Greek salad (horiatiki)

• 4 mediumripe tomatoes · cut into thick wedges
• 1 largecucumber · peeled in stripes, cut into thick half-moons
• 1green bell pepper · cored, sliced into rings
• 1/2red onion · thinly sliced
• 1/2 cupKalamata olives · with pits, or pitted if you prefer
• 7 ozGreek feta · one solid block, packed in brine
• 1/3 cupextra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tbspred wine vinegar
• 1 tspdried Greek oregano
• kosher salt · to taste, on the tomatoes first
• black pepper · optional, to finish

Method

1. 1

   No lettuce, that is the whole point of horiatiki

   A real Greek village salad, horiatiki, has no leaves. It is built on big pieces of tomato, cucumber, pepper and onion held together by olive oil, not a bed of greens. If you add lettuce you have made an American Greek-style salad, which is fine, but it is a different dish and it goes watery faster.

2. 2

   Salt the tomatoes first and let them weep

   Cut the tomatoes into wedges, salt them, and let them sit for five minutes in the bowl before anything else goes in. The salt pulls out sweet tomato juice that mixes with the olive oil to become the dressing. This is the single step most recipes skip, and it is why theirs tastes flat.

3. 3

   Cut everything in big, confident chunks

   Thick tomato wedges, half-moons of cucumber, pepper in rings, onion sliced thin. Small dice turns to mush and releases too much water. You want pieces you can spear one at a time, each holding its own texture.

4. 4

   Put a whole slab of feta on top, do not crumble it

   Traditionally the feta sits on top of the salad as one thick slab, dusted with oregano, not pre-crumbled through the bowl. It stays creamy instead of dissolving into salty grit, and each person breaks off what they want. Use a real Greek block feta in brine; the pre-crumbled tubs are drier and saltier.

5. 5

   Good olive oil is half the salad

   There are only a handful of ingredients here and the oil is one of the loudest. Use a peppery extra-virgin you would happily drink from a spoon. A third of a cup sounds like a lot; it is the sauce, and it pools with the tomato juice at the bottom for bread.

6. 6

   Dried Greek oregano, crushed between your fingers

   Fresh oregano is too soft here; dried is the authentic and better choice. Crush a teaspoon between your palms as you scatter it so the oils wake up. It goes over the feta and over the whole bowl, not stirred in.

7. 7

   Red wine vinegar, just a splash

   One tablespoon, no more. The tomato juice already brings acidity, so the vinegar is a lift, not the whole sour note. Add it at the end with the oil and toss gently once, from the bottom, so nothing bruises.

8. 8

   Rest ten minutes, serve at room temperature with bread

   Let the dressed salad sit for ten minutes off the fridge so the flavors marry and the feta loses its chill. Cold dulls tomatoes and stiffens olive oil. Serve it at room temperature with crusty bread to mop the oil-and-tomato juice at the bottom, which is the best bite in the bowl.