This Greek Salad is delicious

 

Today is salad day, light and pretty. I think this one looks great and it is always a hit:

In a salad bowl I mix roughly cut tomatoes, light white cheese– or feta if you want to go all the way – cucumbers (I prefer the very thin ones – in Brazil we call them Japanese cucumbers – I believe they are called East Asian Cucumbers in English), lettuce (it will taste better if you mix a couple of different types of lettuce – oak leaf, Greek, any kind will do, except for iceberg which I use only because it is crunchy, but it doesn’t have much flavor), and slices of green and black olives (preferably the large ones). I add some good extra virgin olive oil and mix it with my hands.

Put some olive oil on a piece of flat bread and toast it. Cut in the middle and put them on the plate. On top of the bread, I put the salad and over it, sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds and some mint leaves (not too many or it will be too strong).

I make a simple yogurt dressing, which I find delicious: 1 cup of heavy natural yogurt, extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, 1/2 tablespoon of finally chopped mint leaves, salt and pepper (freshly ground). If you want to make it even better, add two or three tablespoons of heavy cream… it’s great!

And, you can make a dip out of this dressing – just add chopped cucumbers and tomatoes!

Half-dried healthy Tomatoes

Serginho always drags me away when we see a bookshop – he says there is no “quick look” or “just a sec”… and he is right – I lose myself. Anyway, while in São Paulo, without him to drag me away, I found a beautiful Portuguese book about appetizers. Amongst hundreds of little recipes, there are some nice, some with too many steps (I’m not good with steps) and some with language difficulties, there are some jewels. One of them is this one of half-dried tomatoes. It is so simple, so good and so versatile it almost makes me angry:

Do you know those long tomatoes, the ones that are good for sauces? Well I don’t know its name, but here’s the photo:

Well, cut them in 4 long pieces, take some of the white away, and arrange them in a baking tray. You have to arrange them neatly, with the skin down.

Now, good olive oil, coarse salt, pepper and the herb of your choice. They suggest thyme. I have used basil and oregano and both of them worked well too.

Put them in a very hot oven for 2 and half hours. I try to do it when I have other things in the oven. Take a look every once in a while so that it doesn’t stick to the tray – if you feel it is necessary, put some more olive oil, but I never had to.

Once it is cooled down, put it in the refrigerator in a nicely tight glass container and you can keep it for several days. I use it on salads, as appetizers, as a side dish, it is very nice with mozzarella and basil.

Cuak!