Mediterranean Dinner: Greek Salad and Lemon-Lime Granita

Greek Salad

If you've ever been to Greece this is something you can order at almost every little restaurant you come across and it's Good! Here's the basic ingredients from Mediterrasian.com. Then I'll tell you what I did.

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1½ tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic—minced
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and extra for garnish
3 tomatoes—cut into wedges
¼ red onion—sliced into rings
½ cucumber—sliced into thick half-moons
½ green pepper (capsicum)—julienned
4 oz (120g) feta cheese—cut into small cubes
16 kalamata olives

First: when I had this salad any number of times in Greece it was literally swimming in fine quality olive oil. It is up to you how much you want to put in the 'dressing.' I tend to the lighter side.

I changed this up only slightly:

I used a seedless 'English; cucumber
Fresh peppers from my garden -- mild banana and colored bells
Vidalia Onions because they were in season
Few tablespoons of red wine vinegar
Fresh oregano and Fresh basil from my herb garden

Otherwise, cut/chop ingredients, mix well, let set in refrigerator for a half hour (or more) and serve chilled.

Lemon-Lime Granita (Glace, Ices)

Palate cleansers are a great invention. Not so much because we absolutely have to have our palates cleansed, but because they are quite tasty and relatively easy to make. Here's what I used:

Fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice (3-4 of each)
Lemoncello
Vanilla Vodka

Mix to taste -- I leaned heavily on the fresh juices this time and the result was a bit tart. Add sugar or a bit more of the liquors to sweeten.
[Hint: Adding alcohol of any kind is optional. If you don't want any, you will need to add some water and sugar to this recipe, otherwise you will really pucker everyone's lips! PLUS! The booze helps keep the granitas from freezing really hard.]

Method: Blend all ingredients and -- well I do this one of two ways -- In this case, since I added the liquors, I poured the mixture into several different candy molds for medium sized 'candies' (plastic molds). Place in freezer and let it freeze until ready to serve. Take out, dip bottom of mold for literally only a second in hot water and drop the little 'candy-shaped' ices into serving dishes (I like to use medium-sized cordial glasses of different shapes and colors). Serve.

Traditional method (which I also use occasionally): pour mixture into a pan or container so that it spreads out to about an inch or less thickness. Place in freezer. Every half hour or so open freezer and stir up the granita. It will slowly freeze (from edges in). Be sure to stir the frozen parts into the non-frozen middle. Keep this up until the mixture is basically a frozen melange of ice crystals. Spoon into serving dishes and enjoy.

Both these methods work, but the first only works well with a granita that has alcohol in it. Otherwise the only advantage is that the shapes are cute and look nice in the cordial glasses.

Enjoy.

Best,

Joe Koob