Forget the lettuce. The Greek village salad is a tomato dish in disguise -- here is how to honor it.
In Greece, a horiatiki contains no lettuce. It is a tomato dish, propped up by cucumber, onion, olives, and a slab of feta. If your tomatoes are mealy or pale, no amount of olive oil will save the plate. Buy the best tomatoes you can find, in summer, at peak season -- this dish is not a year-round dinner.
The salt happens twice. First, a small pinch on the tomato before anything else hits the bowl, to draw out juice. Then again at the table, after the oil and oregano. The juice that pools at the bottom of the plate is half the point of the dish; tear bread to mop it up.
Use feta in a slab, not crumbled. Drizzle with olive oil so generous that the bread is not optional. Add a handful of bright kalamatas. Skip the lettuce, the croutons, the bell peppers if they are sad, and the cherry tomatoes if the big ones are good. Greek salad is one of those rare dishes whose magic is in subtraction.
Eleni Vasilakis writes for Simply Gourmet. Reach our editors at info@simplygourmetlakeplacid.com.
