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A treasured salad from Bulgaria with love

Recipe: Shopska salad makes most of ripe tomatoes, crunchy cucumber

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED AUG 25, 2024

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.

Tomatoes and cucumber — Summer's best tomatoes and a cucumber are
the heart of Shopska salad.

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.

Salad on Bulgarian cloth — A cheese topping finishes this serving of
the Bulgarian Shopska salad.

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.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

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Garden checklist for week of May 17

With an eye on warmer weather to come, continue to work on the summer vegetable garden:

* Remember to irrigate your tender transplants. The wind can quickly dry out young plants. Seedlings need consistent moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants. Water early in the morning for best results.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, calibrachoa, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Put your veggie garden on a regular diet. Set up a monthly feeding program, and keep track on your calendar. Make sure to water your garden before applying any fertilizer to prevent “burning” your plants.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

* Don’t forget to weed! Those invaders are growing fast.

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