My first post of the New Year and I hope 2016 will be a good one for us all.

As I write, we consider ourselves fortunate to be eating dinner at home tonight.  This morning we received a bushfire alert all clear as we were in the path of the bushfire that has been raging in WA for the last three days.  Thank goodness the wind changed direction this morning and has slowed it down and taken us out of its line of sight.  It is very sobering to contemplate this sort of devastation can happen to you particularly when a nearby town has just been razed to the ground.

Having had a very tense 24 hours and in gratitude for our home and land, I am preparing a dinner using some produce from our veggie patch and drawing on a recipe from one of my Christmas cookbooks (refer earlier post) by Rick Stein.

Greek Salad

450gm well ripened Tomatoes (I am using a selection of baby Roma and cherry tomatoes)

1/2 Cucumber (I have grown Lebanese cucumbers)

1 Red Onion 

20 Black Olives (I have to confess I leave this out as try as I may, I just cannot like whole olives!)

4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil plus extra to serve

1 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar

1/2 tspn Salt 

6 turns of the Black Peppermill

1 tspn of Dried Oregano

200gm Feta Cheese

Halve the baby tomatoes or cut larger tomatoes into chunks.  Peel off the skin and cut the cucmber in half and remove the seeds and then cut into thick slices.  Slice the red onion very thinly (I use a mandolin – watch your fingers!).  Put everything into a large bowl with the olives if using.

Make the dressing by mixing together the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and pour over the salad.  Slice or crumble the feta over the top and sprinkle with the dried oregano. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and serve immediately.

Although lamb would have been the most Greek dish to serve with this we opted for a T-Bone steak (well we are Aussies!) and a great bottle of locally produced Shiraz and are grateful to be safe and enjoying this in our home tonight.