Horiatiki Salad

Author Notes

One of my favorite restaurants in my NY hometown of Huntington is the Mediterranean Snack Bar--a little hole-in-the-wall Greek restaurant that has been around for decades. It's one of those places that has a big slab of gyro meat roasting on a vertical rotisserie in the front window, stuccoed walls, not enough tables (There are lines out the door on Saturdays in the summer.), and Greek music playing in the background. The owner grows his own vegetables and catches his own fish, so everything is wonderful and fresh. When the tomatoes and cucumbers are at their peak, this is my favorite salad. Because there are so few ingredients, they have to be the absolute best and freshest. I make this in July when my CSA box is overflowing with tomatoes and cucumbers. Serve it with just-warmed pita and you have a great lunch. (Note: I like salad dressing that's on the tart side. If this is too tart for you, feel free to add more oil.)

I've made the dressing with fresh herbs and dried herbs, and I like it better with dried. But you don't have to buy dried herbs if you have fresh herbs in your garden. There are lots of ways to dry herbs, but I usually just lay them on a cookie sheet in a barely warm oven (my lowest setting is 160), turn the oven off, and by the time the oven is cool, the herbs are dry and can be crumbled into the dressing.

2021 note: Sadly, the restaurant closed in 2018. —drbabs