Turkish Garden Salad

I love this salad- LOVE it.  I've made it about 5 times in the last few weeks.  It's from this Turkish cookbook I've mentioned before- which has been renewed from the library the maximum amount of times and now is scarily overdue, ooops!!  I'm scared to show my face in the library right now. 

Anyway, I love this salad.  It is so simple- a mix of good lettuce, tomato, fresh onion, and feta cheese.  Then a simple lemon and olive oil dressing.  The mix of flavors, though, simple as they may be, are just amazing!  They remind me of a Greek salad, which makes sense, since the countries border each other.  Make sure to use a fresh lemon.  I've made this salad both with baby spinach and Mache, or French Lamb's Lettuce, and both ways are very good.  The original recipe calls for Arugula, and although I can find it here sometimes, it never looks very fresh. 

Turkish Garden Salad
adapted from The Turkish Cookbook

Salad:
1 bag Lamb's Lettuce (Mache), Arugula, or baby spinach
1 small Spanish or red onion, peeled, sliced into thin rings
1/2-1 cup diced feta or firm ricotta-salata
About 15 cherry tomatoes, halved
Kalamata Olives

Dressing:
1 fresh lemon, juice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt, to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste

1.  Wash lettuce leaves and remove any large stems, if needed.  Dry and arrange the arugula/lettuce in a salad bowl.  Add the onions rings, cheese, tomatoes and olives.

2.  In a bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, garlic, mustard, olive oil, and salt and pepper.  Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well. 

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