we’re going to make our dressing to put over this. So, I’m going to move all this out of the way and then we will make our dressing. And I’m just going to make it in a jar so that I can shake it, but we’ll do that as soon as I get this cleaned up. Now, we’re going to make our dressing for our Greek salad. I did not grab a spatula. I need a small spatula. Hang on. Let me grab this. Now, this olive farm that this olive oil came from is called I think it’s pronounced Markellos and it is just a few miles outside of the city of Corinth in Greece. We were very blessed to be able to get to go to that olive farm. We got to do a tour. We got to see the olive groves and we got to go into the plant and see how it is processed. Pardon me. And it was very interesting. It was a neat experience for sure. So, and so go ahead. I’m sorry. Never get to do here. That’s right. And you know, I had to bring home a bottle of olive oil. So, They actually let us sample what? Four different kinds. Yes, we got to sample four and we chose the one we like the best to to purchase. So, I put my dried oregano in and now I’m going to put some of the fresh oregano in. I’m not using all that. Maybe I’m going to say a tablespoon. Anyway, we got to sample it and then we purchased the bottle to bring home and I packed it as carefully as I could. I wrapped it in t-shirts and every way in the world I could to try to keep it from breaking and it worked. All right, so we’re just shaking up our dressing. And I’m just going to drizzle it over and then toss those vegetables in this delicious dressing. You don’t want it swimming in it. You just want a light coating. I’m going to take that off there and use my spatula to get all that off, too, because that’s good flavor right there. Okay. And I’m just going to drizzle this on and we’ll toss it. Guys, that is it. That is so simple, but I’m telling you, this is so delicious. Okay, [Music] now let’s toss our salad. And I am going to tell you that once I get this tossed together and on the plate, I am going to top it with a little more of that fresh oregano just because it’s so pretty and smells so good. So, I am going to use just a little bit more of that. Now, look at that. Isn’t that beautiful? Look at those colors. Oh, nice and fresh. Pardon me. My goodness. Now, let me tell you that I know there are people who when they make Greek salad in the dressing, they add red wine vinegar and they add dijon mustard. And I’m sure that is delicious. I’ve not had it that way, but I’m making it this way because three of the four places, well, actually all four, even the one on the ship, this is the dressing they used. And so I’m just recreating what Melissa and I had while we were there. So that’s why I’m not using the red wine vinegar or the Dijon mustard. I’m just doing it the way the restaurants did where we ate. Okay. And there it is. Look at that cheese. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you have to have some cheese on there, don’t you? And every single place I had this had a wedge of feta cheese. So, I’m just going to open my feta. And I’ll be honest with you, feta is not my favorite cheese. I can eat it. I did eat it. Every single place I had a Greek salad, I ate everybody that fed cheese that was on top. It’s not my favorite cheese. So, I’m just going to tell you if feta is not your favorite, that’s okay. Use whatever your favorite cheese is. It’ll be all right. It will be just fine if you want to use some other kind of cheese. That’s about the size of the wedge that I got at each place. So, that’s what I’m going to put on the top right there. Look at that. Oh, and I think it’s breaking. That’s okay. I’ll put it right there on top. Anyway, look at that. Isn’t that beautiful? It really is pretty. Such a nice dish. I agree. That says summer. It does. It says summer. Now, babe, do you want me to try to feed you a bite of this? Honestly, I’m afraid I’ll end up with that on my clothes if you try to feed me. That’s something that’s difficult to feed another person. It is. And you’re going to eat it in 5 minutes anyway because this is what we’re having for dinner. So, okay, here we go. I have confidence that you have recreated it exactly like we enjoyed it. I know what I didn’t do. I’m going to move this cheese over to the side. I know one thing they did that they didn’t tell me. They put a sprinkle of salt right on top. And I know that because I could see it and I could taste it. Now, if you don’t want to do that, then don’t do it. They probably put just a little sprinkle of pepper on top of it, too. And I told you we were going to put a little bit more of that fresh oregano right on top. Okay, let’s do this again. I think putting that extra salt right on top will make a huge difference in the taste of it. See if I can get Mm-m. Oh my goodness. That is so delicious. Those Colorado olives, they make it so good. And even though feta is not my favorite cheese, the tanginess, pardon me, the tanginess of that cheese, the creaminess, it makes it a Greek salad. That is so delicious. All right, we do appreciate you. We do appreciate you being here for our video. We would like to invite you to go right below this video and click that subscribe button. If you’ve never done that, we would love to have you as a subscriber. So, feel free to click that subscribe button. Right beside of it is a notification bell that you can click and then the word all and YouTube will notify you every time we put up a new video. Also, we would like for you to click that thumbs up button. That’s the like button. The more people who click that, the more times YouTube will share our video. So, that would really help us. Right below the video, you’ll see the title, Greek salad. If you click in that box, it will expand. Melissa always puts the written recipe there for you. Right under the recipe is our contact information. And right under that is the Amazon link where you can purchase our cookbook if you’re interested in that. At the bottom of the page, there’s a place where you can leave us a comment. We love hearing from you. So, feel free to go down there and leave us a comment. We really hope you’ll try this delicious Greek salad. I think you’re going to love it every bit as much as I do. Again, we appreciate you being here. We want you to remember that you are always welcome to come sit at my table. Have a great day.