Horiatiki (Greek Village Salad)
No lettuce, no vinegar, no fuss. Tomatoes, cucumber, feta and oil.
Horiatiki is the Greek village salad: tomato, cucumber, onion, olives and a slab of feta, dressed with olive oil and oregano. There is no lettuce in it and no vinegar, which is what separates it from the salad sold as Greek elsewhere. Everything depends on the tomatoes.
Ingredients
- 4 ripe tomatoes
- 1 cucumber
- 1 small red onion
- 1 green pepper
- 200g feta
- Kalamata olives
- Dried oregano, olive oil, salt
Method
- 1
Cut tomatoes into thick wedges and salt them.
- 2
Peel the cucumber in stripes and cut into chunks.
- 3
Slice onion and pepper thinly.
- 4
Pile everything into a bowl and lay the feta on top in one slab.
- 5
Pour over olive oil and crush dried oregano between your palms.
A slab of feta and four tomatoes feeds four for under EUR 4.
The rest of the table
- Tzatziki — The meze served alongside it everywhere.
- Gigantes Plaki — The warm dish of the same spread.
Taverna Notes
The free Greek recipes are six of the thirteen in the guide. The rest of the book is the taverna itself: what may and may not appear on your bill, how fish by weight is priced, and how to order without being upsold.
Thirteen Greek recipes, and the language, law and labels of the Greek table.
- Thirteen Greek recipes with metric and US measures
- Regional food context and taverna guidance
- Menu and ordering language
- Restaurant pricing and consumer rules — including the prohibition on κουβέρ cover charges and the consent rules for bread and water
Travelling more widely? The Complete European Table holds all seven expanded guides — 495 pages across 7 guides, one-time purchase.
Get all 7 guides — $29.99Cooking this way every week? Read our free guide to the Mediterranean diet on a budget.