An Ode to the Santorini Salad

Capitalizing on freshness and the finest natural ingredients, the chef impresses with a dish whose quintessential flavor comes from the fact that the ingredients undergo very little processing.


Chef: Thodoris Papanikolaou | Selene

PREPARATION

Fresh cheese balls

Grate the fresh cheese. Warm the dairy cream with the milk and mix them together in a blender. After soaking it in cold water, add the gelatin leaf and then fill half-sphere silicone molds with the cheese mixture.

Cover with cellophane and refrigerate for about 40 minutes until mixture has solidified.

With a melon baller (or Parisienne scoop), remove the center of each half-sphere.

To serve, remove the half-spheres from the silicone molds and join one with another, using the mixture that was removed to hold the half-spheres together. Use a syringe to fill the centers with olive oil to serve.

Bell pepper jello

Cut the peppers and remove the stalk and seeds.

Place the peppers in a juicer and collect the juice.

Heat of the pepper juice and add the gelatin leaves.

Stir with a whisk until they dissolve and add the remaining of the juice.

Place in a plastic rectangular container and refrigerate until formed.

Cut into cubes to serve.

SERVING

Liquefy the watermelon in a blender and place a tablespoon of the juice in the middle of the plate, with a filled cheese ball on top.

Sprinkle the crumbled rusk on the edge of the plate, along with the bell pepper jello cubes, and then add the remaining ingredients marinated in olive oil and oregano.

INGREDIENTS

  • Santorini cherry tomatoes
  • Cucumber
  • Onion
  • Capers
  • Caper leaves
  • Watermelon
  • Dakos rusk made with carob powder and ground in a blender
  • Oregano
  • Baby olives
  • Parsley
  • Salt
  • Olive oil

For the fresh cheese balls:

  • 40g milk
  • 80g fresh cheese
  • 40g dairy cream
  • 1 gelatin leaf

For the bell pepper jello:

  • 4 bell peppers
  • 2 gelatin leaves

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