Delicious Salads and Greek-infused Olive Oil

Sharing is caring!

A salad is a dish consisting of a mixture of various ingredients, usually raw or cold, such as vegetables, fruits, greens, nuts, seeds, and often accompanied by dressing or vinaigrette. Salads can be served as appetizers, sides, or main courses, providing a refreshing and nutritious culinary experience.

Tips for Making Delicious Salads:

1. Fresh and Quality Ingredients:
   • Use the freshest, highest-quality produce available. This enhances the flavor and nutritional value of the salad.
2. Colourful Variety:
   • Include a diverse array of colors and textures. Vibrant vegetables and fruits not only make the salad visually appealing but also provide a range of nutrients.
3. Balance of Flavours:
   • Aim for a balance of flavours – sweet, savoury, tangy, and sometimes bitter. This can be achieved by incorporating a mix of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and other toppings.
4. Protein Boost:
   • Add protein sources such as grilled chicken, shrimp, tofu, beans, or nuts to make the salad more filling and balanced.
5. Creative Toppings:
   • Experiment with creative toppings like croutons, seeds, dried fruits, or even edible flowers for added interest and texture.
6. Homemade Dressings:
   • Consider making your own dressings using olive oil, vinegar, herbs, and spices. Homemade dressings often have fewer additives and can be tailored to your taste.
7. Temperature Contrast:
   • Play with temperature contrasts by including both chilled and room temperature ingredients. This adds depth to the salad experience.
8. Avoid Overdressing:
   • Use dressing sparingly to avoid overwhelming the flavours. Toss the salad gently to ensure even distribution of the dressing.
9. Seasonal Choices:
   • Choose ingredients that are in season for the best flavour and freshness. Seasonal produce is often more affordable and environmentally friendly.
10. Preparation Techniques:

• Experiment with different preparation techniques, such as grilling, roasting, or marinating certain ingredients for added depth of flavour.

11. Customization:

• Allow for customization. If serving a group, consider setting out a variety of toppings and dressings so individuals can tailor the salad to their preferences.

12. Presentation:

• Pay attention to presentation. A well-arranged salad can be visually appealing and appetizing.

Remember, salads are versatile and can be adapted to suit personal tastes and dietary preferences. The key is to be creative, enjoy the process, and savour the fresh, wholesome goodness of a well-made salad.

Below, you will find some of my delicious salads, for every season, time and occasion. These best  salad recipes make eating colourful, fresh foods easy and delicious.

The days of boring salad ideas are over!

I feel that salads are very neglected here on my blog, not that we do not eat salads but as I do not post as often as I would like, I focus more on other recipes.

The most common salad we eat nearly every day is of course the authentic form of Greek Salad, which is tomato, cucumber, feta, Kalamata olives, with extra virgin Greek olive oil, vinegar salt and oregano.

Today, I am going to over load you with vitamins but I still have many more salads waiting patiently to be published.  Some of them have been rejected, not that they were not great salads but I added the vinaigrette and then took the photos and they are not very photogenic, so in most of the ones I have posted, the vinaigrette was added later on.

Infused Aromatic Greek Olive Oil

I make my own infused olive oil with different herbs and spices.  In this one I used agourelaio (the first olive oil pressed from olives which have not yet matured) but you can use a good quality of extra virgin olive with various herbs and spices.

This olive oil becomes quite peppery and aromatic in a few days and I use it mainly in salads.

Remember that you can adjust the quantities of herbs and spices according to your personal taste preferences.

Experiment with the recipe to create the perfect Greek-infused olive oil for your salads!

Use the Greek-infused extra virgin olive oil as a flavorful dressing for your salads. Drizzle it over fresh herbs and vegetables to create a delicious Greek-inspired salad.

Tips:
Vegetables like lettuce or rocket are torn in big pieces by hand.

Whenever I use garlic in the vinaigrette I blend it in the food processor but you can pound the garlic with a mortar and pestle and then mix in the remaining ingredients.

Wherever I mention green onion, I use the green part as well, provided it is tender.

Instead of craisins you can use raisins.  I use craisins because some members of the family don’t eat them.

These salads are for 3 – 4 persons.

1. Wild Rocket and Lettuce salad with Cashews and Cranberries

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4 – 5

Ingredients:

5 – 6 lettuce leaves
2- 3 cups wild rocket
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 – 3 tablespoons cashew nuts
1 tablespoon cranberries
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
Croutons (a handful)

Vinaigrette

2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or use my Aromatic Olive Oil)*
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to personal taste
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon honey
1 clove garlic

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse for a minute.

*See in the Recipe Card, may Aromatic Olive oil

Directions:

Wash and dry (or spin) all the vegetables.

Prepare the croutons.

Tear the lettuce and arrange in a large flat plate.  Add the rocket and the spring onions.  Add the nuts and craisins as well as the croutons.  Season with salt and mix.  Arrange the tomatoes on top.

In a food processor or blender mix all the vinaigrette ingredients together.

Drizzle the vinaigrette over salad and mix.

2. Purple Cabbage, Carrot and Cilantro (Coriander) Salad

Ingredients

1 cup of purple cabbage, chopped or sliced
3 carrots peeled and grated or shredded
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup of cilantro, chopped
½ cup of roasted pine nuts
100 grams Greek feta
¼ cup of craisins

Salad dressing

Juice of 1 lemon
2 – 3 tablespoons infused extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
¼ teaspoon salt
Freshly grated black pepper

Directions:

1. Cut the purple cabbage and shred the carrots.
2. Mix in the cilantro and the spring onion. 
3. In a non stick frying pan add a few drops of olive oil and roast the pine nuts.   
4. Add them on top of the vegetables. 
5. Crumble feta cheese and prepare the salad dressing. 
6. Pour the dressing over the salad and grind some fresh black pepper over the top.

A much simpler salad than the above. Carrot and cabbage is a classic Greek Salad.

3. Purple Cabbage and Carrot Salad

2 cups cabbage, finely cut
2 carrots grated
1/2 granny Smith apple, finely cut

Extra virgin infused aromatic olive oil
Lemon juice (or red wine vinegar if you like)
Salt

4. Lettuce salad, with Capers, Pomegranate and Cranberries

Ingredients:

10 tender lettuce leaves
1 tablespoon capers
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
Walnuts and cranberries (at will)

Vinaigrette

2 tablespoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons infused extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 – 3 slices of pickled beetroots (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to personal taste
1 tablespoon pomegranate syrup (or molasses)
1 clove garlic, crushed

Place the lemon juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pickled beetroots (if using), salt, pomegranate molasses, and crushed garlic into the food processor bowl.

Process the ingredients in the food processor until the mixture is smooth and well combined. This typically takes about 20-30 seconds.

5. Lettuce Salad with Pickles and Marinated Fresh Anchovies

10 lettuce leaves
1 tomato
1 green onion, finely chopped
5 Kalamata olives
2 slices pickled beetroots
Gherkins or capers
Marinated Anchovies

Vinaigrette

4 tbsp aromatic olive oil
1 tbsp wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp oregano

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse for a minute.

6. Potato Salad with beets, coriander and rocket

2 potatoes boiled with skin and peeled
1 cup of fresh coriander (cilantro)
1 cup of rocket (arugula)
4 -5 slices pickled beets
2 – 3 gherkins
2 green onions chopped

Vinaigrette

4 tbsp aromatic olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp pomegranate syrup or molasses
Salt
Freshly grated black pepper
1 clove garlic

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse for a minute.

7. Lettuce and Rocket Salad with strawberries vinaigrette

Lettuce
Rocket
Spring onions
Parsley and dill
Cherry Tomatoes
Strawberries

Vinaigrette

4 tablespoons aromatic olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
4 strawberries
1 tablespoon honey
1 clove garlic

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse for a minute.

Marinated Chicken breasts

2 chicken breasts marinated with Salt, pepper, oregano, olive oil, honey and lemon zest and juice. You can cook it in the oven or in the air fryer.

8. Rocket Salad with Summer Fruit

200 grams rocket (arugula) leaves
1/2 cup purslane, chopped
1 radish, sliced
2 fresh figs, halved
10 sultana grapes
1 sprig fresh mint, only the leaves

1 small red onion, sliced
50 grams feta

Vinaigrette

4 tbsp Infused Extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black Pepper
1 heaped tablespoon mint pesto

9. Spinach Salad with Kafkalithres and other aromatic herbs

I make this salad, whenever I make spanakopita. In Greece, aparat from spinach, we use a lot or aromatic herbs in spanakopita, such as kafkalithres, myronia, spring onions, dill and parsley. Whenever I make spanakopita, I keep the most tender spinach leaves for the salad.

Ingredients:

Baby spinach leaves
Tender Kafkalithres leaves (Mediterranean hartwort)
Myronia (chervils)
1 spring onion including green part
Parsley and dill
1 cup of fresh coriander
1 small seedless cucumber, skin on
½ Granny Smith apple
1 Radish
Pecans
Craisins
Extra salt and pepper

Vinaigrette

2 tbsp aromatic olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp petimezi (grape molasses)
1 small clove garlic
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse for a minute.

10. Rocket Salad with aromatic herbs, poached figs and pistachios

Ingredients

Rocket (arugula)
Coriander (cilantro)
Spring onion
Kafkalithres (Mediterranean Hartwort)
Myronia (chervil)
3 radishes
Dried Figs
Pistachios
Agourelaio (early harvest, extra virgin olive oil)
Salt

Poached figs:

6 dried figs
1/3 cup commandaria wine
(In a frying pan cook the figs with the wine, until the wine is reduced to a few tablespoons)

Vinaigrette

4 tablespoons agourelaio or aromatic olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Leftover syrup from poached figs
1 clove garlic

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse for a minute.

11. Rocket Salad with Aromatic Herbs and Caramelized dried fruit

2 – 3 cups rocket
1 spring onion
½ cup kafkalithres
½ cup myronia
1 – 2 tbsp parsley
1 – 2 tbsp dill
1 granny Smith apple
1 cucumber
2 radishes

Caramelized Dried fruit

3 dried figs
3 dried apricots
3 dried prunes
½ cup pomegranate syrup
1 – 2 small sticks cinnamon

Boil until it reduces and caramelizes about 5 minutes

Pomegranate vinaigrette

4 tbsp aromatic olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp caramelized pomegranate syrup leftover from the fruit
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse for a minute.

Kopiaste and Kali Orexi!

Sharing is caring!