Feta

SMART SUBSTITUTION This savory pie’s flaky crust is made with olive oil instead of butter, reducing the amount of saturated fat. The galette is easy to assemble and versatile: If you can’t find Broccolini, substitute broccoli florets, or try crumbled goat cheese in place of feta.

FLAVOR BOOSTER With its tangy flavor and crumbly texture, a little feta cheese goes a long way. Use it to add oomph to salads such as this one, which is bulked up with cucumber, cabbage, shallot, and fresh parsley.

GOOD TO KNOW Sweet-tasting butternut squash is easier to prepare than some other hard-skinned winter squashes, and is even sweeter when roasted until it caramelizes. It’s also extremely versatile: Toss it into a salad, slice it into “fries” and dust with spices, or drizzle roasted haves with maple butter.

Any soft mild white cheese will work here. Fresh goat cheese shaped into logs or rounds, feta, even a stiff yogurt cheese like labneh would work. This cheese makes a nice spread for croutons or a tasty garnish for a salad.

A salad of many ingredients, either all tossed together or dressed separately and arranged on a plate, is called a “composed” salad. A composed salad such as the Greek salad that follows is a hearty dish; with some crusty bread, it could be the main event of a dinner on a warm night. Or, a composed salad might be a delicate arrangement of, say, a few pieces of crabmeat, some grapefruit sections, and a little curly endive in a creamy dressing, served as an elegant first course. Almost anything can be an element in a composed salad: all the various lettuces and salad greens, of course, but also raw or cooked vegetables, chopped, diced, or cut into thin shavings; roasted meats cut into cubes or thin slices; tuna and other fish or shellfish; and hard-cooked eggs, quartered or chopped. Tasty leftovers can be delicious in a composed salad. Don’t combine too many ingredients into a single salad or it will have too many conflicting flavors. The components should be chosen thoughtfully with regard to the tastes and textures they contribute, and the dressing must complement them all. Sometimes a vinaigrette works best, when a tangy sauce is needed; sometimes mayonnaise, for mellow richness; at other times, a creamy sauce. A potato salad, for example, can be made with any of these dressings, and each will yield a distinctly different salad. When dressing a composed salad that includes both tender lettuces and heavier ingredients such as artichoke hearts or pieces of fruit, dress all the heavier elements separately and arrange them around the tossed lettuces on a platter. Otherwise the salad is hard to serve because everything ends up at the bottom and the leaves get crushed. Even salads that have no lettuce should be assembled carefully. What’s most important is that each ingredient be tasty on its own. Taste everything and season each element with a little salt or dressing as needed before adding it to the whole. When things are tossed together, don’t overmix, or the parts will start to lose their distinctiveness, muddying the flavors and spoiling the look of the salad. (You can always arrange a salad and drizzle vinaigrette over it, or even pass the vinaigrette in a pitcher.) As for what to include in such a salad and how to dress it, taste each ingredient before you decide. That is really the only rule you must follow, and while it may sound frustratingly vague, as you acquire a little salad-making experience, you’ll begin to recognize and remember the flavors you like and the ones that you like together.

Traditional basil pesto gets a run for its money with this bright, flavorful Mexican version of the Italian original. Cilantro pesto is best on cold pasta salads and is great as a topping on grilled chicken or fish.

“Drunken” salsas have been around forever. They were originally prepared with pulque, an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of the once-sacred maguey (agave) plant. Pulque, which is not easy to find outside of Mexico, is not distilled and has a much stronger flavor than tequila, which I use in its place in this recipe. The alcohol is mostly burned off in the cooking process, leaving only its musky flavor. The sweetness from the freshly squeezed orange juice gives this salsa a wonderful balance.

It’s amazing how simple wooden skewers can transform a dinner standby into cocktail party fare! These look beautiful as part of a buffet spread but work equally well as a passed hors d’oeuvre since there’s no need for a plate. Best of all, they can be made well ahead of time; just wait to add the vinaigrette until right before serving. Elegant and simple.

I like to make turkey meatloaf as a way to serve up a satisfying meaty entrée without resorting to red meat. I load it with sweet sun-dried tomatoes and salty bites of feta, which just barely melt as the meatloaf bakes. When you cut into the meatloaf it looks so colorful. This is one of my top picks for serving a large group because it makes a lot, is hearty, and doesn’t require any last-minute fussing. Leftovers make terrific sandwiches the next day, too.

Spanakopita is among the best-known Greek dishes in the States, though the leaden, soggy versions you often encounter here are wildly different from the cheese and spinach pies served in Greece. The key to making a light spanakopita is to use a relatively small amount of strongly flavored fillings, butter every layer of phyllo—which helps the pastry stay flaky, light, and crisp—and start with good feta. As always, when working with phyllo dough (page 629), make sure you keep the pieces that you are not working with covered with a damp towel; see Baklava (page 628) for more details.

A quick street snack found in Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, and other parts of the Middle East. Great hot or at room temperature.

Here, watermelon gives up its usual place at the table as a fruit and goes to work in a role usually occupied by its cousin, the cucumber. The melon is a lovely foil for the salty feta, tangy onion, and tart vinegar. It makes a refreshing and unusual salad for any summer brunch, luncheon, or dinner.

Rich pink dressing and lovely greens give this salad a splash of color. Remember: what the eye sees translates to greater taste and greater overall pleasure.

PAT Grilled corn is good enough all by itself. Here we feature it in a light, slightly smoky salad with rice, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and kidney beans. It’s an awesome combination, but once you add in the feta cheese, “Girl, you did that!” That’s what Gina’s mom always says. We used white rice, but brown will work just as well and give it an earthy, nutty flavor.