Tag: tzatziki sauce
Grilled Shrimp with Dill and Tzatziki Sauce
This is my nod to our delicious trip to Greece a couple of summers ago. All the flavors I loved and enjoyed are in this delicious dish. Perfect dish for a summer evening with a glass of Rose!!
- 1 pound fresh shrimp, cleaned and deveined
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup fresh dill, chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
- Zest of one lemon, save the lemon for juicing a bit later
- 3 garlic cloves, grated
- Salt
Marinate the shrimp with the olive, dill, oregano, lemon zest, garlic and salt for at least 2 to 3 hours. Half an hour before grilling, juice the lemon into the shrimp. Skewer the shrimp and grill until just done.
Tzatziki Sauce
- ½ cup Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup grated cucumber, excess water squeezed out (between your palm)
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
Mix all the ingredients together, taste for seasonings and let it sit for half an hour.
Serve with freshly grilled pita and shrimp.
Greek Style Turkey Burgers
- 2 pounds dark meat ground turkey
- ½ cup pitted kalamata olives
- 2 tablespoons fresh oregano
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 medium shallot, chopped
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 eggs, beaten
Process the olives, oregano, garlic and shallot in a food processor till chopped well. Add the mixture to the ground turkey with the salt. Add the eggs and mix well. Transfer the mixture to the fridge for a couple of hours.
Form into 8 patties and keep aside.
Grill the burgers till cooked well inside.
Tzatziki Sauce
- ½ cup non-fat Greek yogurt
- 1/3 cup grated cucumber with excess water squeezed out
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- Juice of half a lemon
- 2 to 3 teaspoons salt
Mix the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice and sauce in a small bowl. Assemble burgers on toasted ciabatta rolls with a generous dollop of Tzatziki sauce and serve.
Meatballs served with Pita and Tzatziki Sauce
I think this recipe came about while I was reading some magazine and drooling over a chef in the mid-west cooking eastern-european food. He was making meatballs and serving them in pita bread like bread topped with a tzatziki sauce like concoction. I love tzatziki sauce- creamy, garlicky and cool tasting.
While I was in college, I would go help out at my family’s deli. We would serve delicious gyros with the tzatziki sauce. My Mom would make it with sour cream and grated cucumbers. I remember eating the sauce with fries- aah, the good old days when I could eat anything I wanted and not worry about gaining weight. All of these memories prompted me to make the sauce with the meatballs I had already concocted in my mind. I made my sauce with zero fat greek yogurt. It has all the creaminess and texture without the fat. Adding some fresh mint made it delicious.
While I was putting the ingredients together for the meatballs, I thought of falafels which are the middle-eastern meatless balls made out of a chickpea mixture. I decided to add some chickpeas in mine. It reminded me of shami kebabs – which are Indian kebabs made out of lamb and chickpeas. This ended up being a multi-cultural meal.
I served the meatballs in pita breads topped with the creamy tzatziki sauce. I also had store-bought hummus which I thinned out by adding some lemon juice. I needed some color for garnish- so took some tomatoes from my backyard and let them sit in some salt and minced garlic. It was all very delicious- especially with the oven fries on the side. I opened a Malbec Rose with the meal and all was good!
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