Recipe: Shopska salad makes most of ripe tomatoes, crunchy cucumber
Shopska salad is a celebration of summer. Debbie Arrington
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to visit Bulgaria, a country I knew little about. That includes its food, a blend of Mediterranean and southeastern European influences. (Think Greek with a Hungarian twist.)
The best souvenir I brought home was a salad recipe: Shopska.
This celebration of summer is nicknamed the “national salad of Bulgaria.” According to lore, it was created in the early 1950s at a tourist hotel on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast – but named for a region on the opposite side of the country. It features the colors of the Bulgarian flag: Red, green and white.
Like Sacramento, Bulgaria takes pride in its tomatoes – especially big, juicy beefsteaks. This salad perfectly matches ripe tomatoes with crunchy cucumber and a light vinaigrette. Onions add a little bite. Some versions also add bell pepper (green or red) or roasted red peppers and fresh parsley (as part of the red, green and white theme). Shopska can be served on its own or atop mixed greens.
In Bulgaria, Shopska features sirene cheese, a Bulgarian brined white cheese made from a mix of goat, cow, sheep and sometimes buffalo milk. Feta makes an acceptable substitute.
Shopska is simple and very satisfying. On the plane to Sofia (Bulgaria’s capital), I asked a fellow passenger who was a frequent visitor to the country what to eat in Bulgaria. He immediately waxed poetically about the joy of digging into a “big Shopska salad.” After tasting one for myself, I had to agree.
Shopska salad
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
1 large cucumber
2 large beefsteak tomatoes
2 green onions, chopped
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 2 limes
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
2 cups shredded fresh feta or other salty brined white cheese
Instructions:
Partially peel cucumber so some green skin remains. Thinly slice cucumber and put in a large bowl.
Core and slice tomatoes into wedges. Add to bowl. Add chopped green onions.
For vinaigrette, mix together olive oil, lime juice, seasoning salt and several grinds of black pepper. Drizzle over tomatoes and cucumbers; toss lightly.
Transfer tomato-cucumber mixture to individual serving bowls or plates. Generously top each serving with shredded cheese. Serve.
Comments
0 comments have been posted.Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Thanks to Our Sponsor!
Local News
Sites We Like
Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 12
Once the winds die down, it’s good winter gardening weather with plenty to do:
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback. Save them until summer.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* After the wind stops, apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based fungicide to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. (The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.)
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladioli for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
Powered by California Local
