six ingredient greek salad.

here’s a super fast & simplified greek salad that’ll satisfy your need for freshness & flavor in a hurry! and a touch more “impressive” than your standard greek sal using cucumber ribbons? because…it’s a ribbon!

f a n c y .

i love quickly marinating cucumber ribbons in vinegar. as seen in these sesame noodle bowls (still one of my favorite recipes on this whole site). i feel the ribbons really elevate the overall lewk of the salad, and quickly pickling them in vinegar adds more zing and flavor to every bite.

don’t even get me started with fresh mint. i love it. i should just make this into a fresh mint blog already. there was a phase when i was making everything with goat cheese…. well now it’s mint. it’s the mint & goat cheese blog.

like a far less cute version of ‘cupcakes & cashmere’ or ‘love & lemons’ or one of those zillions of other “blank & blank” blog names.

if you’re looking for a more involved greek salad, i definitely still stand by this greek salad recipe of mine from 5 (!!) years ago (lol the photos make me want to hide, but, #growth and stuff). sooo much flavor and texture in that sal. truly a meal.

enjoy this simple greek salad template and make it your own!

Easy Six Ingredient Greek Salad

Serves 2

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 large cucumber, sliced into 1/8” ribbons, lengthwise

• 2 cups of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

• 1/3 cup red onion, sliced into thin rings and rinsed

• 1/4 of a green bell pepper, sliced

• 1/2 cup feta cheese crumbles

• 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, torn or sliced thinly

• white vinegar, black pepper, salt, EVOO to taste

Instructions-

With a mandoline or veggie peeler, thinly slice the cucumber into (not too thin) ribbons. Place the cucumber ribbons in a bowl and gently toss them with a big splash of white vinegar, some black pepper and a hefty pinch of salt. Chill in the fridge while you prep the remaining ingredients.

Slice the remaining vegetables. In a strainer, run the red onion slices under cold water, or, to take away even more of the sharp onion bite, quickly blanch them by pouring boiling water over them, then rinse under cold water to cool them down.

In a large bowl, gently combine the sliced tomatoes, red onion, and bell pepper. Use tongs to place the chilled cucumber ribbons in the large bowl. Add the feta and mint and gently toss to distribute all ingredients evenly. Serve into bowls immediately and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, extra salt & pepper if desired, balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar. Top with more fresh mint leaves. Enjoy!

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flavor bomb greek salad.

i am most certainly posting this at this very moment because i desperately need to consume a pile of fresh vegetables.  

halloween week and weekend have been such great fun, but now i feel like big time doo doo and need to eat some colorful foods that don't come in colorful wrappers.

i don't have any of these items in my life at the moment because its the day after halloween and we certainly did not go grocery shopping today.  actually, we accidentally wandered in to the magical asian supermarket,

uwajimaya

, and bingo bango bongo, we spent $100 on seemingly nothing. woops.  so now we have lots o asian candies and beverages and snacks...but that is not helping me out of my halloween health slump in the slightest!

 now that its scary and dark out so early in the evening, there's no way i'm going out amongst commoners to fetch these nutritious ingredients tonight.  i just woke up from my sunday afternoon football game nap!  priorities.

also, winter hibernation mode begins...right now.

though, all the little veggies are looking up at me from these photos and taunting me like never before.  must. get. nourishment.

yeaaaaa so i basically put all the delicious things that you'd normally find in a standard greek salad, and then add some extra tasty things for extra extra FLAVA.

i'm looking at you, salami, pepperoncinis, green onion, and parmesan crisps.

tomatoes can be so cute with their curly little wispy top hats.

i like to add a bed of various greens for extra body and salad dressing surface area coverage.

when i studied abroad in greece for 3 months in college, the greek salads that we'd get just had big ol' chunks of cucumber, tomato, and bell pepper, maybe some red onion, and definitely a large rectangular brick of fresh feta cheese on top.  it was so amazing.

and they generally came with fries, too!

flavor ova here, flavor ova there.

for the dressing, i just drizzle olive oil and red wine vinegar over the salad and toss it well with salt and pepper.  you could get fancy and make a little jar full of this dressing and shake it super well.  then have extra for later and store it in the fridge!  

maybe i would eat more salads if i have tasty homemade salad dressings staring back at me when i open the fridge......

crunch crunch crunch.

i want you back, salad.  i want you back.

Flavor Bomb Greek Salad

Makes 1 big ol' salad (Serves 2)

• 3-5 large leaves of Romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
• handful of fresh spinach
• 1 large tomato, sliced
• 1/2 a cucumber, sliced
• 1/2 a red onion, sliced into half-rounds
• 1/2 cup pepperoncinis
• 1/2 cup black olives, sliced
• 1/2 a green bell pepper, sliced
• 3-5 green onion shoots, diced
• salami, chopped
• crumbled feta cheese
• fresh grated parmesan crisps*
• salt & pepper, to taste
• olive oil & red wine vinegar, to taste

Slice all vegetables as needed and place in a large salad bowl.  Toss with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Add a light drizzle of olive oil and red wine vinegar and toss well.

*To make parmesan crisps, heat a pan on medium-low and grate little piles of fresh parmesan or Romano cheese in the pan.  Let bubble and get crispy (about 3-5 minutes).  Remove from heat and let cool. Gently remove from pan and use as a garnish for the Greek salad.

Enter: flavor explosion.

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