GREEK SALAD

 

Greek salad is a very easy basic recipe, it’s a good idea to always keep it in mind because it can solve more than one meal, it’s the perfect accompaniment to grilled meats and fish.

A summer and BBQ classic at my house, the reason is very clear, it’s a very fresh salad, full of flavor and color.

It’s one of those recipes that we could call “wardrobe staples”, which you can turn to at any time to accompany the classic barbecue or a summer day based on grilled sardines, it goes well with everything.

The preparation is very easy, you just have to have the ingredients ready and cut each one of them in the appropriate way, mix them and season correctly.

This summer I have prepared it many times, I don’t even remember how many, and every time I had guests it seemed like the perfect accompaniment, especially when there was a barbecue or those days when The menu consisted of several meat stews to fill tortillas.

 

Greek salad is fresh and is the perfect side dish for a barbecue with friends.

 

The combination of ingredients in this salad is ideal for different reasons, the flavors mix very well and the textures too.

As you well know, the most important ingredient in Greek salad is feta cheese. It is very important that it is of good quality. It is worth finding the right one because, as I said, it is the soul of this dish.

The other essential ingredient is the tomato. Look for tomatoes with flavor that are at the right point of ripeness.

In addition to feta and tomato, you will need:

• Cucumber
• Spring onion or red onion (fermented or macerated)
• Green pepper
• Kalamata olives
• Herbs and a vinaigrette based on extra virgin olive oil and sherry vinegar

 

 

Do you know olives Kalamata?, are black olives that bear the name of their city of origin, Kalamata, located in the Peloponnese peninsula.

These Kalamata olives are characterized by being rich in monounsaturated fats.

Remember that fats are one of the three macronutrients in the diet (proteins, carbohydrates and fats), and that they are essential for the proper functioning of our body and for maintaining good health.

 

This salad provides different types of fat, learn what they are and how they influence our health.

 

Do you know what dietary fats exist and how they are classified? It’s not a bad idea to do a quick review to be able to place certain foods in the scheme.

There are 4 types of fats according to their chemical structure:

• Saturated.
• Monounsaturated.
• Polyunsaturated.
• Trans.

All of them provide 9 Kcal per gram, so there are no differences in terms of their energy contribution, but the way they affect our health does vary a lot from one to another.

I’m preparing an entry to tell you a little about them, in a very summarized way I will tell you their characteristics, what foods contain them and how they affect us.

Fats are the most maligned macronutrient, but nevertheless, essential in our diet.

As you I was saying, this salad contains monounsaturated fats from the Kalamata olives and EVOO (extra virgin olive oil).

Unsaturated fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) promote our cardiovascular health. As I was saying, they are found in olive oil, but also in nuts, fatty fish such as salmon (preferably wild), avocado, other vegetable oils, and seeds.

Feta cheese provides saturated fats, around 15g per 100g of product. Saturated fats, which in themselves seem scary, are important in our diet.

 

The saturated fat in this recipe comes from the dairy ingredient, cheese feta.

 

As for saturated fats, the main sources are full-fat dairy products and red meat. But there’s one plant-based food that also contains them, can you guess? It’s coconut.

Dairy fat has vitamins K1 and K2, which are fat-soluble, and also provides specific minerals and amino acids. They’re filling and palatable, while low-fat dairy doesn’t provide any of that.

And as for meats, I’ll tell you more later.of it in the entry that I am preparing.

 

 

Greek salad, in addition to monounsaturated fats and saturated fats, also provides us with many vitamins and minerals.

 

But in addition, in this dish there are vitamins and minerals.

 

The tomato, pepper, cucumber, and red onion make this dish provide you with more than just fat; look at the vitamins, minerals, and probiotics in the fermented onion.

• Tomato: Vitamin A, C, and potassium.
• Cucumber: Folates, potassium, and phosphorus.
• Green pepper: Vitamin C, potassium, and phosphorus.
• Lacto-fermented red onion: natural probiotic.

Therefore, this simple salad provides us with more than it seems. Do you dare to try it?

I’ll leave the recipe below.

 

Starters related:

• This simple tomato and cucumber salad.
• The colorful salad with pumpkin.
• Vegetable salad.
• And my Salmon poke bowl easy.