Cooking with Toti
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Bulgarian Shopska Salad
Bulgaria's most famous summer salad — ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, and a snowy mountain of feta.
Serves
4
Time
10 min
This is Bulgaria's most famous summer salad and one you'll find on almost every Bulgarian table during the warmer months. We love eating seasonal produce, so this salad is all about fresh, ripe vegetables. It's simple, refreshing, and comes together in just a few minutes.
Instructions
- 1
Dice the tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet green pepper.
- 2
Slice the fresh green onions.
- 3
Add everything to a large bowl.
- 4
Season with salt and, if you like, a pinch of oregano.
- 5
Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar.
- 6
Toss everything gently until combined.
- 7
Finish with a generous amount of crumbled Bulgarian feta cheese.
- 8
Sprinkle with fresh parsley and add a few olives on top. Serve immediately with fresh bread or grilled meats.
Toti’s Tips
- ✓Use the ripest, most in-season tomatoes you can find, since this salad has almost nothing to hide behind and bland tomatoes make a bland salad.
- ✓Dice the vegetables rather than chopping them too small, so they hold their shape and give you that juicy bite instead of turning mushy.
- ✓Salt the vegetables and toss with oil and vinegar before adding the feta, because salt draws out excess moisture from the tomatoes and cucumbers first, keeping the finished salad from getting watery.
- ✓A sweet banana pepper adds flavor without heat, so it's a good stand-in if you want peppery flavor without spice.
- ✓Add the feta last and don't stir it in, since crumbling it on top keeps its texture instead of it dissolving into the dressing.
- ✓Serve right away while everything is crisp, since the salted vegetables release more liquid the longer they sit and the salad turns watery.
- ✓If making it ahead, hold off on the feta until serving time so it doesn't get soggy sitting in the dressing.
Storage
- •Best served immediately while the vegetables are crisp and juicy.
- •If making ahead, wait to add the feta until just before serving.
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