My Big Fat Greek Salad #recipe @LucyBurdette #giveaway

LUCY BURDETTE: A couple of weeks ago John and I celebrated our 23rd anniversary. We each had false starts getting married correctly, so it's possible we might not make it to 50, 60, and 70 years together, though fingers, toes, and paws are crossed!

That's why we like to celebrate each anniversary as though it was a big one. This year we went to New York City for a couple of days, and the celebration included tickets to see An American in Paris, a visit to my favorite food emporium Eataly, an hour in the Strand Bookstore (I could have spent all day,) tours of the new Whitney Art Museum and the 9/11 memorial and museum, and of course, tons of good food. (And by the way, the 9/11 memorial is well worth visiting, though so terribly sad. We need to remember!)

We had lunch one day in Eataly. To the left was my pasta, and John chose the lemon ricotta raviolis with pistachio garnish. Oh my goodness, it was good! 

But we had another stop to squeeze in. A few years ago, some friends got us hooked on a wonderful Greek restaurant in the East Village called Pylos. It wasn't really convenient to anyplace we were going, but we went for lunch anyway. This is their version of the country Greek salad--oh so wonderful. So I decided to make one for you. You'll see that I added salad greens, and also served it to myself with a boiled egg and a cottage oat biscuit--and that was a lovely dinner!

 

 Ingredients

Ripe tomatoes
Small cucumbers
Mixed salad greens
Fresh radishes
Feta cheese (only the good stuff!)
Greek olives
Pickled capers
Hard boiled eggs
Onions, if you like them

 
For the dressing: 

One half teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons vinegar (I like balsamic)
6 tablespoons good olive oil
One peeled garlic clove
1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped fine
Salt-and-pepper

I find the easiest way to make dressing is to add all the ingredients into a small jar with a lid and shake briskly. If you like a lot of garlic, you can press or chop the clove in with the other ingredients. I prefer a mild taste, so I leave the whole garlic clove in for a couple of hours and then remove it. Next...


Arrange the salad greens on a pretty plate, and add sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and radishes. (And onions if you like them.) Top all this with olives, capers, and chunks of feta cheese. Serve with a warm hard-boiled egg and a hot biscuit.

Fatal Reservations, the sixth book in the Key West food critic series, will be in bookstores on July 7, but you can certainly order it now! And, to continue the countdown to the launch celebration, we will be giving away one copy of the new book--leave a comment with your email by midnight tonight to be entered in the drawing.