Mediterranean Spring Salad

This Mediterranean salad is built around marinated new potatoes, which gives it more substance than a typical green salad. The potatoes get boiled, sliced thin while still warm, and soaked for an hour in a lemon-garlic-oregano-olive oil dressing. Warm potatoes absorb the marinade like a sponge, so every slice is seasoned through.

That same marinade does double duty as the salad dressing. After the potatoes soak, you drain them and pour the reserved liquid over the whole assembled platter. Nothing wasted.

The toppings follow the Greek salad playbook: tomato wedges, thinly sliced cucumber, purple onion rings, green bell pepper rings, and crumbled feta cheese. Anchovy fillets are optional, but they add a salty, briny punch that ties all the Mediterranean flavors together.

Everything gets arranged over mixed salad greens, so each forkful has some tender potato, crisp vegetables, tangy feta, and dressed greens.

Kitchen Tips

• Use new potatoes or waxy varieties like Yukon Gold. They hold their shape after boiling and slicing. Russets fall apart.
• Slice the potatoes while they’re still warm. Cold potatoes don’t absorb the marinade nearly as well.
• Don’t skip the full hour of marinating. Rushing this step means bland potatoes sitting on top of a salad instead of being part of it.
• Arrange the toppings on top rather than tossing everything together. It looks better and you can pick around the anchovies if they’re not your thing.

Variations

• Kalamata olives: Scatter pitted Kalamata olives over the top for a more traditional Greek approach.
• Grilled chicken: Add sliced grilled chicken breast to turn this into a complete meal.
• Artichoke hearts: Toss in quartered marinated artichoke hearts for extra tang and texture.