Shopska Salad is what I will remember most about my time in the Balkans.
I will have dreams about this simple salad and the beautiful slightly creamy yet still "grate-able" cheese that has a very mild feta flavor that blankets the raw vegetables.
Shopska Salad is only chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, and then generously topped with Bulgarian (or Macedonian) cheese. In Macedonia there are often also green bell peppers (either raw or roasted).
Dressed simply with olive oil (or sometimes vegetable oil), vinegar (most often red wine but once I got lucky and had balsamic), salt & pepper, this salad has all the good "stuff" without the lettuce!
Like many other foods, the simplicity and purity of ingredients used in this salad is what makes is special. I could not get enough of these salads! In the 8 days I was in Bulgaria & Macedonia, I ate at least one of these salads each day and I craved more!!
To fully honor the beauty of the Shopska Salad, this blog post will be short and simple too. And if you ever find yourself in the Balkan countries, be sure to order as many of these salads as you can possibly consume. You will not be disappointed!
Estonians loved cucumber and tomato salad too but they always put sour cream on it. I like the idea of cheese instead!
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