Greek salad with shrimps: recipe

Cooking is rightfully considered one of the typesarts. After all, there is not only a place for creativity and experimentation, but also an opportunity to reflect certain cultural traditions and national characteristics. Nevertheless, many, many national dishes eventually become truly cosmopolitan. Having gone beyond the borders of their native country, these dishes gain popularity all over the world, while maintaining the original name and national flavor. For example, Greek salad. In each individual region of Greece, it is made in its own way. Therefore, there is a Greek salad with shrimp, with chicken, with tuna, with pasta, with mint, with spinach. At the same time, the main ingredients of the dish remain unchanged, and any recipe for Greek salad necessarily includes fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and soft sheep's cheese or feta cheese. The dressing for Greek salad may also be different, but its taste will always be recognizable. Let's try to prepare one of the versions of such an interesting salad, and at the same time learn more about this dish. So, a little history of Greek salad and a recipe for its preparation with shrimp.

A bit of history

In general, the recipe for Greek saladexists in many variations, there is nothing surprising. After all, in Greece itself this dish is called village salad - horiatiki. And in different parts of this country it is prepared to their taste. And although there are many variations of this dish, the Greek salad itself is a kind of calling card of Mediterranean cuisine. There is no reliable information about the history of this dish. But there are some versions. The first thing that comes to mind is the natural origin of the recipe. A hearty and healthy dish from products at hand appeared as if by itself. After all, what was always on the village table of the Mediterranean? Fresh vegetables and cheese. It was on the basis of these products that the recipe for the famous Greek salad arose. However, tomatoes appeared in Greece only at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Therefore, the time of the recipe's origin can be dated to this period. But! At that time, tomatoes were eaten like apples, biting them, not cutting them. And in connection with this fact, the history of the Greek salad can be “rejuvenated” by about a hundred years – before the beginning of the emigration of Greek residents to America, that is, before the beginning of the twentieth century. But there is another version of the origin of the salad – the beginning of mass tourism in Greece. It was in the middle of the twentieth century that this country began to arouse interest among foreign tourists, in connection with which a salad appeared, which the Greeks themselves describe as “all of Greece in one dish”. But since Greece is very different, the salad recipes also turned out to be different. But the salad option with shrimps may already be the result of experiments by professional chefs. Let's experiment too.

Greek salad with shrimps

The recipe, like everything ingenious, is simple.The main ingredients are preserved, but instead of olives, shrimp are added to the salad. And if you want to diversify this recipe, you can simply use different dressings. Ingredients:

400 grams of boiled shrimp;
150 grams of feta cheese;
2 fresh fleshy tomatoes;
2 pieces of fresh strong cucumbers;
Half a lemon;
1 teaspoon of mustard;
3 tablespoons of olive oil;
1 garlic clove;
1 head of onions;
1 teaspoon of granulated sugar;
Salt and oregano at your discretion.

Preparation:If your shrimp are raw, you need to boil them first and then peel them. Frozen boiled shrimp just need to be defrosted by pouring warm water over them, and then throwing them in a colander to drain off excess liquid. Now you can start preparing the salad itself. So, peel the garlic and rub it inside the salad bowl in which we will serve this dish. Peel the onion and cut it into very thin, almost transparent half rings. Now put the chopped onion on the bottom of the salad bowl, and put the chopped tomatoes on top. Note that the tomatoes need to be cut into large slices. Cut the cucumbers coarsely too - the size of the slices should be no less than the size of the shrimp that we will put in the salad. Put the cucumbers in the salad bowl. Add the shrimp and mix everything. Cut the cheese into small cubes and put it on top of the salad. Now pour the sauce over it all. To prepare the sauce, squeeze the juice from half a lemon, add olive oil, mustard, salt, oregano and sugar. Beat the resulting mixture well. Mix the salad carefully with the sauce and serve. If you want to experiment even more, try making a dressing with honey, use sweet French mustard, replace the olive oil with mustard or sesame oil, and the lemon juice with balsamic or apple cider vinegar. You can also add chopped garlic or feta cheese shavings to the sauce. You can layer the salad, decorating it with pieces of white cheese and whole shrimp. You can add lettuce leaves or spinach to it, and use shallots instead of onions. In short, don’t be afraid to experiment and cook with pleasure. Bon appetit and success in the culinary field!