Enjoy your salad days with traditional Greek dish

Opa! It's that time again for the St. George Greek Food Festival.

The popular annual event brings the community to the Truxtun Avenue church for three days of music, dancing, culture and, of course, delicious food.

Along with barbecue options like shish kebabs, keftedes (meatballs) and loukaniko (sausage), offerings include Greek pastries, spanakopita, feta fries and gyros with tzatziki.

Lamb shank, cooked in a red wine sauce and topped with a flavorful brown gravy, is also served in its own booth along with a special Greek salad.

This "horiatiki salata," which translates to village or peasant salad, is named for the common lunch that farmers, sheepherders and other workers would pack in a nap sack for their day's lunch.

Church member Olympia Hackleman said the dish usually consists of fresh produce ("summer's garden bounty") with common ingredients being ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, thin slices of red onion and bell pepper, along with chunks of feta cheese.

She shares her recipes and tips for this salad as well as tzatziki, which can be served as a condiment or dip.

Bread for dipping "is a must" when serving the salad, she said.

"Greek salad is always served with a side of sliced bread for dipping in the delicious mixture of olive oil and chopped fruit and veggies' juices," she wrote in an email. "As if a culinary ritual, the bread wipes away every drop of deliciousness, and the bowl is left almost clean. The hostess takes pride in what was served, and gives thanks for the bountiful blessings."

Hackleman said salads can be adjusted to your preferences, mentioning that there is a less-traditional salad in Greece that contains romaine lettuce, which grows there in cooler weather, along with green onions, dill weed, vinegar or lemon juice and other varieties of Greek cheeses.

Regardless of your final product, she says "kali oreksi" (bon appetit) to all home cooks.

Horiatiki salata (village/peasant salad)

3 ripe tomatoes, cut in large chunks

2 cucumbers chopped, or sliced

1/2 cup feta cheese cut in chunks

1/4 of red onion sliced thin

1/2 bell pepper, sliced thin

1/2 teaspoon crushed oregano

1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste

6 tablespoons olive oil, or more for dipping

Kalamata olives, or any other variety (see Note)

Bread for dipping

Ingredients for the salad are hardly ever measured by a seasoned Greek cook. "Put as many of each as you like," my grandma would say.

Combine the tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, bell pepper and feta cheese. Add a pinch of salt to taste, and some crushed oregano leaves.

To bind all the flavors together, pour some virgin olive oil (a few tablespoons, according to your liking) over your chopped ingredients before serving.

Refrigerate any leftovers for a late snack or next day's lunch.

Note: Any variety of Greek olives (most commonly in America Kalamata olives are used) can be added to your Greek salad, as well as capers.

Tzatziki

8 oz. Greek yogurt

4 oz. sour cream

1 cucumber chopped fine, or shredded

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

1/4 teaspoon dill weed

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Pinch of crushed oregano to top

Pita bread, focaccia, or any bread of your choice, or crackers for dipping

Combine the yogurt, sour cream, cucumber, garlic, dill weed, salt and lemon juice. Add a little more garlic, or more cucumber, or a pinch of salt more according to your taste. All these ingredients in combination taste great, so you cannot go wrong with your measurements. Greek seasoned cooks never measure the ingredients!

Top with oregano and serve with bread or your dipping items of choice.