Greek Salad

It is has been said: “When tomatoes become red, doctors become blue”. You may not need to visit a doctor very often if you eat enough of this notorious vegetable. Indeed, there are so many health benefits when eating tomatoes. It is rich in potassium, which may prevent high blood pressure. Also it is a good source of vitamins C and A. The red pigment of tomatoes is because of lycopene, which may help avoid prostate cancer (for men) and cardiovascular disease (for everybody). Last summer I was travelling in Japan where I gave a lecture about Mediterranean culture and food. During that event I served Greek salad and some other dishes to the audience. They were surprised by this simple, but nevertheless very exciting, salad! They were thrilled about the wonderful flavor that the combination of tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese and olives produces. Moreover, this amazing and super delicious dish is very easy to make. Eating and enjoying healthy and delicious food may be one of the keys of long and healthy life in Mediterranean communities (just watch the CNN series on this very issue these days by Andersen Cooper to see what I mean). Enjoy this simple, delicious and healthy Greek salad!

Ingredients:

2-3 tomatoes

2 cucumbers

1/2 red onion (or 2 shallot)

½ green pepper (I use Anaheim pepper)

Lemon juice

Oregano

Freshly ground black pepper

Black olives (Kalamata Greek olives are recommended!)

Slices of feta cheese Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Chop the tomatoes and cucumber. Cut the onion (or shallots) and green pepper into rings.

2. Place them in a salad bowl. Sprinkle the lemon juice, oregano and black pepper and toss.

3. Add the olives and feta cheese. Pour a lot of olive oil. That is it. Enjoy it!

I ran out of cucumbers the other day, but I was still able to make a wonderful Greek salad like below!