Sunday, July 19, 2009

Slow Travel Sunday Salad Samplers # 13 (7/19) Israeli Salad

This week's selection was made by Slow Talk member and Moderator, Teaberry. I really loved this salad. It was very delicious, easy to make and was cool and perfect for a hot summer day in Southern California. I followed her recipe, even using an English cucumber for the first time. The only thing I forgot at the grocery store was one of the recommended toppings, but that's okay because I know that I'll be making this salad again soon! Thank you Teaberry for sharing your delicious salad recipe with us!


Here's Teaberry's detailed instructions:

I first ate this salad when I visited Israel, where they love eating fresh vegetables cut up small like this for breakfast! Almost every Israeli knows how to make an Israeli salad, and there are probably as many variants as there are Israelis.

This variation is actually from Molly Katzen's book, The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, which was an early standard for me. I'm not vegetarian, but I do love vegetarian food, and she was a real groundbreaker in that cooking genre. Her original recipe includes 1/2 cup of minced red onion, which I omit because I am not a fan of raw onions, but please feel free to include it if it suits your fancy. You can make this several hours ahead of serving time.

Israeli salad

1 large English cucumber, or 2 6" regular ones (the English cucumbers have fewer seeds)
2-3 medium-sized ripe tomatoes
12 radishes
1/2 cup pimiento-stuffed green olives
2 scallions
1 large Kosher pickle
1 medium green pepper
3/4 cup (packed) fresh parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
juice from 1 large lemon
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Cut the cucumber and tomatoes into small cubes and place in large bowl. In your food processor, place the radishes and olives; pulse until roughly chopped. Add to the large bowl.

Place the scallions, pickle, and green pepper in the food processor and mince. Add to the large bowl. Mince the parsley in the food processor; add to large bowl. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to your salad, and toss everything together gently. Chill.

Optional additions: feta cheese on top, or you can serve with yogurt or sour cream or little cubes of cream cheese on top.

8 comments:

  1. Nice photo Kathy! Yours look delicious. I was a bit surprised at how much flavor this salad has; when I looked at the ingredients I couldn't really imagine how it would taste, and it really has great flavor!

    Hope you've had a good weekend. We've got a bit of an unusual cool spell here (which means pleasant temps in the 80's instead of scorchers in the 90's) so it's been a wonderful weekend. Enjoy your third day off!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Annie, thanks so much. I love kosher pickles but have never put them in a salad before. I agree with you that the flavor of this salad was so delicious. I will definitely make it again too.

    I'm so glad that you had a really wonderful weekend with some nice cool weather. 80's is perfect temperatures.

    It was hot here but I did manage to enjoy being outside for a bit. Nice to have tomorrow off, since I didn't do one chore over the weekend. :)

    Thanks again Annie and have a wonderful Sunday evening!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your salad looks so good and authentic,Kathy. I didn't use any toppings on mine either,and I don't think I've ever had it with a cheese or dairy topping in the middle east.

    Happy Sunday!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Candi, thanks for your comments. I really enjoyed this salad a lot too. And it's interesting to learn more about it from you and Teaberry. Thanks so much for sharing some of your childhood memories.

    Have a great day today!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great photo, Kathy! I'm looking forward to making this salad soon. We're going camping on Thursday and I'm bringing dishes that do not run the risk of going bad due to warm weather and this salad is perfect.

    I'm soon going to have a salad marathon to catch up with the ones I missed. They all lock so appetizing, colorful and so fresh.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Maria, the salad choices these past three weeks while you were out of town were all terrific and you will enjoy them a lot. I think this will be a great salad and it is very delicious and a cool salad, which is great to take on a camping trip.

    Have fun camping this weekend and enjoy your salad marathon.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your salad looks great, Kathy!

    It WAS refreshing, wasn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Nancy, thanks so much for your comments. Yes, it was very delicious and refreshing. Can't wait to make it again soon...

    Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete

It's me Trekcapri (aka Kathy). Thanks so much for visiting and leaving a comment.