Greek Salad in America involves ingredients such as lettuce, olives, beets, peppers, and more. In Greece, not so much. The traditional Greek Salad is actually very simple. It's all about the few ingredients being of great quality and letting the ingredients shine. I should also mention that there is no such thing as lettuce in the OG salad. Yup, it's just veggies. But, don't let that scare you off. This easy traditional Greek salad is still so flavorful and has an amazing texture. It may be the easiest and quickest salad you make in your life.
One of the most interesting jobs of my past was when I was a salad cook. Honestly, I didn't particularly like it. I don't know about you but finding bugs while washing romaine every day isn't exactly my idea of fun. Regardless, it was definitely a learning experience. It was the first time I was ever in "savory" cooking. Previously, I had strictly stuck to baking and pastries. That job taught me so much about cooking on the line. It taught about plating (even though I still stink at it). It taught about presentation and so much more. One of the more popular salads we had there was this Mediterranean salad. It's very easy to make and I'm sharing the recipe with you. The only difference is at the restaurant, they used roasted red pepper hummus. You can do the same if you'd like. This will likely be the shortest post I'll ever have on this blog, because well...it's a salad recipe. There's not much to it. Despite all that, I hope you do give this recipe a try because it is a pretty great salad.
There are plenty of great tasting dressings out there. Thousand island, Greek, French, blue cheese and so one. But hands down, I'm a ranch girl. Ranch is the only way to go for me. And if I'm going to go with ranch, I'm going to do it right. None of that beige colored thick blob of garbage you'd find at your local supermarket. You know what particular brand I'm talking about, right?
Well, I'm good on all that nastiness. I want mine made the right way. And the right way is homemade. The real stuff. Real ranch should be pourable, white and filled with herbs. Homemade ranch is so easy to make, I'm surprised more people don't make it or don't know how to make it. It's the perfect topping for an easy, quick salad with croutons and grated cheese on top. Yum! If you're ranch obsessed like I am, I'll do you a favor. I'll save you from the bottled garbage. Here's an easy and delicious ranch dressing recipe.
I like to use the big measuring cups to measure and mix in. Why? Because, who the heck wants more dishes.
We're going to start by adding in the sour cream.
Next, let's add in some mayo. Mayo haters, you will not taste it in here. I promise. It's just to emulsify the dressing and thicken it a bit.
Pour in the buttermilk.
Add in the minced garlic and mince shallot, if you're opting to add in shallot too.
Chop up the parsley, dill and chives finely and add to the buttermilk mixture. You can use flat leaf or curly parsley.
Season with freshly cracked black pepper and salt. I'm using sea salt, but Kosher or table salt is fine. If you don't have a pepper mill, use regular black pepper. I go easy on the seasoning and adjust if needed later.
Give it a good mix with a whisk until smooth.
Store the spare ranch dressing in a plastic container with a lid. Refrigerate for up to a week. Enj
I'm enjoying my homemade buttermilk ranch with a quick salad.
See how I do it:
Ingredients
- 8 fl. oz. sour cream
- 8 fl. oz. mayonnaise
- 4 fl. oz. buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon flat leaf or curly parsley
- 1 tablespoon chives
- 1 tablespoon dill
- 1 teaspoon garlic
- 1 teaspoon shallots (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Combine all the ingredients and mix until smooth and combined well.
Taste and adjust lemon, salt and pepper if needed.
Refrigerate any spare dressing in a plastic container w/ lid in the fridge for up to a week.
Enjoy!