Greek Salad for Aisa

Aisa is a good friend of mine, or should I say my “BFF.” Aisa and I grew up together in the Philippines. In the early ‘70s, when my family and I immigrated here to the US, we lost contact. My last and only visit back to the Philippines was in 1992, but I didn’t get the chance to see her. It wasn’t until last year that we found each other on Facebook. How sweet is that!

She still lives in the Philippines, happily married with two kids. We chat and e-mail each other a lot, exchanging recipes. She shared with me her chocolate cake recipe (this will be for a future post), which I made last year for Christmas, and it was a big hit.  Last week she asked me to post her new favorite, Greek Salad.

This recipe is inspired by Café 36; a small restaurant that my co-workers and I would go to for breakfast or lunch when I was working in San Francisco. Their Greek Salad served with warm pita bread, is one of our many favorites here, as well as the Chicken Shawarma; the Falafel Plate served with veggies, hummus and three kinds of sauces on the side; and for breakfast, the toasted bagel with hummus and sliced tomatoes instead of cream cheese.

The Salad may serve 4 or 2 depends on your appetite.

For the Dressing:

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 lemon juiced

2 cloves garlic minced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk all the ingredients and set aside until ready to use.  This can be refrigerated until ready to use. Make sure to bring it to room temperature for tossing the salad.

For the Salad:

3 hearts romaine lettuce cut into strips

½ cup pitted kalamata olives (cut in half if prefer)

1 cup tiny grape tomatoes (or vine ripened tomatoes or beefsteak tomatoes cored and cut in chunks)

½ sweet red onions very thinly sliced

1/3 cup feta cheese crumbled

In a large bowl, place lettuce and scatter the tomatoes, sliced red onion, olives and feta cheese on top.  You may leave them in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Pita bread:

 4 pita bread wrapped in foil and warm in oven, then cut in halves or triangles

Garnish:

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced in rounds

6 whole pepperoncini

When Ready to serve, whisk the dressing one more time and pour into the assembled vegetables and cheese. Toss.

Serve in salad plates. Place the cucumber, pepperoncini and warm pita bread on the side.