This is not a salad my grandmother would have ever dreamed of making! Arugula, called roka in Greek, is a favorite leafy green and is especially pungent and peppery when cultivated in the sunny dry climate of Greece. It is traditionally chopped or julienned and tossed into tomato or cabbage salad. Here it is the main vegetable, married, untraditionally, with sweet dried figs and pasteli, a sesame-honey brittle that is one of the oldest confections in Greece. I love the contradicting flavors and textures in this salad, a balance of peppery and mild (the manouri cheese), sweet and salty, chewy and crunchy, refreshing and creamy.
Ingredients
- 8 cups (160 g) fresh wild (if possible) arugula, trimmed
- 1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 6 dried Greek figs, cut into slivers
- 3 tablespoons (45 g) chopped pasteli (sesame-honey brittle)
- ⅔ cup (105 g) Greek wrinkled black olives, such as throumbes
- 1½ cups (220 g) teardrop tomatoes, halved lengthwise
- 1 recipe Lemon-Honey-Mustard Dressing
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper (optional)
- 2 teaspoons extra-virgin Greek olive oil
- 1 (¾-inch-thick / 2 cm) round manouri, ricotta salata, or haloumi cheese
How to Make It
- Wash the arugula and spin dry in a salad spinner. Place in a bowl with the onion, figs, pasteli, olives, and tomatoes. Toss with the dressing and place in a large salad bowl or on individual plates. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if desired.
- In a nonstick grill pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat, tilting the pan so the oil is evenly distributed over the surface. Place the cheese round carefully on the hot pan. Sear for a minute or two, then carefully flip the cheese using a spatula and cook until nicely seared on the other side.
- Place the cheese over the salad in the bowl, or transfer it to a cutting board, cut it into 4 or 6 wedges, and place one wedge on each serving. Serve immediately.
