Greek salad

There are no real rules about Greek salad, but there are key ingredients. My version has the following:

1 beefsteak tomato, or the equivalent in small tomatoes, coarsely chopped

red onion, a bit more than a quarter of a whole onion, somewhat finely chopped

about six Kalamata olives, chopped

half a small cucumber, chopped into large dice

Bulgarian, Israeli, or ‘sweet’ feta cheese, in chunks (set on top rather than mixed in, as this will break the cheese up too much)

finely snipped fresh basil leaves, about one to 1½ tablespoons

salt, pepper, and generous drizzle of cold-pressed olive oil

Note: If you really want lettuce as well, lettuce doesn’t spoil a Greek salad. Add your leaves and consider it more interesting!

The salad, just before the last-minute sprinkling of the sea salt and drizzling of the olive oil. Note, however, the abundance of fresh-ground black pepper!

In Praise of Celery

Even two years ago, if you had told me that I would be seriously Up With Celery, I would have said what????

Celery, for me, was always a washed-out flabby stick the colour of the boring soap and the flavour of tortoise-feed. It was the sort of thing people of the 70s filled with Cheese Whiz and ate as diet food. Of all the vegetables, even more than radishes (which I haven’t bought or eaten in decades), it was unspeakable.

But I was wrong. Celery is wonderful.

What brought about this change? Well, it was a sneak attack. In the first place, I like a roast chicken fairly often, and I like to stuff the cavity before I cook. That means chopped onion, lemon wedges, rosemary or other herbs, salt and pepper… and celery. So, doing roasts more regularly, I bought celery.

Then I noticed that celery is actually very green when newly picked. I was so used to pale, hardly green and almost white celery, that this was something of a shock. And something in me knows that the greener it is — the brighter it is — the more likely a vegetable is to contain vital nutrients. Not to mention tasting better. So I started slicing celery stalks very finely to put in our near-daily salads. And I liked the crunch, the added texture the celery brings. I decided also that I do like the flavour. And now, I’m a big ambassador of all things celery.

Tips: 1. Do buy celery when it is so green it almost makes your eyes water to look at it. The celery should be very stiff. If not very green and not very stiff, don’t buy it. 2. You can eat the leaves, and they make a nice addition to salad, along with the stalks. 3. Celery is safe and good for dogs, bulking up their meals and increasing their fullness while adding negligible calories. 4. Celery, in my experience, keeps best when washed once you get it home, and then put in a suitable container (just cut the base off first). 5. Celery is a good ingredient in vegetable stock, or add it to the pot when making stock from a roast chicken. It is also an ingredient in my recipe for potato salad, here:

SOOTHE POTATO SALAD

3 baking potatoes, boiled and diced (see my advice for boiling potatoes)

2 boiled eggs (optional), cut up finely

minced fresh celery stalk

garlic clove, minced

chives, snipped 

prepared mustard, 1 teaspoon

mayonnaise (half a cup)

medium-fine sea salt, 1 tsp (or a bit less, if using fine)

black pepper, ½ tsp

paprika and/or piment d'espelette, ¼ tsp

sprinkling of snipped curly parsley on top

Mix the mustard into the mayonnaise before putting on salad, then combine the ingredients, turning gently with a large spoon.