My Go-To Tzatziki

I’ve recently fallen head over heels for Greek yogurt. Cabot Creamery’s triple thick vanilla yogurt (no sponsorship here, just pure love) has become my nightly obsession, piled high on fresh berries. I’m plowing through two big tubs a week—yes, I’m mildly mortified to confess that—and I’m pretty sure the dairy guy at the market is starting to side-eye me. Lately, I’ve ventured into savory territory with their plain Greek yogurt, whipping up some tzatziki that’s honestly unreal. I’ve been slathering it on sandwiches, smearing it on my morning croissant, pairing it with crackers for snack attacks, and dunking veggies in it like it’s my job. Confession? I could eat it straight from the bowl with a spoon. I’ve tinkered with a bunch of recipes, and this one’s my winner. Some folks swear by fresh mint in theirs, but I’m not sold on it here—your call, though. Give this a whirl and tell me what you think.

My Go-To Tzatziki

½ c. finely grated Melissa’s organic cucumber
1 c. whole milk Greek yogurt
¼ t. fresh lemon zest
1 T. fresh lemon juice
½ T. extra-virgin olive oil 
1 large garlic clove, grated
¼ t. (heaping) sea salt 
2 T. chopped Melissa’s fresh baby dill

Lay the grated cucumber on a towel and gently press out some of the extra moisture. Toss everything else into a medium bowl and mix it up.

Pro tip: give your lemon a quick grate before juicing it. Fold in t he drained grated cucumber. Pop it in the fridge to chill until you’re ready to dig in.

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Sour Cream Tzatziki

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It’s funny, isn’t it, the things that excite you when your self-quarantining. I noticed today that my cucumber seeds had sprouted, and I was absolutely delirious with joy; I’m not sure how I feel about that. Nonetheless, it got me thinking about all of the ways in which I would like to use those cucumbers, one of which is to make Tzatziki. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait until mid-summer to do so, I cleverly had a cucumber waiting for me in the fridge. I loved the crispness of the cucumber, combined with the peppery garlic, and summer freshness of the dill, all blended together with sour cream. I know this is normally made with yogurt, but the sour cream recipe is just as good, if you don’t have yogurt on hand. Frankly, I prefer it.

Sour Cream Tzatziki

½ cucumber, grated
1 T. dry dill

1 garlic clove, grated
1 T. fresh lemon juice
Pinch of sea salt
¾ c. sour cream

Place cucumber into a sieve, and a sprinkle with table salt. Allow to drain for a half an hour. Press cucumber down into the sieve to extract the remaining water, and place in a medium bowl. Add remaining ingredients, and stir to combine. Refrigerate for at least four hours to meld the flavors. Ideally, it’s best refrigerated overnight before enjoying.

Serve with your favorite dippers.

Pesto Cucumber-Avocado Soup

Remember last week when I told you to be sure to make the Lemon Basil Vinaigrette because you would need it again? If not, go back and look, I’ll wait. Here’s the reason that you need it, to add a wonderful fresh pesto taste to this delicious cold summer soup. There is nothing better on a hot day than a cup of cold soup, and this one is cooling, refreshing, loaded with nutrition, and lots of flavor. It’s like summer in a cup.

Pesto Cucumber-Avocado Soup

1 large, ripe avocado, peeled and pitted

1 large cucumber, unpeeled, and cut into large chunks

1½ c. homemade chicken stock (canned, if you must)

1 Melissa’s shallot, quartered

2½ T. fresh lemon juice

1 t. fresh lime juice

½ c. plain Greek yogurt

¼ c. Lemon Basil Vinaigrette

Pinch Kosher salt

Pinch red pepper flakes

Place avocado and cucumber into a large capacity food processor fitted with a metal blade, and process until smooth.  With machine running, gradually pour chicken stock through feeder tube; process until smooth.  Add shallots, citrus juices, yogurt, Lemon Basil Vinaigrette, and process until combined.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Chill for at least 2 hours (the longer the better). To serve, ladle into cups or bowls and top with basil chiffonade, croutons, or drizzles of the vinaigrette.

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Zippy Cucumber Salad with Red Onion

As you may have noticed from my deck garden update, I have a huge cucumber plant that is providing me with loads of cucumbers. (I noticed one of them making himself quite comfortable in the chair that I used to sit in, but I digress...) Many cucumbers have been distributed around the neighborhood, others are being turned into cold soups, and a variety of pickles and relishes are surely in my future, but today I’m enjoying a salad that must be made ahead (Don’t you love that?), and is very tasty indeed.

Zippy Cucumber Salad with Red Onion

2 large cucumbers, sliced thin (I used a mandolin)
½ red onion, sliced thin (see above)
1 t. kosher salt
½ c. sour cream
2 T. white sugar
2 T. cider vinegar
¼ t. Old Bay seasoning
1 T. fresh, chopped chives
1 T. fresh, minced parsley
¼ t. paprika

Spread cucumbers out onto a paper towel-lined cookie sheet; season with the salt and allow them to rest for 30 minutes. Squeeze excess moisture from cucumbers.

While cucumbers are resting, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together sour cream, sugar, vinegar, Old Bay, chives, parsley, and paprika. Fold drained cucumber and red onion slices into the sour cream mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least eight hours, or overnight. Serve garnished with a few more chopped chives, if desired.

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Asian Cucumber Salad

Yesterday I gave you an amazing recipe for barbecue sauce; if you haven’t seen that post you can see it here. Today I’m going to give you a delicious, light, summery salad, that, while it is Asian and goes well with all kinds of Asian foods, it also pairs wonderfully with any type of barbecue. Barbecue sauce can be rich, making food a bit heavy. That food needs to be lightened up with a salad, and this is the one. This is easy to make, light, refreshing, and so delicious, even people who aren’t all that keen on cucumbers are going to enjoy it. This recipe can be doubled, tripled, quadrupled, whatever you need to do to make it for whatever size crowd you happen to be hosting, works. I think you’re going to find it to be quite addicting. This is going to be my “go to” salad of the summer.

Asian Cucumber Salad

2 large cucumbers, halved lengthwise, seeded,

and sliced into ¼” half rounds
1 t. salt
¼ cup rice vinegar
2 T. granulated sugar
1 T. sesame oil
1 scallion, white and green parts, minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
½ T. ginger root, finely minced
1 T. minced Melissa’s Fire Roasted Red Bell Peppers
1/8 - ¼ t. dried pepper flakes

Place the cucumber slices into a colander, sprinkle with salt, and set aside to drain for at least 1 hour.

Whisk the vinegar and sugar together until dissolved, then whisk in the sesame oil, scallion, garlic, ginger, pepper flakes, and red bell pepper.

RINSE (I cannot emphasize this enough! If you don’t rinse these thoroughly, your salad is going to be too salty.) the salt off the cucumbers, place into a large bowl, drizzle the dressing over, and toss to coat. Refrigerate for one hour prior to serving.

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An equally delicious cucumber salad, but with less zing is this Sweet Corn and Cucumber Salad.

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Avocado Cucumber Salad

Cooking was kept at a minimum during the last weeks. I opted for calm over chaos, quiet over noise, and clean, healthy eating. This salad was easy to put together, immensely satisfying, and absolutely delicious! The recipe is from the Smitten Kitchen blog, and you can head right on over by clicking here to learn of other variations for this salad. I will be forever grateful for not only being made aware of this simple combination, but also for this amazingly good dressing. When I first saw the ingredients, I balked. How could mayo, hot sauce, and lime juice be any good? Truth be told, I recoiled a little. As it turned out, if I were any other kind of person than the dignified one that I am, I'd have been licking the bowl! I cut the recipe in half to make one main dish portion. Perfect!

Avocado Cucumber Salad

3/4 to 1 pound seedless cucumber, washed and diced

1 large scallion, thinly sliced

1 large avocado, pitted and diced

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Juice of half a lime

Salt and Sriracha to taste

Chopped cilantro to garnish

Combine cucumber, scallions, and avocado in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together mayo, lime juice, and seasonings, adjusting levels to taste. Drizzle salad with dressing and garnish with cilantro. Serve immediately. This recipe serves 2 as a main dish, or 4 as a side.

This post is linked to:

Wow Us Wednesday, Work It Wednesday, Wine’d Down Wednesday, Wake up Wednesday, Full Plate Thursday, Simple and Sweet Fridays, Foodie Friday & Everything Else

Deviled Eggs with Cucumber, Dill, and Capers

Yesterday I reviewed the wonderful new book, Martha Stewart's Appetizers. Today I am going to share with you one of the many simple recipes from this book. I am a huge fan of the deviled egg, and really appreciated the varieties featured in this volume. I also happen to like cucumbers, a lot, so thought this fresh variety sounded quite good. As it turned out, it was. Deviled eggs always seem like such wonderful bites of summer, but the addition of the cucumber here made it seem all the more so.

Deviled Eggs with Cucumber, Dill, and Capers
Makes 16

8 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons chopped capers
1/2 English cucumber, peeled and diced (I used Melissa’s mini cucumbers)
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

In a saucepan, cover eggs with 1 inch of water. Bring to a boil; remove from heat. Cover and let stand 8 minutes. Drain eggs; run under cold water until cool enough to handle.

Peel eggs and halve lengthwise; remove yolks and transfer to a bowl. Mash with a fork, then mix in mustard, yogurt, dill, capers, and cucumber. Season with salt and pepper.

Fill whites with yolk mixture as desired (i.e. piping with a plain or open star tip or, as I did, simply spoon it in). Refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes or up to 2 hours.

This post is linked to:

Munching Mondays
Busy Mondays

Inspire Me Tuesday

Tuesdays At Our Home

Tweak it Tuesday

Tickle my Tastebuds
Two Cup Tuesday
Tasty Tuesday

Chilled Cucumber-Avocado Soup

I made this soup for the first time last summer.  When my husband asked me how it was I said, quite truthfully, "It's so good I could swim in it."  True.  This is the chilled soups to end all chilled soups.  Decadent, one might say; with fresh cucumbers it is ambrosial! Cooling, delicious, what an excellent way to get your daily vegetables.  Try it!

Chilled Cucumber-Avocado Soup

1 large, ripe Haas avocado, peeled and pitted

1 large cucumber, unpeeled, and cut into large chunks

1-1/2 cups homemade chicken stock (canned, if you must)

4 scallions, diced

2-1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

1/2 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)

3 tablespoons salsa (homemade, if possible, jarred, if not)

1-1/4 teaspoons cumin (more or less to taste)

Pinch Kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place avocado and cucumber into a large capacity food processor fitted with a metal blade and process until smooth.  With machine running, gradually pour chicken stock through feeder tube.  Process until smooth.  Add scallions, citrus juices, sour cream or yogurt, salsa, and cumin; process until combined.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Chill for at least 2 hours (the longer the better).  To serve, ladle into small cups or stemmed glasses and top with your choice of salsa, salsa verde, or sour cream.

This post is linked to:

Foodie Friday
Foodie Friday @ Little Brick Ranch
Food on Friday
Friday Favorites
Friday Fat Camp
I'm Lovin' It Friday

Chilled Cucumber Dill Soup

For the first time in my decades of gardening experience,  I'm growing cucumbers in containers, and boy, are they thriving!  Of course it could be the tropical conditions we've been having lately, rain daily followed by 95-degree heat with an equal amount of humidity.  I have three Bush Slicer plants in this 18" container and have spotted, thus far, 22 cucumbers and equally as many flowers. I think this should be the year I learn to make pickles.

To avoid getting dry and tough cucumbers, these must be harvested when they reach 6 to 8 inches in length. This one is just short of seven, so is ready for harvest.  While pickles are definitely in my future, I'm excited at the prospect of being able to make chilled cucumber soup with my own home grown vegetables and herbs.

So refreshing on a hot day, this easy-to-make recipe from La Bonne Bouchee Restaurant is featured in one of my favorite cookbooks, Special Requests, a publication of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

A wonderful summer cooler, it pairs well with both salads and sandwiches.  It's also perfect for picnics as it can be taken chilled in a cooler, and then poured into chilled cups for a cooling, healthy and delicious treat on a hot day.

If you have an interest in container gardening, I cannot recommend enough the following books.

(Click on image for more details.)


This post is linked to:
Seasonal Sunday, Metamorphosis Monday, Mosaic Monday, Made by You Monday, On the Menu Monday, Tuesday Garden Party, This Week in My Garden and Outdoor Wednesdays