salade grecque

My "1 a.m. Saturday morning" Greek salad. I paid tribute to the Americanized version of this salad by laying down a totally unnecessary bed of shredded lettuce, upon which I piled all the classically Greek components: diced cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, black olives, and crumbled feta. Since the Greco-American version of this salad plays fast and loose with dressing options, I went with a homemade strawberry vinaigrette that took advantage of my mountainous supply of xanthan gum to create the emulsion.* The dressing started off as a simple, three-ingredient composition: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and strawberry jam. I then added the xanthan gum and decided to go further into Italian-dressing mode by adding a dash of salt and pepper, a bit of oregano, and a bit of garlic powder. Those additions radically improved the rather boring texture and flavor of the initial three-ingredient mix. After that, it was simply a matter of spooning the dressing over the salad, and you can see the result below.

I've got frozen shrimp in my freezer. I should do a shrimpy Cobb salad next.

---

*Relax: I didn't use much xanthan gum at all. A little goes a very long way.