Greeko

Everywhere that we went in Greece the Greek salad was delicious and served sans lettuce which made it so much better. Also, depending on the region there are a few differences in some of the things that go in the salad. For instance in Crete they use fresh mint in the salad and dress it with fresh olive oil and what I believe was white balsamic vinegar. In Santorini they added capers and fresh dill and used lemon juice as their acid instead of the vinegar. All were delicious though.

While we were there I got inspired to create something when we got home that took something very common here in Texas, pico de gallo, and give it a twist. Through my very creative new husband, the name Greeko (Greek pico) was born!

Okay so here it goes. This actually makes A LOT so it is great for a party. It would also be a great relish for chicken or fish or you could toss it with some pasta and serve it as a pasta salad. I also think it would be pretty easy to half.

Ingredients

10 Roma Tomatoes

3 Cloves of Fresh Garlic

1 Green Bell Pepper

1 White Onion

1 Cucumber

1 Anaheim Pepper

2 1/2 tablespoons of Capers

2 teaspoons Fresh Dill

2 cups of Crumbled Feta Cheese (I used the blocks packed in water and crumbled myself)

Juice from 1/2 of a Lemon

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

White Balsamic Vinegar

Salt and White Pepper (if you don't have it you can use black pepper) to taste

First get the seeds out of your tomatoes so that they do not over juice your Greeko. Cut each tomato in half and and squeeze the seeds out of them. This will make them easier to dice.

They will look like this on the inside when you are done.

Next, dice the tomato, bell pepper, onion, cucumber, anaheim pepper, and mince the garlic. Add the capers. Mix them all in together in a mixing bowl. Then squeeze the juice of half of a lemon into the bowl. Drizzle with olive oil (I did it about 2 and half times back and forth across the bowl) and then with the white balsamic vinegar (one time over the bowl).

Add the feta cheese.

Mix well. Season with salt and white pepper to taste.

I found this pico to have released a lot of liquid from the vegetables so I strained it with a fine strainer.

Serve with pita chips.

We brought this to a pool party and it was received very well! I hope you enjoy it if you try it, we certainly did.

Happy Memorial Day!

Katie