Dakos

A hard barley rusk softened only by grated tomato and oil, assembled in an order that decides whether it goes soggy.

Not vegetarian — contains feta whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

4 large barley rusks, paximathia
6 ripe tomatoes
200 g feta or mizithra, crumbled
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons dried oregano
a few olives
capers, optional
salt and pepper

Method

NOTHING IS COOKED AND THE ORDER IS THE WHOLE RECIPE. A barley rusk is dried to the hardness of a roof tile and has to be softened by exactly enough liquid: too little and it cannot be bitten, too much and it collapses into wet crumbs. The order below moves it from one to the other with nothing to spare, and it is assembled at the last minute for the same reason.
THE RUSK IS DAMPENED, NOT SOAKED. A few seconds under a running tap, or a tablespoon of water flicked over it -- not held under, and never in a bowl of water. It will take far more from the tomato in a moment.
GRATED TOMATO, NOT CHOPPED. Halve the tomatoes and grate the cut face on a coarse grater until only the skin is left in your hand. What you get is a wet pulp that spreads into the rusk; chopped tomato sits on top in pieces and lets the rusk stay hard underneath.
Rusks laid on plates, rough side up.
Each dampened briefly, then left 2 minutes.
Oil drizzled over them now, BEFORE the tomato. The oil soaks into the surface and slows the water that comes next, which is what stops it going to mush.
Grated tomato pulp spooned over, with its juice, and spread to the edges.
Vinegar flicked over, then salt and pepper.
Cheese crumbled on top in large pieces, then the oregano crushed between the fingers as it is scattered, which wakes it up.
Olives and capers if using, and a last pour of oil.
LEFT EXACTLY 10 MINUTES before eating. Sooner and the rusk is still a brick in the middle; much later and the base has gone. It cannot be made ahead and cannot be kept.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Greece · All recipes