Shopska salata.

Shopska salata is pretty much the essential Bulgarian meal. Here's a picture I found:



If you're familiar with the tomato and cucumber salad that's popular all over the Middle East, a shopska is somewhat similar.

Chop up an equal amount of cucumber and tomato. How much you use depends on how much salad you want, but there should be about the same amount of cucumber as tomato. The pieces should be bite sized, but not tiny.

Chop up some bell pepper and some red onion. These are for extra flavor and there should be less than the cucumber or tomato, but according to your own preferences.

Finally, shred a pile of cirene over the salata. Cirene is a Bulgarian cheese similar to feta, but somewhat harder, so you can shred it without it falling apart completely. If you can't find cirene at your local supermarket, crumble a bunch of feta on the salata. Garnish with an olive. (The one in the picture here is green, but I'm more used to seeing green.) Pour a bit of olive oil and sprinkle some salt on the salata if you like.

Voila! Now you have some delicious shopska salata!