Greek salad with croutons

Ingredients

Sweet bell pepper – 30 g

Barley bun – 1 pc.

Onions – 1 pc.

Olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, thyme - to taste

91 kcal
2 hours
2 hours

Photo of the finished dish

Step-by-step recipe with photos

Do you think that Greek salad with croutons is some kind of narrow perversion for refined ladies, and croutons are such fancy croutons, and, of course, this recipe was invented by restaurants? But no! The real traditional Greek salad with croutons is prepared on the Crete peninsula, and this, I suspect, is the most gluttonous version of the Greek salad that can actually feed hungry farmers. Therefore, the croutons there are not croutons at all, but paximadi kusmans, and besides the croutons, there is something to throw into the stomach of a working person - potatoes, eggs. But first, let’s talk about crackers and ask what paximadi is.

Paximadi are famous Cretan crackers made from barley flour. More precisely, these are barley buns, which are then dried in the oven again and converted into dried buns. It is then that they become paximadi. But specifically for making Cretan Greek salad, they sell for previously cut and later dried buns of this type.

What are Paximadi known for? They tell a legend that one day a Dragon arose from the sea and wanted to devour the Crete peninsula. Zeus, a native of Crete, decided to stand up for his native peninsula, and said to the Dragon: “Listen, you unfortunate crocodile, before you covet the whole peninsula, first swallow this small cracker!” - and threw the paximadi into the sea. The dragon rushed towards Paximadi - and turned to stone. Paximadi also became petrified. So off the coast of Crete there were two islands: one that looked like a huge crocodile, and the other that looked like a small bun. They say that when the end of the world comes, the Dragon will finally eat his own paximadi. And for the Krits, it is a matter of honor to create their own Greek salad with croutons, and to create it not in a light version, but in such a satisfying way that even a hungry dragon will be satisfied.

I don’t have real paximadi (most likely you don’t either), so I’ll just make barley crackers from a barley bun. There are no seeds on real Paximadi. If you don’t have barley buns, it’s better to substitute rye buns rather than wheat buns.

We cut the bun in half, and later into thick pucks about a centimeter in length. True paximadi, even if there is a whole loaf, can still be broken with your hands, but for some reason I can’t do this trick with ordinary loaves after drying, so I still recommend for you the option of preparatory cutting and subsequent drying.

Dry the crackers in the oven for an hour or so (either in a cool oven or at a temperature of about 50 C).

Cook and peel the potatoes and eggs.

Cut the potatoes and eggs into large pieces.

Cut the tomato into slices.

We also don’t mince the cucumber and pepper.

We cut the onion - it can be rings, it can be slices, as long as it’s not finely chopped.

Place vegetables on a plate or in a bowl. Sprinkle with broken feta.

Before serving, season the Greek salad with croutons with olive oil, onion, salt, pepper, oregano, thyme and freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste.

How to make Greek salad with croutons

The New Year's table is always generously stocked with dishes, but if some take a long time to make, then the rest take no more than half an hour to prepare.

Greek salad with croutons, the recipe for which we will carefully consider, is one of such dishes, because it is prepared quickly, simply and from natural ingredients.

Everything that goes into the snack can be easily found on the shelves of hypermarkets, and the treat is cheap, what more could a housewife want?

Greek salad: recipe with croutons

Ingredients

Tomatoes (fresh) - 4-5 pcs. + –
Feta cheese – 250 g + –
Olive oil - 6-7 tbsp. + –
Sweet pepper - 1-2 pcs. + –
Cucumbers (fresh) - 2-3 pcs. + –
Salt - to taste + –
Onion - 1 pc. + –
Loaf - ½ pcs. + –
Greens (fresh) - to taste + –
Olives - 20-25 pcs. + –
Lemon - ½ pc. + –
Dried oregano - to taste + –
Ground dark pepper - to taste + -

How to prepare Greek salad with croutons

Such a famous dish has a lot of manufacturing options, so that any housewife can choose the most suitable one for herself. What you sometimes find as part of a unique snack: various types of cheese, various seasonings that change its taste beyond recognition, chicken meat and much more.

But we will try to create a “Greek” salad with croutons - they will add piquancy to the dish, make it crispier, and at the same time add originality to the traditional ingredient composition.

Step 1: Make crispy croutons from the loaf

Cut off the crust from half the loaf and cut the flesh into cubes, if the bread is yesterday's bread. If the loaf is fresh, then tear it into small pieces with your hands.
Place the future crackers on a baking sheet, sprinkle them with olive oil, and place them in a preheated oven to dry for 7-10 minutes.

Step 2: Chop the cheese and vegetables

Chop the tomatoes into cubes, peppers into thin strips (or squares), and cucumbers into large slices.
Cut onions (it is better to use the reddish fruit, it is tastier and sweeter) into rings/half rings. If your onion is bitter, pour boiling water over it, this will help reduce the bitterness.
Carefully cut the feta into large cubes. Do everything slowly and carefully, as the cheese is soft and any sudden movement can harm its integrity.
We wash the greens under running water, dry them briefly and chop them with a sharp knife.
It is better to tear the salad leaves (if you will use them, of course) into pieces with your hands.

Step 3: Mix the ingredients into the salad

Squeeze the juice from half a lemon, mix it with oregano, pepper, salt and olive oil.

We put the cheese and vegetable tenderloin with herbs in a salad bowl, add pitted olives to them, then pour the prepared spicy lemon dressing over the chopped products and carefully mix everything together.
As a result, sprinkle the Greek salad with croutons and serve it to the table right away.

Greek salad: cooking secrets for gourmets

Despite the fact that the salad is prepared very simply, there are still certain aspects to the technology of its production. In order for the appetizer to come out perfect and not disappoint you with its taste, you need to choose the right ingredients.

In combination, they should harmoniously complement each other, so the following secrets should not be overlooked, they will help create a Greek-style salad even tastier.

What croutons are best for Greek salad?

It is better to create croutons for a Greek dish on your own; it will be tastier and cheaper. But if you are in a complete hurry and don’t have time to dry the bread, you can buy ready-made crackers in the store. But don’t rush to take the first ones you come across, you need to choose the “correct” drying that will look harmonious in the salad.

Finely porous crackers without additives are perfect. If there are aromatic additives in the dry product, they should be in the smallest quantity. Crackers flavored with chicken, herbs, cheese or sour cream do not spoil the taste of the salad.

But it will be better if natural spices are used, and such, usually, are only found in homemade crackers. You can prepare them at home from any type of bread, from snow-white to rye.

What spices can be added to the salad?

Greek salad is a rather unique dish, so you should be careful with seasonings. There are no serious prohibitions on the use of certain spices, but some spices greatly influence the typical taste of the snack (for example, turmeric, ginger), so you may not even be able to figure out your favorite Greek salad right away.

If you add them to a snack in limited quantities, it will make it indescribably tasty and appetizing.

How to Vary the Traditional Greek Salad

If you have prepared a dish according to a traditional recipe more than once, then you probably want to try it in a new culinary interpretation. You have such an opportunity.

Naturally, the Greeks would not approve of such improvisation, but what can you do to improve the taste of your favorite dish, especially since over almost all the years of its existence, the appetizer has already undergone a huge number of changes.

Traditional Greek salad: 2 recipes with chicken and croutons

I saw one fascinating pattern. If we take the history or, so to speak, the legend of the appearance of the most popular dishes, then almost all of them were prepared for the poor and poor, and the most exciting thing is that these dishes can be prepared from ordinary, affordable, and often it would seem completely unsuitable goods. Here is one such example - Greek salad. It can also be called Caesar or pretentiously Mediterranean salad.

Regular Greek salad, composition. (everything can change, you are a creator...)
Step-by-step preparation of Greek salad with photos (drooling...)
Unique salad with Chinese cabbage - Greek (optional...)
Some video tips (the video is presented by an attractive woman...)

You can find a huge number of recipes for Greek salad, and the creators will claim that their recipe is the most accurate and is a classic itself. I adhere to this point of view: there are a huge number of traditional recipes, but there is not just one correct one. There are general rules for preparing any dish, which is why the cuisine is so diverse. It’s like in music, there seem to be only seven notes, but the melodies of all creators are different.

Regular Greek salad - composition

chicken fillet: 100 -150 gr.
greenish salad: 5 - 7 leaves.
onion: medium onion
olives (pitted): gr 70
fresh cucumbers: 1-2 (check by size)
tomatoes: 2 -3 (see size and variety)
sweet pepper: 1 piece
garlic: 2-3 cloves
snow-white bread or roll: 4 - 5 pieces
“feta” - such cheese, maybe feta cheese: gr 100 - 130
olive oil 4-6 tablespoons
herbes de provence (dried)
dark pepper, salt - to taste

Because we accept all tastes, naturally in this list of ingredients you can change the amount of one or another product. Let's take more sweet pepper and less cucumber and so on, to your taste.

Step-by-step preparation of Greek salad with photos

Cut the boiled or oven-baked chicken breast into pieces

We prepare croutons from snow-white bread or rolls. We cut off the peels on all sides, cut the flesh into squares and, depending on your mood, fry them in a frying pan with some butter or cook them in the oven.

We don’t have to fry anything else, we won’t have to steam it, we’ll just cut it and lay it out.

We thoroughly wash the lettuce leaves, dry them with a napkin and place them immediately on the dish in which you will serve the salad.

Cut the tomatoes into cubes and place them directly on the lettuce leaves

We cut the cucumbers into pieces and immediately throw them into the plate.

Cut the sweet pepper into cubes and do the same manipulation with your hand, placing the pepper on a plate.

It comes to onions; you can grate them on a shredder to make them thinner. And we'll throw it into our plate.

Now, I want to see that at this point you need to salt this entire man-made product, you can pepper it and sprinkle with finely chopped garlic. (according to your exclusive taste)

Here comes our chicken. Throw it on top of the vegetables. The olives fall completely (can be cut in half)

We cut the cheese as you like and immediately put it back into the dish.

We are tired of waiting for our already cooled crackers and we also place them on a plate.

We come to the culmination of our masterpiece, pour olive oil over everything.

And don’t forget about Provencal herbs, they are incredibly better suited for our Greek salad.

Salad ready! You see, it's quite simple. Try it and maybe in the particular production options given to us, Greek salad will reveal its taste properties for you.

Greek salad - a unique salad recipe with Chinese cabbage

Introducing the composition of the salad:

Chinese cabbage
Bulgarian pepper
feta cheese or cheese "sertaki", "feta" and the like
pitted olives
olive oil
and here it is originality - smoked chicken (fillet or leg)
salt, herbs, ground pepper, garlic - to taste

I don't indicate exact quantities of ingredients. I can say that it is better to cook in portions, placing them separately on plates for everyone. The fact is that this smoked chicken salad is not bad, either with olive oil or with sauces or just with mayonnaise. You can try different options

Wash and dry the cabbage and peppers. Pinch the cabbage with your hands, pepper and chicken according to your comfort level (we don’t use chicken skin). Add chopped fresh cheese and olives. Salt and season with seasonings to taste. You can serve it on the table without pouring it, but serve different sauces or butter separately in bowls.

Serve and admire.

A few tips for making a delicious Greek salad:

Be sure to dry your vegetables before you start chopping them. There is no need for extra liquid in the salad.

Do not store the dressed salad for a long time, prepare it closer to the celebration. Again, to prevent an incomprehensible mess.

Sauces and dressings are an important component of Greek Mediterranean salads. And for this reason, choose what to serve and cook it yourself. Candidate, purchased sauces.

I give you one video where one very nice woman shares a recipe for a super dressing for our dishes.

Salad is such a dish that you can experiment with it, add this, subtract that. Achieve a taste that appeals to you.

I hope I covered the main points. Bon appetit.

Greek salad with chicken and croutons

Preparation time: 1 min.

Production time: 35 min.

Number of servings: 2 pcs.

Ingredients

Preparing a traditional Greek salad with chicken and croutons

Greek salad is the most famous and versatile. It is prepared with different variations of dressings, and ingredients that are not included in the main salad recipe are also added.

For example, adding croutons and chicken is a living example of how to give a well-known salad a new twist. Both croutons and chicken will make your salad the most nutritious. Therefore, Greek salad with chicken and croutons is perfect for the winter diet, when you want to eat the most satisfying food.

How to prepare “Greek salad with chicken and croutons” step by step with photos at home

To make a traditional Greek salad with croutons, we need chicken leg, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet peppers, Fetaxa, olives, croutons, green salad, purple onion, olive oil, salt, a mixture of Provençal herbs.

Wash and dry all vegetables. Peel the onion (0.5 onions) and cut into half rings. Pepper (0.5 pepper), remove seeds and cut into pieces. Cut tomatoes (2 pieces) into slices, and cucumbers (2 pieces) into large pieces.

Wash 150 g of lettuce, dry it, tear it with your hands and place on a plate.

Fetaksa (100 g) cut into cubes, it can be replaced with cheese without any problems.

Place peppers and cucumbers on the salad. Season the vegetables with salt.

Place tomatoes and onions on top.

Boil the leg (400 g) in advance, cool, remove the bones and cut into pieces.

Arrange pieces of chicken and olives (70 g) between the vegetables.

Place Fetaxa and croutons (40 g) on top. Season the salad with Provencal herbs (1 pinch). Drizzle with olive oil (3 tbsp). Greek salad with chicken and croutons is ready.