Ina Garten makes her Greek Salad recipe. She begins by making homemade vinaigrette, which includes half a cup of olive oil, a quarter cup of red wine vinegar, half a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, one teaspoon of crushed-up dried oregano, a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of pepper and two cloves of minced garlic. She whisks the vinaigrette dressing and sets it aside. For the salad, she adds to a bowl slices of hothouse cucumber, large-diced red and yellow bell peppers, halved grape tomatoes, red onion slices and half a cup of kalamata olives. She pours vinaigrette dressing over the salad and tosses the salad to mix it in.
Food Network teaches how to crush, slice and mince garlic. Peel off some of the papery skin from the garlic and then smash the head of garlic with the heel of your hand to loosen the cloves; if you only need a few cloves, leave the head intact and pull some off. Separate the cloves. To peel a clove, cut away the root end with your knife. Lay the flat side of the knife over the clove while holding the knife handle, then with the heel of your free hand carefully whack the knife against the garlic to separate the skin from the clove. To crush the peeled garlic, lay the flat side of the knife over the clove and smash it again. To slice peeled garlic, lay the clove flat on the cutting board and hold it with the fingertips of one hand, keeping them curled under. Using a rocking motion with the knife, make thin slices by moving the knife slowly across the clove. To mince peeled garlic, lay the flat side of a knife over the clove and smash it. Roughly chop the clove then move your free hand flat across the tip of the knife and use a rocking motion to chop the garlic until it’s finely minced.
Place the cucumber, peppers, tomatoes and red onion in a large bowl.
For the vinaigrette, whisk together the garlic, oregano, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Still whisking, slowly add the olive oil to make an emulsion. Pour the vinaigrette over the vegetables. Add the feta and olives and toss lightly. Set aside for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to blend. Serve at room temperature.