Mediterranean Appetizers

[Thoughtful Eyes]

Hello... so nice to be back in Chez Bubba! Have some recipes to share... first off a nice White Bean Hummus:

Ingredients

1/4 cup chopped green onions
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame-seed paste)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 (19-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans,
rinsed and drained
1 garlic clove, peeled

Directions

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor, and process until the mixture is smooth. Yep - its that seeeemple... even i can do it ; )

You can make this up to 3 days ahead of serving (store in the fridge of course), so it should keep for just about 4 days if you like to nosh here and there on it like i do!

This is my first time around with the white bean hummus, and i must say this is a really nice recipe. If you are not a fan of the spices (cumin and oregano) that the recipe calls for, i think swapping those out would work great. With what is called for - the hummus has a smokey, nutty flavor! But the flavor goes a long way too... so trend lightly with the spices you choose! Nice texture to it as well. Next batch, i want to try a roasted pine nut version! So if anyone has suggestions... please


The next on the list.... Tzatziki Sauce

Ingredients:

1 pint Greek-style yogurt,
2 cloves garlic (this is to taste but I LOVE garlic so I sometimes put a bit more in!),
1 medium cucumber (you can cut down on this but why? ;P)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar,
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil.

Directions

finely mince the garlic

Peel the cucumber. Split the cucumber in half (cut crosswise) and then again along the length of the cucumber to expose the seeds and then spoon/scrape those out. And be sure to taste the cuke first, nothing sucks more than bitter tzatziki and a foul cuke will do it!

Chop the cucumber (depends on how large you prefer the cucumber to be in the dip), and then squeeze the excess water out … and yes, I go old school and just squeeze it with my hand, some like the cheesecloth method (or if you have lots of time, you can salt the cucumber and let it set in a colander for about 30 mins to drain).

combine the garlic and cucumber,

Mix the garlic, cucumber, olive oil, and vinegar together. Stir it around a little to separate the little garlic and cucumber pieces.

Put the yogurt in a container large (1 qt worked good) enough to stir in the garlic and cucumber mixture.

Add the garlic and cucumber mixture to the yogurt.

Stir until everything is evenly distributed in the yogurt. Stir in salt to taste (1/4 tsp).


IMPORTANT STEP… refrigerate for at least a day. Right after mixing, the Tzatziki can be be a bit runny and tastes mostly just like yogurt (not anything wrong with that - just not great when you want tzatziki!! ). Serve the next day and enjoy …nomnomnom

[RN-PRN]

I am going to have to try these out! We love hummus here...Yum!

[old honda rider]

Wow, these sound great! Along with Indian food, I can take as much Mediterranean food as you can shovel at me. I see a Greek food fiesta in the OHR household!

[Thoughtful Eyes]

(10-07-2011 02:12 PM)RN-PRN Wrote:  I am going to have to try these out! We love hummus here...Yum!

Mine is now all gone LOL - i hope you enjoy the recipe...

---

(10-07-2011 02:22 PM)old honda rider Wrote:  Wow, these sound great! Along with Indian food, I can take as much Mediterranean food as you can shovel at me. I see a Greek food fiesta in the OHR household!

Thank you and i hope you enjoy the recipes!

[Scythe Matters]

Yum! I love Tzatziki Sauce! We make a Greek meatloaf (close as we can get to gyro meat) and serve it on a pita with all the trimmings. This sauce sounds much better than the one I make. I'll try this next time, thanks!

[Thoughtful Eyes]

(10-10-2011 02:09 PM)Scythe Matters Wrote:  Yum! I love Tzatziki Sauce! We make a Greek meatloaf (close as we can get to gyro meat) and serve it on a pita with all the trimmings. This sauce sounds much better than the one I make. I'll try this next time, thanks!

Thank you and YUMMO Greek Meatloaf... ... i would love to get that recipe, sounds AWESOME!!! I hope you like the tzatziki recipe!

Cheers!