Greek Salad: Pretty to share

A couple of days ago, after struggling to make ANYTHING in the week go right, I made this pretty salad. I found it incredibly soothing to make something that had order, sense, precision after a week of mediating fights between daughters, struggling with a toddler son who decided that leaping out of his crib at 18 months was a good idea, and dealing with hot weather that threatened to fry the last few IQ points in my head. It was not a good week. I'm not normally one to try and create straight lines and army style fashioning in a salad, but I started to do it and suddenly it made sense and made me feel that for the moment, I had control over SOMETHING. Okay, it's only a pile of vegetables but man, the control I exercised over it was precise and total. How often does a mother get to say that?

This salad goes great with any sort of grilled meats. We served it at an impromptu bbq we had over the weekend.

Menu:

Guacamole and chips
Orzo Salad with Feta, Tomato and Pinenuts
Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Cupcakes
Fruit salad

The Greek Salad was a huge hit and I even made my burger the "Greek Salad Burger" by simply topping my dry burger with a nice serving of salad. It was delicious.

Greek Salad
Serves 6-8

Dressing
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
1 teaspoon oregano
salt and pepper to taste (keeping in mind that both olives and feta are salty)

Salad
2 heads of romaine, washed, dried, and chopped into bite sized pieces
2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut (I like the diagonal cut myself for visual interest)
1/2 hothouse cucumber (sometimes called Kirby), chopped
1/2 cup of Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced in half
1 cup of feta cheese, crumbled

In a jar with a tight fitting lid, put all the dressing ingredients in. Shake well.

In a large salad bowl, place the chopped romaine lettuce on the bottom. Take the cut tomatoes, and carefully line them up down the center of the salad. Then take the cucumbers and make a line on either side of the tomatoes. Feta cheese goes on the outside the cucumbers and then the final touch is black olives at the very edge of the salad bowl.

Present salad first with its regimented lines. Allow people to oooh and ahh over it's regularity and beauty. THEN, right before serving, pour 1/2 dressing on top and toss well. Add more if needed. (no one likes a salad with too much dressing.)

Printable recipe