Chopped salad is just exactly what it sounds like - a salad whose ingredients have all been cut down to a fairly uniform size, around 1/2″ cubes. It works well as a side dish and it shines as one of the all time great entree salads when you want a lighter meal. This is the salad you make at the peak of summer when all of the ingredients and fresh and available locally.

INGREDIENTS

• Tomatoes (any kind works here, often I'll use cherry tomatoes)
• Feta Cheese
• 1 large cucumber
• Flat Leaf Italian Parsley (1/4 of a bunch, roughly chopped)
• 1/2 of a Red Onion
• Extra virgin olive oil (2 tablespoons)
• Lemon Juice
• Red Wine Vinegar
• Kosher Salt
• Fresh Cracked Pepper

Start preparing the vegetables by cutting the tomatoes into bite sized chunks, or splitting the cherry tomatoes in half. After peeling the cucumber there are a number of ways you can cut it up for this salad. Often times I will split the cucumber in half along it's length and then slice the cucumber into half-moon slices. I've often also seen this salad done with the cucumbers cut into chunks similar to the tomatoes. The red onion should be peeled and then sliced into thin strips, not diced.

Mix the tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, and parsley together. Add the feta cheese, either breaking it up by hand or grating it on a box grater. Finish by adding the EVOO, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Toss until everything is well mixed and serve!