Greek Salsa

 I know that there are cilantro people and non-cilantro people, I happen to fall into the former category. For me, if I’m making salsa or pico de gallo, it has to have cilantro and lots of it. For those of you who don’t care for it, here is a great option, a Greek version of the traditional Mexican salsa that is cilantro free. Still, it is loaded with flavor thanks to the seasonings and feta cheese, and can be used as a side dish, a topper for various foods, or as you would a Mexican variety, scooped up with tortilla chips. 

Greek Salsa

Adapted from 12 Tomatoes

 1¼ c. diced cucumber

1 c. diced tomatoes

½ c. diced red onion

¼ c. sliced black olives

1 T. fresh lemon juice

1 T. sherry vinegar

1 T. olive oil

¼ t. dried oregano

1 T. fresh chopped dill weed

Salt and pepper to taste

½ c. crumbled feta cheese

 Combine cucumber, tomatoes, onion, and black olives in a large bowl.

 In a smaller bowl whisk together lemon juice, sherry vinegar, olive oil, oregano, dill, salt, and pepper. Pour dressing over vegetables and toss well to combine. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Fold in feta cheese just before serving. Use as a dip with pitas, chips, or as a side dish with fish or chicken.

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Sunshine Salad

With record-breaking heat and summer still weeks away, our meals are all about cold soups, cool, crisp salads, and chilled wrap sandwiches.  The salad we enjoyed today is from one of my favorite cookbooks (often mentioned here), St. Louis Days St. Louis Nights, a production of the St. Louis Junior League decades ago.  I happen to love Junior League cookbooks and this one gets plenty of use.  List maker and annotator that I am, you can see the notes I've made over the years in the margins of the page featuring the recipe (below).  

Even though this is what used to be referred to as a "Ladies Salad" back in the seventies in the days of bridge luncheons and ladies' clubs, I find the men like it as much as the women.  The fruit gives it a bit of sweetness, but not overly so, the tangy dressing really hits the spot.  I have found that a variety of fruits can work well in this mixture, and adding some crumbled cheese (in today's case, feta, in previous cases, bleu) makes it a bit more "manly" and therefore pleasing to the men in your life.  Eaten alone it makes a light, but pleasing lunch, pair it with a cold soup or club sandwich and you have the perfect summer dinner.

Stay cool!


This is linked to Just Something I Whipped Up and Cookbook Sundays and

More Phyllo fun: SPANAKOPITA

A complex savory filling complements the flaky shell.

Well, people, I am on a roll!  It's as if a monster has been unleashed.  Once I had success with the phyllo mushroom bites I made last this week I just had to try making a Greek favorite of mine, Spanakopita.  They came out GREAT and rival any I've had at area restaurants.  Just look how beautiful they are!  I based the recipe on one that I found at epicurious.com, but changed it around a good bit in order to suit on-hand ingredients and personal taste.

The end result is below.

Perfect spinach-filled triangles await baking.

SPANAKOPITA

1 stick plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 garlic clove, minced

3 scallions, chopped

1 10-oz. pkg. frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry 

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

10 small, pitted black olives, finely diced

Juice of half of a lemon

1 8-oz. pkg. crumbled Feta

10 (17- by 12-inch) phyllo sheets, thawed if frozen

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, saute onions and garlic until tender.  Stir in EXTREMELY well-drained spinach, olives, black pepper, nutmeg, and lemon juice. Remove from heat and cool, about 10 minutes.  Stir in Feta cheese.

Melt remaining 1 stick butter in a small saucepan, then cool.

Cover phyllo stack with 2 overlapping sheets of plastic wrap and then a dampened kitchen towel.

Take 1 phyllo sheet from stack and arrange on a work surface with a long side nearest you (keeping remaining sheets covered) and brush with some butter. Top with another phyllo sheet and brush with more butter. Cut buttered phyllo stack crosswise into 6 (roughly 12- by 2 3/4-inch) strips.

Put a heaping teaspoon of filling near 1 corner of a strip on end nearest you, then fold corner of phyllo over to enclose filling and form a triangle. Continue folding strip (like a flag), maintaining triangle shape. Put triangle, seam side down, on a large baking sheet and brush top with butter. Make more triangles in same manner, using all of phyllo.

Bake triangles in middle of oven until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool slightly.