A Greek salad to bring out Ellada olive oil

Some recipes need very few ingredients to be excellent — as long as each one is good quality. The traditional Greek salad, or horiatiki, is the best example: it puts olive oil front and centre, with nothing to mask its taste.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 4 ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 1 cucumber, cut into thick slices
• 1 green pepper, sliced into strips
• 1 red onion, finely sliced
• A dozen black olives
• 200g feta, kept in one block
• Dried oregano
• Ellada extra virgin olive oil
• Salt

Method

Arrange the tomatoes, cucumber, pepper and onion in a large dish. Add the black olives. Place the whole block of feta on top — it isn't crumbled into a traditional Greek salad.

Season the vegetables lightly with salt, then sprinkle generously with dried oregano, including over the feta.

Drizzle generously with Ellada olive oil: it's what ties all the ingredients together and carries most of the flavour. Its herbaceous character and hint of bitterness pair perfectly with the tomatoes' acidity and the feta's saltiness.

Why this oil works so well here

Unlike a mild oil, Ellada's bolder character doesn't fade next to the other ingredients: it gives depth to a deliberately simple dish. It's also a good way to judge an olive oil's quality — used raw, without any cooking, its qualities (or flaws) have nowhere to hide.