Horiatiki Greek Village Salad

Greek · Summer · 15 min · Serves 4 · By Eleanor March

A real horiatiki has no lettuce and no fuss. It depends entirely on the quality of the tomatoes, the olive oil, and the feta, so buy the best of each and keep your hands off the rest. The feta goes on as a single slab, dusted with oregano, to be broken into the juices at the table.

Ingredients

• 4 large ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 1 cucumber, peeled in stripes and thickly sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced into rings
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 100g Kalamata olives
• 200g block of feta
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Sea salt, to taste

Method

1. Pile the tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, and red onion into a wide shallow bowl.
2. Scatter the olives over the vegetables and season everything with a good pinch of salt.
3. Drizzle the olive oil and red wine vinegar over the top and toss gently, just once or twice.
4. Lay the whole slab of feta on top of the salad rather than crumbling it in.
5. Dust the feta generously with dried oregano and add a final thread of olive oil.
6. Serve at once with plenty of crusty bread for mopping up the juices at the bottom of the bowl.