Fresh Greek salad with feta cheese is a common regional dish.
Greek food relies heavily on fresh foods, vegetables, grilled meats and fish. Greek cooks often use the natural flavors of food to bring out the vibrant taste of the dishes but also use a few standard seasoning ingredients. The bold, clean taste of Greek cooking comes from the generous application of these few foods grown in the region.
Olive Oil
Greek cooking could not exist without olive oil. Tara Parker-Pope, writing for The New York Times, reports that "many of the traditional dishes are called "olive oil dishes" (or ladera) because they are cooked with copious amounts of extra virgin olive oil." Olive oil comes in three varieties: Extra-virgin, made from the first cold pressing of high-quality olives. Virgin olive oil also comes from the first pressing, but the olives are typically of lesser quality. Pure olive oil is refined chemically and often combined with virgin oil.
Garlic
Used without caution, fresh or roasted garlic is a primary ingredient in tzatziki, the creamy cucumber and yogurt dip which complements many Greek meat and vegetable dishes. Garlic also features heavily in hummus, another spread made with chickpeas, olive oil and lemon. A Greek-style whole-roasted lamb is often studded with raw cloves of garlic, allowing the herb to roast and season the meat while it slowly turns over the fire.
Oregano
A standard herb in any Greek kitchen, oregano seasons salads, including the well-known "Greek salad." Cooks liberally sprinkle oregano over meats and vegetables, and in stews. A simple dip served alongside a bread appetizer includes olive oil, lemon and oregano. The local Greek oregano has a slight lemon taste in comparison with the common herb found in most supermarkets, but you can use regular oregano as a ready substitute in Greek cooking. When possible, it's best to use the fresh herb, either straight from the garden or purchased in the produce department of the supermarket. Mint, dill and fennel are other herbs in Greek cooking.
Lemon
Lemon juice brightens hummus, tzatziki, sauces and marinades. Cooks also use it to make avgolemono, the classic Greek lemon, egg and rice soup. Fresh lemon juice squeezed straight from the fruit is always the best choice when cooking authentic Greek food, just make sure to pour the juice through a mesh colander to remove the pulp and seeds before you include it in a recipe.
Feta Cheese
Made with sheep or lamb's milk, this pungent, tart cheese flavors everything from the classic Greek Salad to spanakopitas, a spinach and feta dish made with layers of puff pastry. You can mix feta cheese with herbs and whipped into a spread, but is more commonly used in Greek cooking by crumbling it over the top of foods.
Tags: Greek cooking, classic Greek, comes from, feta cheese, from first, Greek food
