Greek Salad

Of his delicious and crowd-pleasing Greek salad, Athens, Georgia, chef Hugh Acheson says, "It feeds four people like champions, or six like semifinalists."

An incredible mix of fresh vegetables and red quinoa come together in this Greek-inspired chopped salad. Red quinoa adds protein and texture, so this salad makes a perfect vegetarian lunch. Add grilled salmon, shrimp or chicken for a perfect light, summery supper, and load up on veggies. All of the flavors together get better the longer they sit, and the salad dressing can be made in advance and stored in an airtight container up to 5 days.

This is Greek salad perfection: Michael Psilakis tops warm bread with garlicky red-pepper tzatziki (cucumber-yogurt spread) and a piquant combo of cucumbers, olives, peperoncini, tomatoes, radishes, greens and feta. It's stellar with homemade ladopsomo bread and yogurt, but equally good with store-bought.

Pepperoni--sliced thin, sauteed until crisp--is a tempting addition to this traditional combination of greens, vegetables, and feta cheese and makes the salad substantial enough for dinner.

A classic Greek salad has tomatoes and feta; this version by chef Andre Natera of Dallas's Fairmont Hotel also takes advantage of the mint and arugula that grow so well in his roof garden.

People think a Greek salad is mostly vegetables and cheese, but by adding simply roasted salmon, it becomes a terrific main course.

Packed with vitamin A, kale is tasty when it's blanched and tossed with a lemon-olive oil dressing and olives, good sources of healthy fat.

Gavin Kaysen's Greek salad has most of the usual ingredients, like tomatoes and olives--but, in an inspired twist, he turns the traditional feta cheese into a creamy, light feta mousse. Kaysen invented the dish to impress his coach when he was training for the prestigious international Bocuse d'Or cooking competition, and he says, "It blew him away."

The classic wedge salad has been given a Greek inspired twist with a creamy, herbed feta and Greek yogurt based dressing. Small watermelon gherkins add an extra hint of tangy cucumber flavor to this salad; they're most likely to be found at specialty produce stores or farmer's markets.

Warm homemade flatbreads are topped with fresh Greek Salad and drizzled with a tahini dressing.

This excellent version of a classic Greek salad, served at Ntounias restaurant in Crete, calls for the large, store-bought toasts called rusks. If you can't find them, use extra-large plain croutons or torn and toasted pieces of sourdough.

This excellent version of a classic Greek salad, served at Ntounias restaurant in Crete, calls for the large, store-bought toasts called rusks. If you can't find them, use extra-large plain croutons or torn and toasted pieces of sourdough.