Skip to main content

Iceberg With Dried Oregano Dressing and Creamy Sheep’s Milk Cheese

Salad in a big serving bowl with wooden salad servers.
Photo by Benito Martin and Jess Johnson

This salad is nostalgic for me in a lot of ways. Iceberg was the lettuce of choice in my house growing up, and I can remember the bottle of ‘Italian’ dressing poured over it. There is something really good about crunchy lettuce and a bright shallot dressing filled with the flavor of dried oregano. The creamy feta is a perfect counterpoint to this. Sometimes I’ll add some chickpeas or shaved zucchini (courgette) for a more substantial salad.  

  

I prefer to dress iceberg by pouring the dressing over it as opposed to tossing it together with the dressing in a bowl. This is because iceberg tends to stay in wedges or chunks without the layers separating into leaves. Pouring the dressing on allows you to dress the leaves while retaining their crunchy layers. Always keep your iceberg super cold right up until serving, as this will give you the best crunch – which is, after all, its biggest appeal.

Ingredients

Serves 6–8

For the salad:

2 heads iceberg lettuce, outer leaves removed
1 bunch chives, snipped
1⁄2 bunch dill, fronds picked
50–70 g (1¾ oz–2½ oz) creamy sheep’s milk feta (Bulgarian sheep’s milk feta works, or even a Danish cow’s milk feta would be good too)

For the dressing:

30 g (1 oz) thinly sliced shallot
50 ml (1¾ fl oz) agrodolce-style white-wine vinegar (if you can’t find that, add 2 teaspoons honey to regular white-wine vinegar)
1 teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons dried oregano
120 ml (4 fl oz) extra-virgin olive oil

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    First, make your vinaigrette. In a small bowl or jar with a lid, combine the shallot, vinegar and salt. Leave to macerate for about 15 minutes. Next, add the oregano and olive oil and mix or shake to combine.

    Step 2

    Cut your iceberg into thin, long wedges and arrange on a platter. Shake the dressing up just before pouring it over the lettuce. Sprinkle a bit of salt on top, followed by the chives and dill, then shave slices of cheese over the whole thing, or simply crumble it in. Serve immediately.

Always Add Lemon Cookbook with plate of food on marble
From Always Add Lemon: Recipes You Want to Cook | Food You Want to Eat © 2020 by Danielle Alvarez, published by Hardie Grant Books November 2020, RRP $35.00 Hardcover. Buy the full book from Hardie Grant Books, Amazon, or Bookshop.
Sign In or Subscribe
to leave a Rating or Review

How would you rate Iceberg With Dried Oregano Dressing and Creamy Sheep’s Milk Cheese?

Leave a Review

See Related Recipes and Cooking Tips

Read More
Rich, meaty, and incredibly satisfying, this streamlined lasagna is the ultimate comfort food.
The classic Argentine condiment gets reimagined with tart-sweet raspberries and spicy Calabrian chiles for a burst of summertime flavor.
Made with cut zucchini that is salted and marinated, this recipe is proof that a satisfying pasta can be made with minimal cooking.
A form of the classic Mexican stew, white pozole is made without chiles, letting the meatiness of the broth and sweetness of the hominy shine.
Crunchy fried onions transform a simple cabbage salad into a sensorial delight: hot and cold, crisp and soft, sweet and spicy.
Teamed up with chips, this dip is the most popular snack in town. Or be like us and call it dinner.
Having a dependable turkey chili recipe in your culinary repertoire means that a hearty, crowd-pleasing weeknight dinner is never far from reach.
You may be tempted to eat this tangy steak all by itself, but the payoff of building it into a salad with funky blue cheese and juicy tomatoes is well worth it.