mediterranean salad

I crave salad. Maybe because the weather is like a sauna full of old men, or maybe because my body is trying to tell me something; all I know is I want the greens.

One of my favorite restaurants is a Lebanese place that makes a "feta salad." It's basically lettuce, feta cheese, and dressing. Add chicken if you so desire (and I often do). But after paying $8 or so every week for one of these things, I began to think of how easy it would be to re-create it at home. So now I'm eating "feta salad" almost every night, for pennies!

The main thing here is the dressing. I knew it was chock-full of oregano and garlic. I mean, I never eat this salad before a business meeting, as I feel like it would be cruel to breathe all that garlic on a client. So delicious though.

What I ended up doing is putting about a cup of good olive oil in a sealable container, adding about a quarter cup of dried oregano, and 4 or 5 peeled garlic cloves. As long as the garlic cloves are covered by the oil, this dressing seems to keep pretty well in the refrigerator (although the oil does start to thicken and needs to be stirred before use). The ingredients marinate together to form a garlicky wonder.

I serve it with dark, crisp, fresh lettuce and crumbled feta cheese. Maybe a squeeze of lemon if you have some lying around. I could eat it all day, I tell you. Actually, on at least one occasion, I have!