Magnolia Days | Greek Salad with Fresh Herb Vinaigrette

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Greek salad is in my top five salad list. Well, top five lettuce salads. I am not counting potato, pasta, tuna, bean, egg, farro, or any non-lettuce salad. It would be hard to rank all salads. There are too many really good ones.

The right dressing is important to a great salad. Nothing compares to homemade salad dressing. It is so easy to make, especially with a blender. Put all the ingredients except the oil in the blender and blend on high. Turn the blender on low and slowly pour in the oil. That’s it. Super easy.

The fresh herb vinaigrette makes this Greek salad so delicious. Fresh basil, parsley, thyme, and rosemary are added to a basic recipe of red wine vinaigrette. A little bit of each goes in the blender with the rest of the ingredients…

Once it is blended it is a beautiful green dressing. You can see the little bits of herbs. The blending releases and infuses all their wonderful flavors into the vinaigrette. The dressing is also good on other salads. A big salad with vegetables right from the garden (or farmers market) would be a good one. A perfect summer salad with all those fresh veggies and herbs together.

Greek salad has many variations. Mine has chopped romaine lettuce tossed with the herb vinaigrette and topped with greek olives, tomatoes, sweet ‘n’ hot salad peppers, feta cheese, and a few Greek peppers (pepperoncini). Optional toppings are cucumbers, red onion, bell pepper, shallot, banana pepper rings, and more. Substitute or add toppings to your preference. Enjoy!

Greek Salad

Chopped romaine lettuce
Fresh Herb Vinaigrette (recipe below)
Greek or kalamata olives, pitted and cut in half lengthwise
Tomatoes cut in to chunks or grape tomatoes cut in half lengthwise
Sweet ‘n’ Hot Salad Peppers (I use Mt. Olive brand)
Feta Cheese
Pepperoncini

Optional or substitute toppings:
Cucumbers, peeled and chopped into small chunks
Red onion, thinly sliced
Bell pepper, thinly sliced
Shallot, thinly sliced
Banana pepper rings

Yes, there are no amounts listed. It can vary depending on how many and what sized salads you are making plus how much of the toppings you want on the salad. Use your judgement. Go easy on the dressing because you can always drizzle more dressing over the finished salad.

Put chopped romaine lettuce in a large bowl. Add some of the fresh herb vinaigrette to the lettuce and toss to coat. Put the lettuce on a plate or plates. Top with olives, tomatoes, salad peppers, feta cheese, or any of the additional toppings. Place a few pepperoncini on the plate(s). Serve immediately.

Fresh Herb Vinaigrette

1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
Pinch of salt or sea salt
Pinch of fresh ground pepper
1/2 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 small shallot, chopped
A few springs of fresh parsley
4 fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
6 to 8 fresh rosemary leaves
1/2 to 2/3 cup good olive oil

Put the mustard, honey, vinegar, salt, pepper, garlic, shallot, parsley, basil, thyme, and rosemary in a blender. Put the lid on and blend on high speed until ingredients are combined. Turn the blender to low speed, remove the lid (or the middle of the lid), and slowly pour 1/2 cup of the olive oil in to the mixture. Turn blender off. Taste. If too vinegar-y add more oil with blender on low speed. Add in increments, stopping to taste, until it has the right oil/vinegar balance to you. Some people like more vinegar and some people like more oil. Pour into salad dressing shaker/container. Use immediately. Store leftover in refrigerator. Remember to take it out of the refrigerator about an hour before using again to get to room temperature. Shake to combine (it will separate).

Note: you can also vary the amount of the herbs if you want more or less herb flavor or use other herbs like oregano, tarragon, sage, etc.