peter's caper salad

If you know me, you know I HEART Greek food. I mean, I'd probably do some rather stupid things to get some, but let's not test that theory, OK? I'm just telling you that's how much I love the stuff.

I first fell in love with the real thing (outside of Greek restaurants I'd been to in the U.S.) on a Greek ferry from Brindisi, Italy, jetting over to Greece in 1997. They had a little cafeteria on board and I pigged out in a major way. The best thing was the fish roe salad (taramosalata), such a beautiful shade of pink and the flavors were all lemony and olive oily and absolutely perfect. I had to buy a cookbook while I was there, too, and fortunately it's in English (otherwise it's just Greek to me). Greek Cooking: Traditional Recipes (by Chef Tasos Tolis) is wonderful - full of lovely photos and equally beautiful recipes that tempt my taste buds - chickpea balls (revithokeftedes), cucumber and tomato salad with oregano (salata aggouri - domata me rigani), potato salad (patatosalata), and so much more.

It's not hard to imagine how I pore over Greek food blogs, then - Peter at Kalofagas and Ivy at Kopiaste always have me drooling and wanting to go hang out in their kitchens.

When Peter posted his caper salad recipe recently, I knew I had to try it, and pronto.

I didn't have any red onion (really expensive in Japan) and I can't buy dill or chives, so I just substituted fresh chopped spring onion and parsley.

Oh man oh man oh man. Don't even get me started on how the flavors livened up my taste buds and made my day. And there were leftovers that were even better the next day. Can you believe there was actually anything left after my first tasting? I still can't, but I'm glad there was. I had to borrow one of my infant son's drooling bibs for this one - OK, not really, but even looking at the picture now, I want to go make some more, and more, and more...

Quick, somebody help me! I've fallen into the caper-salad pit of ecstasy and I can't get up!