This salad has one of the highest ease-to-satisfaction ratios of anything I’ve ever prepared. Critics may point to all the chopping that’s involved. To them I simply say: Cut larger chunks if you must. I first had this dish in Bulgaria, where the hydroponic tomato is as rare a creature as a stable currency, and the failure of their collective farming system meant farmers sold their good stuff in open-air markets. When I arrived it was late summer when tomatoes were at their best – deep, bloody red and meaty. The shopska is the standard starter at most restaurants and at home it is served before dinner, late at night with plum brandy, or frankly any time guests are around and you need something to nibble. Use a firm, dry feta or goat’s milk cheese; the soft versions will be too runny and crumbled feta tends to tumble off your fork rather than adhere to the veggies (it can be used in a pinch, though). Feel free to leave out the cucumbers or add in a bit of onion or some slices of recently roasted red peppers. The essential flavors are bound up in the sweetness of the tomatoes, the creamy saltiness of the cheese and the acid of the vinegar. Some Americanized versions throw in Basil but that only disturbs the flavor balance.

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