Every year, for as long as I can remember, our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners include the heaping bowl of “Greek Salad”. I am pretty sure the only reason it is called Greek is that it is likely the original title from whatever old cookbook gave my grandmother the idea back in 1965. Our family’s Greek Salad has changed here and there over the years. It originally had a lot of mushrooms, but they often sat in the bottom of the bowl, turning to vinegar-y mush. Sometimes it contained cheese cubes.
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In the past couple of years, I have taken over the salad creation, so I added my own touch. I swapped out cherry tomatoes for sweet pepper, made my own vinaigrette instead of bottled dressing, and upgraded the olives with Mezzetta.
I personally think some feta cheese or Mezzetta bleu cheese stuffed olives would be great on it, but this version is vegan this year. You’ll want to make it a day ahead so it can marinate.
Holiday Tradition Greek Salad with A Bounty of Olives
- 1 head broccoli
- 1 head cauliflower
- 6 orange/red small sweet peppers (remove seeds)
- 3/4 cup Mezzetta kalamata olives
- 1/2 cup queen green stuffed Mezzetta olives (slice into thirds)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons dried cherries chopped very small
Remove stalks and leaves from broccoli and cauliflower. Cut broccoli and cauliflower into medium pieces (about 1-1.5 inches). Remove stems and seeds from peppers and slice peppers in half inch pieces. Add vegetables to large seal-able container. Pour olives, black pepper, olive oil, vinegar, and chopped dried cherries over vegetables. Seal container, give it a good shake, and place in fridge overnight.
When getting ready to serve dinner, give salad a few more shakes and transfer to a serving dish.
I’ve made this salad in the past with Mezzetta pecorino peppers and they give it a nice kick!
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