Melitzanosalata is a direct translation. Melizanosalata is a transliteration that is common.
I know some Greeks writing English use their own transliterations that are not one of the 2 mentioned above.
(Edit: this previously had Melisanosalata and that was an error on my part. I have corrected it to Melitsanosalata, which is the uncommon spelling LinguaFood is choosing to use for Greek Eggplant Salad. Edit #2 My autocorrect has also been an issue because it has corrected LinguaFood’s preferred Melitsanosalata to Melitzanosalata 3 times since I’ve started to edit this post to try to convey what I want to say, doing it again while I wrote this second Edit comment)
Melitsanosalata is not common in English, because the first s does not make the tz sound found in Melitzana.
Μελιτζανοσαλάτα
Μ ε λ ι τ ζ α ν ο σ α λ ά τ α
M e l i t z a n o s a l a t a
I’ve only seen Melitzanosalata (most accurate ) and Melizanosalata (less correct)
I don’t want to add many more posts which are annoying, so I am editing what I wrote. You know that I do this.
I know that you like to correct me as I edit and call me out on edits.
I have never seen your version, Melitsanosalata on a printed menu in North America, Greece or online. That is not to suggest some people do not use Melitsanosalata with a ts.
6-8 ounces/170-225g fresh baby spinach, de-stemed
(the de-steming is the hardest/most time consuming part of the dish . . . )
five hard cooked eggs - peeled - cooled, sliced
~ one half medium onion, thinly sliced
8 ounces/225g fresh sliced mushrooms - I use cremini
five slices /150g bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
the dressing:
0.5 cup/100g white granulated sugar (my note: too much sugar; I use 70g)
0.25 cup/60ml vinegar - I recommend a red wine vinegar
0.5 cup/120 ml EVOO
1 teaspoon celery seed, lightly ground in mortar and pestle.
dissolve sugar in vinegar, allow to sit & re-stir
add celery seed
add EVOO and whisk to a viscous emulsion
assembly:
layer about 1/2 each:
spinach
onion
mushroom
crumbled bacon
sliced egg
into bottom layer.
drizzle dressing over bottom layer -
repeat for top layer
refrigerate ~2 hours
the thick dressing thins out with water(?) from the spinach
serve cold
I’m calling this Saturday Salad- all the bits leftover from the week trying to use up before tomorrow’s farmers market! Half an avocado, cherry tomatoes, half a cucumber, a roasted golden beet, and some feta cheese tossed with OO and lemon juice. The beet didn’t really go with the rest but I ate it with the feta.
That looks divine!
I agree removing the tails from the spinach is time consuming. Lately I have taken to the task on 3 bags of baby spinach. I put on something good to listen to (a CD or a podcast) and have at it. Cleaned spun and air dried, the whole job takes about an hour and lasts well for a week. I put the tails in my freezer for future stock. Same with less than perfect leaves, tho some are frozen separately for quiche, later.
Chopped iceberg, celery, cukes, flavor bomb tomatoes, corn from one COTC, all tossed in a lovely, garlicky sour cream mustard dressing with fresh dill & parsley, and topped with blue cheese, tuna, and HBEs
the most “complete” method is to fold the leaf with the stem ‘outside edge’ of the fold, then pull down on the stem. this method removes most of the thickish stem. I wonder if that’s where the moniker of “tails” comes from . . .?
my way… using a handy thumbnail . . . snip the stem at the base of the leaf.
faster, leaves some of the ‘thickish’ stem. but . . . . quick & works for me . . .
