Greek Salsa
20
I buy too much feta cheese. It’s not entirely my fault. See, the Greek-owned store near me has like 5 kinds of feta, all of them delicious, and all of them pretty cheap. (If you are buying the stuff in a plastic clamshell from your grocery store, STOP and get thee to an ethnic market, stat.) To top it off, the dudes at the counter are not the best at estimating weight. I’ll ask for half a pound and I inevitably come home with .83 lbs. of feta. Every time.
In addition to my copious amounts of feta, I had some leftover beets I roasted in the fridge, pitas in the freezer, and the makings for tzatziki. The stars were aligned for me to make Greek nachos—a recipe I will be sharing with you very soon. But first, I needed salsa for said nachos.
This salsa is pretty similar to what a chopped Greek salad would look like. It’s a great appetizer that’s incredibly easy to make and keeps pretty well if you make it ahead of time and refrigerate it. Plus, it’s always nice to have something that’s a little more fresh and crisp than your standard dip.
I made the baked pita chips by slicing whole wheat pitas into triangles and then tossing with olive oil, salt and pepper. You can definitely flavor the pita chips more, like for instance with some oregano, but since I used them as a base for nachos, I already had enough flavors going on, and opted to keep it simple.
Greek Salsa
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 tsp. lemon juice
1.5 Tbsp. olive oil
1.5 tsp. oregano
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. chopped parsley
1 tsp. chopped dill
1 cucumber, seeded and diced small
1 large tomato, seeded and diced small
1/3 lb. feta cheese, diced
10-12 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1/4 cup chopped green or red onion
1/4 cup diced beets (roasted or pickled)
Whisk together the red wine vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, and oregano, and then season to taste with salt and pepper.
In a separate bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients (the beets may turn everything hot pink, like in my pics, so you may want to add them slowly at the end to partially avoid this). Stir in the dressing, tossing well to combine.
What a great idea. Greek salsa 🙂
I’m jealous by the way. In Holland I can’t find a good piece of feta! I always have to go back home to Greece to taste the good stuff.
I never really see TOO MUCH feta as being a problem. Especially not since I have you to turn to for fabulous recipes like this! I could totally just go at this with a spoon. No pitas needed.
Umm this looks so delicious 🙂
You can never have too much feta in your life Elly!
I love roasted beets. This looks really tasty.
What a great idea! I just wish I liked olives, maybe this could change my mind (and originally I typed life instead of mind, maybe that’s a premonition ;))
Jessica, my husband wasn’t an olive fan until I told him to try kalamata olives. They were the gateway and are still his favorite. 🙂
Yummy! I love the addition of beets to this salsa…
I love this take on salsa! We got some beets in our CSA this week and if we have any leftover I may need to make this!
love the red wine in this salsa!
I LOVE IT! This is so creative and clever, elly. I love the combination of sweet beets and salty olives and feta you have going on here. I will have to try this soon. I always buy WAY too much feta too. I saw we join forces and make a Mexi-Greek cookbook. lolz
Haha, we totally should! Best cookbook ever.
no doubt!! I’m serious about this!!
I wasn’t expecting the beets in here – yum!
What a delicious idea. YUM!
This looks delicious! I’m in Chicago too and would love to check out a good Greek market…where do you recommend?
Hi Ashley. There’s one in Greektown that has all the basics, but the one I go to is not totally a “Greek” market. It’s just owned by Greeks and in a Greek area, so they have a lot of stuff. It’s called HarvesTime and it’s on Lawrence, just west of Rockwell. Not sure if that is anywhere near you.
I am not a huge fan of beets, but i have to admit this recipe sounds really really good! Thanks.
What a delicious and creative recipe Elly! I’m totally in love with this. Can’t wait to see the Greek take on nachos.
This is perfect! I just got some beets from my farm share today that I had no idea what to do with. I also have some tomatoes and red onions so now just to pick up a few other supplies :).