Greek Salad

A well-made Greek salad is perhaps the most resplendent centre-piece a table can have. This salad is never tossed! Rather, it is carefully constructed, step by step, in the most elegant design you can create. Here is my method : First, choose a large oblong or oval platter. Line it with the outer leaves of a crisp head of lettuce. Tear the remaining leaves into small pieces, season them with a little olive oil, lemon juice or vinegar, and some salt and pepper. Arrange the lettuce in a mound on the platter. Break the Feta cheese into pieces or slice it, and sprinkle some olive oil and chopped oregano on it. Slice a cucumber, without peeling it, and sprinkle the slices with salt and pepper. Just within the edge of the platter, make a ring of overlapping cucumber slices, interspersed here and there with a few cherry tomatoes. Inside that ring, arrange the pieces of Feta cheese in a smaller ring. Continue with the green olives. In the centre, pile the remaining cherry tomatoes with the black olives. Slice the pepper, onion, and avocado, and decorate further with these vegetables, as your imagination suggests. The finished product should be almost too beautiful to eat. Sprinkle with a little more olive oil and lemon juice, a bit of oregano, and place in the centre of the table. Now, eat it Greek style : rather then ruining it instantly, by serving on to individual plates, each guest simply spears what he wants from the platter and eats it. So it comes apart as it came together - bit by bit - and everybody eats as much as he likes of whatever he prefers.