Mediterranean Chopped Salad

I absolutely love the flavors and textures of this. Transport your taste buds to the Mediterranean!

What ingredients are needed?

This recipe comes from The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook, from America’s Test Kitchen. I made a few small adjustments because, well, I like shortcuts. For instance, the recipe calls for “one cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and cut into ½ -inch pieces.” I used half an English cucumber because an English cucumber has smaller seeds and it has thinner skin – so I didn’t peel or remove seeds. (You’re welcome).

The olives needed are described as “½ cup pitted Kalamata

olives, chopped.” Anyone else ever

wonder if the ½ cup is before or after chopping? I bought the sliced Kalamata

olives, measured out ½ cup and decided that slicing was close enough to

chopping. I have chopped the olives other times for this salad; it works both

ways.

I also decided to measure out the red onion, because

sometimes onions can overwhelm. Besides, calling for ½ of a small onion is not

very specific. For me, the right amount was ½ cup of chopped red onion. If you

love onion, feel free to increase this amount.

How to make this Mediterranean Chopped Salad

To assemble this salad, start by salting and draining the

tomatoes and cucumbers to draw out their moisture (this helps keep the salad

from getting soggy). They need to drain for 15 minutes, which gives you time to

prep all the other ingredients.

Then, whisk the three dressing ingredients together in a big bowl, add the vegetables and let them marinate for at least 5 (or up to 20) minutes.

Add the lettuce and cheese, salt and pepper if desired, and you are done!

Flexible serving options

Tip: Per the Test Kitchen, this serves four. All I can say is, those are four very hungry vegetarians! This recipe fills a big bowl – by my estimate, 10 cups of salad once done. So, if you are serving this at a potluck where everyone takes a ½ a cup of salad because they want to taste everything…then it serves 20! For the nutrition calculations, I chose six.

I eat this as a vegetarian main dish, my guy eats it as a side. It goes well with a grilled chicken breast, or maybe pulled pork. Leftovers keep til the next day, but it is definitely best on the day it is made.

I hope you give this Mediterranean Chopped Salad a try. And, let me know what you think!

More salad ideas

You might also enjoy Greek Cucumber Salad, Chickpea, Carrot and Arugula Salad, or Quinoa with Broccoli and Parmesan.