Nigella Lawson has shared a Greek salad recipe that breaks with convention. It appears in her 2002 cookbook Summer, and one key ingredient is missing: cucumber.
Writing about the dish, Lawson says cucumbers commonly found in the UK are often "tasteless and watery" and add very little to the salad. Instead, she argues for fennel, adding: "If you can get hold of a good cucumber, by all means go for it, although I know I’d miss the gently aniseed crispness of the fennel. But then, I’ve been making it my way for so long, it’s hardly surprising I feel like this."
A twist on the classic
Another difference in Lawson's recipe is how the onion is prepared. It is steeped in red wine vinegar and oregano for at least two hours before the salad is assembled, which helps mellow its sharpness. The chef notes that after this time, the onion takes on a striking colour: "What you'll notice, once it's had its time, as well, is that the blooded crimson of the onion is somehow now a luminescent puce."
Despite these changes, Lawson insists the result is still very much a Greek salad. As she puts it: "It’s a Greek Salad as you might expect and desire: full of crunch and flavour and punctured by salinity, which is provided generously by both the feta and the olives."
The recipe
Here is Nigella Lawson's Greek salad recipe, which serves 6-8 people. She advises not to assemble the rest of the salad too far ahead of serving.
Ingredients
- One red onion
- One tablespoon of dried oregano
- Black pepper, to taste
- One tablespoon of red wine vinegar
- 200ml extra virgin olive oil
- Five medium tomatoes
- One teaspoon of caster sugar
- A pinch of Maldon salt
- One very large cos lettuce
- One bulb of fennel
- 125g of pitted black olives
- 400g of feta cheese
- Juice of half a lemon
Method
Start by peeling the red onion and chopping it into fine half-moons. Sprinkle over the oregano, salt and pepper, then pour in the vinegar and toss well. Leave it to steep for at least two hours.
When nearly ready to eat, chop the tomatoes into chunks or long slices. Sprinkle with salt and sugar and set aside. Wash the lettuce if needed, tear it into pieces and place in a large bowl. Slice the fennel and add it, along with the olives. Crumble or chop the feta and add it too.
Add the tomatoes and the steeped red onion, along with their marinade dressing, plus the lemon juice. Toss gently but thoroughly until everything is well combined, then serve immediately.
