Greek Salad Sandwich
Greek Salad Recipe
Mediterranean Salad Sandwich
This Mediterranean salad sandwich recipe is not only tasty but it is also filling and satisfying. Delicate flavors with a wonderful zesty tang, this is a meal that you will make over and over again. Perfect for warm, summer days or all year round if you happen to live in San Diego like I do. It eats like a light meal but fills you up so it's the perfect dish to eat for lunch at work because it won't make you drowsy and slow you down in the afternoon.
Greek Breakfast
How This Recipe Became
Someone, probably a famous person, said that 'Necessity is the mother of invention', but what that person should have added is that sheer laziness can also stimulate your creative juices something fierce. Let's say it's Thanksgiving, like it is today when I'm writing this. Let's also say that you are house sitting, like I am, and that there isn't a whole lot of food in the house because the two gals you are house sitting for can't cook.
At this point I'd like to confirm that this is a completely hypothetical scenario and I am definitely NOT referring to my wife and her sister. Who's place I am house sitting right now...
Anyway, let's also assume that you are feeling somewhat lazy and have absolutely zero desire to go to the store and face the last minute Thanksgiving shopper mobs. What to do? With a heavy sigh you pause Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, take the two cats off your lap and trudge into the kitchen. You wash the cat off your hands and haul open the refrigerator door to stare at...almost nothing. Fortunately, I like a challenge like this.
I'd been thinking about making some Greek Strudel that I had seen on Recipes2All.com (see the photo to the right) but knew that I didn't have all of the ingredients so I worked with what I did have on hand and the following, simple but delicious recipe is the result of that. I hope you enjoy it.
Measurements Not Included
I created this recipe on the fly so I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to how much of each ingredient I put in it but it's pretty easy to work out what tastes good to you. Just like any other recipe, taste as you go and adjust to your particular preferences.
Cook Time
Greek Salad Ingredients
- Cilantro
- Cucumber
- Bellpepper
- Spring Onion
- Lemon Juice
- Green Olives
- White Onion
- Garlic
- Queso Fresco
- Fresh Mint
- Paprika
- Cream Cheese
- Salt
- Pepper
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Instructions
- Dice up the cilantro. Usually salads are made with lettuce or sometimes parsley. The original recipe for this dish was made with spinach (another excellent substitute for lettuce even in cold salads). If you haven't tried cilantro then you are missing out. It has a fresh, citrus, almost lemony taste and I use it in lots of different dishes.
- Chop up the cucumber. I leave the skin on by the way but you can peel it if you prefer. I like to cut cucumber into logs rather than dice them into little pieces because it adds some substance to the sandwich or wrap.
- Dice up the bell pepper. Believe it or not, different colored bell peppers (called capsicums in Australia) taste differently. Red bell peppers are the sweetest and, fortunately for me, that's the color I had. Red bell peppers also happen to be the most nutritious too.
- Cut the spring onion into rounds. You could substitute scallions if you have those and don't want to make a trip to the store. Despite popular belief, spring onions are NOT the same as scallions.
- Put everything you have cut up so far into a bowl and then squeeze the juice from one lemon over the top. This is when you kick yourself for not buying one of those tiny little strainers that you walk past in the grocery store all the time because now you have to pick the lemon seeds out of your dish.
- Chop up some green olives and add them to the bowl. Greek and Mediterranean food usually uses kalamata olives but I prefer green olives.
- Dice up some white onions and toss them into the bowl too.
- Crush and dice up several cloves of fresh garlic. Dice it up extremely fine. You guessed it, into the bowl.
- Crumble up some queso fresco and add it to the mix. The original recipe, as is the norm in Mediterranean meals, uses feta cheese. Queso fresco is a Mexican cheese but it worked great in this recipe.
- Dice up some fresh mint and throw it in the bowl. Mint, by the way, is the secret ingredient that makes olives taste great when you combine it with lemon juice. I don't like olives but when you combine it with mint and lemon juice I love them.
- Add a pinch of salt, pepper and some paprika.
- Soften up some cream cheese and bind it all together.
Greek Wrap
Eat It
The above photo is what it looks like all combined together and dolloped onto a tortilla. Why a tortilla and not some pita or nan bread, you ask? Because that's what I had in the house. I quickly toasted it in a saucepan with some coconut oil and it tasted great!
Variations
This is a great base for other meals too. Personally I like to make something and then change it for the next meal if I have any leftovers. For this particular recipe I added some tuna to it, mostly because my cats were bugging me for tuna so I decided to open a can and share it between the three of us.
While you could add any protein you wanted to this recipe I think it would also go well with potatoes or flavored rice. With either of those I'd cook them and then douse them with a little melted butter before sprinkling them with a healthy portion of turmeric. It turns potatoes and rice (and just about everything else it touches) an appetizing golden color.
Hmm, just spotted capers in the fridge, those would have made a nice addition too. And corn chips or toasted pita bread wedges like you get at some Greek restaurants.
Try this recipe, I am certain that you will like it as much as I did. Bon Appétit!
Greek Cooking Recipes
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2014 Dale Anderson
