Hope you guys have enjoyed your weekend! We have, very much so! After all my moaning about the weather (which stood in a stark contrast to what we experienced in Greece just over a week ago), the UK has finally showed up. We had a glorious weekend of sun and the weather forecast promises that this will continue well into this week. I’m beyond chuffed as I find that weather massively affects my mood. I am loving this sudden injection of sunshine and making the most out of it. The world just seems like a much better place when the sun is shining you on cheerily (or cheering you on shiningly 😉 ), doesn’t it?
So after you guys went nuts for my Friday moussaka recipe (we are still having it for dinner tonight…), I decided to continue with a Greek theme as Greece is almost synonymous with summer in my mind. After the Thursday and Friday madness of two moussaka ingredients shopping trips, frantically looking for aubergines as they sold out at my local greengrocer (possibly cos I bought most of them 😛 ) and cooking two trays of moussaka on two consecutive days (don’t even ask why, it’s because I’m mad like the Mad Hatter), I’ve decided to go easy on myself this week as last week left me exhausted. So today’s recipe is pretty simple and another Greek classic – horiatiki salata (meaning village salad literally, but known to the world as a Greek salad). I made it with a homemade almond vegan feta, which although it is the most involved element of this recipe, doesn’t require much active time at all. Most of it is simply waiting for things to soak, drain or dehydrate in the oven. This vegan feta freezes well and is quite versatile. It’s delicious spread on a piece of toasted sourdough, topped with ripe tomato slices and capers or crumbled onto a pizza or salad. You can either make it with olive oil for a more indulgent, creamy texture or with almond milk. I have tested them both and I actually prefer the skinnier, almond milk version (no surprises there). This dairy-free feta substitute is salty, tangy, creamy and nicely firm and while it doesn’t taste like feta exactly, it does a very good job at pretending it’s the real thing.
8 ripe tomatoes (I used different sizes) ½ long cucumber ¼-½ red onion (I used only a ¼) 1 green bell pepper 20 black olives (I used juicy Kalamata olives) fresh or dried oregano
DRESSING
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 tbsp red wine vinegar salt and pepper, to taste
