Greek Taziki Sauce & Appetizer

I had a mad craving for Greek food the other day and decided that instead of going out to eat I would cook and invite a couple friends over. I love that Greek food can be really simple or really complicated to make, and being lazy I went with the easy recipes. I decided to make my personal favorite Taziki sauce and then I just added onto that with olives, fresh veggies, hummus, pita bread, feta cheese, and some lamb burgers so we could turn this appetizer into a meal by making gyros. It was so nice to be able to just sit outside in the backyard and relax and graze on the appetizer, which so easily transitioned into dinner. This would also be a great appetizer if your throwing a large party, or need a heavy snack during mid-day. Opa!


Greek Taziki Sauce

4 Cups Whole Milk Yogurt
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely diced
2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Juice From 1/2 Lemon
1/2 Teaspoon Salt

The secret to making a good thick taziki sauce is to drain the yogurt first. Simply line a colander with 2 layers of paper towels and dump in yogurt. Let drain over a bowl for 2 hours, you will lose half the volume of the yogurt, so make sure to use the full 4 cups.
Next place the thickened yogurt into a mixing bowl, add the garlic, cucumber, olive oil, lemon and salt and stir until well combined. Cover and let rest for at least one hour before serving so that the flavors can develop (the longer it sits the more pronounced the garlic will be). Stir again and place into your desired serving dish.
To make a full appetizer plate cut up tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, fetta cheese, and warm pita bread and hummus, and serve.

Easy Greek Salad

Simple is better with this salad. If you can find really good tomatoes and cucumbers, this is the salad to make. I always get tied up in trying to be overly creative with food, and this salad shows that you can have an amazing side dish with no effort. I love the contrast of colors from all the ingredients and it is a way to bring some fresh yummy summertime flavor to your table during the winter months. This would also be good with fish, like halibut, or chicken if you wanted to make it into a meal.

Easy Greek Salad

2 Cucumbers, peeled and cut into ¼ inch thick slices
6 Roma Tomatoes, cut into large cubes
Handful Baby Spinach, cleaned and stems removed
8 Ounces Feta Cheese
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and Pepper

Divide into 6 bowls cucumbers, tomatoes and spinach, stir to combine. Crumble feta cheese over the top, drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar of the veggies and top with salt and fresh ground pepper. I used a yummy coarse black volcanic salt for this to add a little contrast.

Orzo Salad

This is one of my favorite salads and has so much flavor. This recipe makes a huge bowl full, so it's a great side dish if you are having a lot of people over. I just had 10 people over for dinner the other night and still had plenty left over. It's also great as a meal on it's own.

Orzo Salad

1 Pound Orzo Pasta
3 Bell Peppers, sliced into thin strips (I like to use red, yellow, and orange for color)
1 Small Red Onion, sliced into thin strips
1 Cucumber, sliced into ¼ inch pieces
4 Plum Tomatoes, cut into ½ inch pieces
Handful Baby Spinach Leaves
8 Ounces Feta Cheese, crumbled
1 Bottle Greek Feta Salad Dressing (I like to use Girard’s)

Cook pasta according to manufactures directions, then drain in colander and run cold water over pasta until completely cooled. In large bowl mix all ingredients and until well blended. This recipe works best if the dressing is mixed in just before serving, as it will soak up all the dressing as it sits.