Thinking Greek

My friend L's dad drove us into work on Monday. On the way, we talked about how using the CSA share was going. I said that it was hard to figure out ways to use all of the vegetables - clearly, P and I don't normally eat this much of them. L and her dad pointed out that in North American culture, there isn't much honoring of the vegetable on its own. Rather, it's a side dish, and if the vegetable is served plain, it's usually the least delicious thing on the plate. Greek food, however, showcases the vegetables. Possibly due to the frequent fast days required in the Greek Orthodox calendar, the Greeks have found delicious ways to make meals without meat. What it ultimately means is that they clearly know what to do with a vegetable - to make it the meal instead of the sad side portion of the meal.

I decided to take some inspiration from this and put the vegetables on center stage this week. As with other times P is away, I'm more tolerant of failure in the kitchen than when I'm feeding someone other than me. To start, tonight's dinner was a Greek (sort of) salad with toasted pita - perfect for a summer evening when it's really too hot to do any serious cooking. This first try was definitely not a failure!

Unfortunately, there's no photo - my resident photographer is away, and I was too hungry to bother.

Greek (sort of) salad
serves 1 as dinner; 2 for a substantive side dish

1 tomato
1/2 green pepper
1/2 cucumber
1/3 cup Kalamata olives
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 tsp fresh oregano leaves
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Cut up the tomato, pepper, and cucumber into bite-sized pieces. Mix in bowl with the other ingredients. Serve with toasted pita.