Rustic Mediterranean Salad

The other night I made this salad for dinner.  We devoured it even the kids.  It was one of the those salads that kind of evolved as I was making.  I started out thinking that I was making an open faced gyro/salad dish.  But as I started cooking it bloomed into an even better dish!  I love it when that happens.

I am awful at measurements so I am estimating the amounts used.  Feel free to to tweak it for you own tastebuds.  First I cut the lamb off into little strips off of the bone.  I used lamb shoulder chops.  I marinated them for about 1 hour while making the other stuff.

Lamb Marinade

2 T olive oil

2 lamb chops, cut up in pieces off the bone

3 garlic cloves minced

1 t oregano

1 t parsley

1 t mint

1 t salt

some ground pepper

1 T red wine vinegar

1/2 onion, sliced thin

Then I began to make the Ziki Sauce.  Aren't the colors so pretty together?

Ziki Sauce

1 cup plain greek yogurt

1/2 cucumber, grated

1 1/2 T olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

1 T red wine vinegar

3 cloves pureed garlic 

I like to puree the garlic in a mortar & pestle with the salt to make a good paste.  Place the grated cucumber in a strainer and put something heavy on it for about 10 minutes to drain off the water.  Add the garlic and the cucumber in a bowl with all the other ingredients and stir.

*Note:  Be careful about the garlic that is used.  Some garlic can be so pungent.  Try to avoid garlic like that or use less of it if that's all you have.

Then, I pan roasted some small fingerling potatoes at 400 F until they were a tad crispy on the edges about 20 minutes.  I tossed them with some olive oil, sliced onions, minced garlic, paprika, salt & pepper.

I started to assemble the salad while I started to cook the lamb.  I like to use a super hot cast iron skillet to get that nice caramelized bits on the meat.  Make sure you don't overcrowd the pan with meat or it will produce to much water and not brown it.  So do it in batches if you need to.

I like to use a wide shallow bowl or tray to serve salad in.  This way all the goody doesn't sink to the bottom and you can see everything that is in the salad.  

Rustic Mediterranean Salad

spring salad mix

halved cherry tomatoes

thinly sliced red onion

kalamata olives, pitted

cucumber slices

avocado slices

mediterranean olive oil packed sardines

pan roasted potatoes

feta cheese

Marinated Lamb

Ziki Sauce

Bon Appetit!