Take a village salad and give it a bit of extra to make this Greek(ish) dish

The surprise here is the stone fruit, which pops with sour–sweetness to elevate the lot.

Greek-ish salad with nectarines from Salad for Days by Alice Zaslavsky, photography by Rochelle Eagle.

Alice Zaslavsky

less than 2 min read

11:37AMFebruary 11, 2025

The Weekend Australian Magazine

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It would be remiss of me to collate a book of great salads without including a nod to the classics, though when it comes to canonical combos like this one, we can often get stuck in our ways. The surprise here is the stone fruit, which pops with sour–sweetness to elevate the lot. If this is a step too far for you, leave it out. The herbed feta is a Greek gift that keeps on giving: drama on delivery, and it turns the lot greener once you stir. If your cucumber’s seeds aren’t too fibrous, feel free to zebra peel (taking off half the skin in lengthways stripes) without scooping out the guts.

Try too my grilled peach salad and my tomato salad with milk kefir dressing.

This salad has a bit of everything but is inspired by traditional Greek salads.

Salad for Days by Alice Zaslavsky, photography by Rochelle Eagle. (Murdoch, $45).

Greekish salad with nectarines

Ingredients

• 200g kalamata olives, drained
• 1 red onion, halved and finely sliced
• 2 red capsicums, deseeded and finely sliced into half moons
• 1 Lebanese cucumber, peeled and gutted, cut into 1cm chunks
• 5 truss tomatoes, about 500g, cut into quarters
• 2 firm sweet free-stone nectarines, stoned and cut into fine wedges
• Honey–oregano dressing
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• ¼ cup (60ml) lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
• ½ teaspoon salt flakes
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano
• ½ teaspoon dried Greek oregano
• ¼ cup (60ml) extra-virgin olive oil

Herbed feta

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped mint, reserving some whole leaves to garnish
• ¼ cup finely chopped parsley, reserving whole leaves to garnish
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for serving
• 100g Greek feta

Method

1. To make the honey-oregano dressing, whisk the garlic, honey, vinegar, lemon zest and juice, mustard, salt and the fresh and dried oregano together in a large bowl.
2. Pour in the olive oil and whisk together to emulsify. If the kalamata olives have pits and you’d prefer they don’t, arrange the olives in batches on the chopping board and use the base of an olive oil bottle to squash them and release the pip.
3. To make the herbed feta, squash the chopped herbs together to form a fuzzy green bed. Drizzle the olive oil onto the feta, then press the feta block into the herbs on all sides, so that it looks like it’s had a run-in with the lawnmower.
4. Just before serving, add the prepared ingredients – the olives, onion, capsicum, cucumber, tomato and nectarine – to the dressing in the bowl and toss well to coat.
5. Transfer into a serving bowl, then prop the slab of herbed feta on top, finishing with some extra olive oil and the reserved pretty leaves, scattered from a height, to finish.

Serves 4-6