• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 280 0

my mother used to throw together using the vegetables from his garden, and we would have it for lunch on a hot day when we were cutting the grass or doing other yard work. She’d put some feta cheese and some bread on the side, and we would open up a couple of cold beers and sit under a tree. It’s a bright salad with the flavors of the Mediterranean. Very simple, very clean, very summer. Make sure all the vegetables are cold.

½ large leek, sliced and rinsed

cup small, picked sprigs dill

25 leaves fresh mint

½ cup small, picked sprigs parsley

1 cup cracked, brined green olives, such as tsakistes, pitted

1½ English cucumbers (chilled), halved lengthwise and thickly sliced

½ red onion, slivered lengthwise

3 stalks celery, sliced crosswise

½ to cup Lemon-Dill Vinaigrette (page 271)

Sea salt and cracked black pepper

½ lemon

½ cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)

Prepare an ice water bath. In a pot of salted, boiling water, blanch the leeks until tender but not mushy, about 3 minutes. Plunge them into the ice water bath and swish around well to rinse out any dirt (this sets the nice bright color and keeps them crisp; they’ll fall apart into rings). Drain and reserve.

Roughly chop the dill, mint, and parsley. Pull the olives into rough pieces. In a large bowl, combine the leeks, herbs, olives, cucumber, red onion, and celery. Toss well with clean hands and drizzle with ½ cup of the Lemon-Dill Vinaigrette. Season with sea salt and cracked pepper and toss again. Add a little more vinaigrette to taste. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the top. Top with feta, if you like.

This salad would be tremendous with a big can of good albacore tuna flaked over the top and folded in. If you want it a little richer, you can fold in a tablespoon of mayonnaise (with or without the tuna), but I like to keep it clean. In this recipe, as with most others in this book, acidity is a critical element.

SHAVED FENNEL, CABBAGE, OLIVE, ONION & GRAVIERA SALAD WITH RED WINE–BLACK PEPPER VINAIGRETTE

MARATHO, LACHANO, ELIES, KREMMYDI KAI GRAVIERA ME LADOXYDO KOKKINOU KRASIOU KAI KOKKOUS MAVROU PIPERIOU

SERVES 4, OR MORE FAMILY-STYLE, AS PART OF A LARGER SPREAD

I think of this as a sort of Greek coleslaw, only much brighter in flavors and far more exciting.

1 bulb fennel, trimmed

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

¼ head savoy cabbage, cored

cup cracked, brined green olives, such as tsakistes, pitted

cup oil-cured Thássos olives, pitted

4 ounces graviera cheese, coarsely grated

¼ cup small, picked sprigs dill

8 leaves fresh mint

¼ cup small, picked sprigs parsley

¼ cup small, picked sprigs thyme

½ to cup Red Wine–Black Pepper Vinaigrette (page 273)

Sea salt and cracked black pepper

With a mandoline or a very sharp knife, shave the whole bulb of fennel crosswise as thinly as possible (no need to remove the core). Transfer to a large bowl and drizzle with the lemon juice. Shave the cabbage lengthwise, and add. Pull the olives into rough pieces, and add them along with about two thirds of the cheese, dill, mint, parsley, and thyme.

Drizzle with about ½ cup of the vinaigrette and toss aggressively with clean hands until all the ingredients are nicely coated. Season generously with sea salt and pepper, taste, and add a little more vinaigrette if you like (never so much that it pools in the bottom of the bowl). Transfer to a platter and top with the remaining cheese and fresh herbs.

ACIDITY IN GREEK FOOD

One of the flavors that distinguishes Greek food and makes it bright and fresh is acidity, and often—but not always—it comes from lemon juice. You can serve things that are rich and slightly fatty—like one of the many wonderful confits—but in order to keep everyone’s taste buds alive and interested, you’ve got to cut that fattiness with acidity.

STEWED ENGLISH PEAS & MUSHROOMS

ARAKAS LADEROS KAI MANITARIA

SERVES 4, OR MORE FAMILY-STYLE, AS PART OF A LARGER SPREAD

To keep the fresh summer peas really green, you need to blanch and shock them in ice water. If you have a pasta strainer insert, it