Saturday, March 14, 2009

Tsatsiki - for those who asked

Since some of you asked, here's the recipe for one of my very favorite foods: Tsatsiki. It's a Greek dip; very light, very garlicky and very delicious. It's also addicting - so if you don't want to smell like garlic for 12-14 hours, don't even start.

Ingredients:
1 quart plain, nonfat yogurt (PLAIN - not vanilla)
1 Hothouse (seedless) cucumber, or 2 regular cucumbers with seeds removed
4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 scallion, thinly sliced on the diagonal
2 Tbs fresh dill, chopped
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
It also helps to have thin paper towels or cheesecloth

Line a strainer with the paper towel or cheesecloth and place over a bowl or in the sink. Add the yogurt. Let drain for 3 hours at room temperature (I usually find that one hour is plenty, and I stir it now and then).
Peel and cut the cucumber lengthwise in half. Coarsely chop 1/2 the cucumber and cut the rest into 1/4 inch dice.
Place the chopped cucumber, garlic and drained yogurt into a food processor and pulse on and off until combined but still a bit chunky. Remove the mixture to a bowl. Fold in the olive oil, scallion, dill, salt and pepper, then stir in the diced cucumber.
Chill in the fridge a bit before serving.

I serve it with good, dense bread like Rye, Pumpernickle, or marble. I also really like it on steak, or with pita chips.

I try really hard not to just eat with a spoon when no one's looking.

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