Front Porch Tales

Summer Supper on the Front Porch

Hummus & Flatbread

Greek Salad with Patatosalata

Peel & Eat Shrimp

Grilled Flat-Iron Steak

Berries with Almond Scented Whipped Cream

Responsible for the care and feeding of 6 adults and 4 kids, I turned to my summertime standby, a Greek Salad with Patatosalata (potato salad), a dish commonly found on the Gulf Coast of Florida, particularly Tarpon Springs, and made famous by the restaurant Louis Pappas'. I used the Pappas recipe for the potato salad, but went another way for the dressing, using Evelyn/Athens' Ultimate Greek Salad vinaigrette and instructions for assembly.

Here's the Pappas recipe, found all over the net:

Greek Potato Salad
6 boiling potatoes
4 whole green onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup whole green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 to 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Salt to taste

Make potato salad (makes 3 cups): Cook unpeeled potatoes in unsalted water until tender, about 20 minutes; cool until you can handle them. Peel potatoes; cut into chunks in large bowl. Sprinkle with vinegar and salt; add chopped green onions; toss. In small bowl combine parsley, sliced green onions, mayonnaise and salt. Add to potatoes; mix well.

Ultimate Greek Salad

Here's Evelyn/Athens recipe for Ultimate Greek Salad. She can be found at Recipezaar and on the Cookstalk message board at http://www.finecooking.com/.

Dressing

6 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano (Mediterranean is best)

Salad

1 head lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces (I use Romaine)
3 large plum tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 English cucumber, peeled and coarsely chopped (the long, thin, almost seedless ones)
1 medium red onion, cut into thin rings and soaked for 10 minutes in a small bowl of ice water to make it less sharp
1 small green pepper, cut into thin rings
3/4 cup kalamata olive

Directions

1. Whisk dressing ingredients together until blended.

2. Season to taste.

3. Drain onion from ice water and pat dry with paper towels.

4. Combine all salad ingredients, except cheese, in large bowl.

5. Toss with dressing.

6. Sprinkle cheese over and serve.