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Stuffed Cucumbers with Fetatziki Sauce

Stuffed Cucumbers with Fetatziki Sauce

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Stuffed Cucumbers with Fetatziki is a delightful appetizer that combines the freshness of cucumbers with the creamy and tangy flavors of feta cheese and tzatziki sauce.

This recipe offers a unique twist on traditional stuffed vegetables, creating a refreshing and satisfying appetizer.

Fakokeftedes with fetatziki sauce image
Lentil burgers with fetatziki sauce

Fetatziki sauce is a creation of mine which I made several years ago.  

The original recipe was created when I wanted to make tzatziki and discovered that I had no yoghurt.  

You will find the original recipe at the end of the post.

Fetatziki sauce image

However, recipe developping is something I love and I tweak my own recipes very often.

Cypriot tzatziki, is called “talatouri” is milder than Greek tzatziki and is flavoured with mint.  In this is improved version of my older recipe I combined “talatouri” with feta, I added roasted garlic to make the taste milder and to make it on the sour side I added lemon juice and mustard.

This sauce is perfect to accompany grilled meat, or fritters of any kind and why not mix it in pasta.

Fetatziki Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 200 ml Greek yoghurt
  • 100 grams feta crumbled
  • 1 small cucumber with skin on, coarsley grated and drained
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1 clove roasted garlic, mashed
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp mild mustard
  • 1 tbsp dried mint, crumbled

Directions:

  1. Grate cucumber and squeeze out any excess water.
  2. Add all the remaining ingredients and mix to combine.

The recipe I am posting today goes over to Zoe, of Zoe, Inspired Finds and Tastes, for the event “Blogger Secret Ingredient:   Feta”.

Before going to the recipe, let’s talk about feta.

Feta is a white cheese and is the most consumed cheese in Greece.

It’s also the most widely exported Greek cheese. And feta cheese is exclusively Greek.

In 2005, after sixteen years of hot debate, the European Union’s highest court decreed that “feta” is protected as a traditional Greek product, and that none of the other EU member nations can use the name.

Feta is a salted curd cheese made from either sheep’s milk, goat’s milk, or a blend.

It is sold in many degrees of firmness, ranging from soft and crumbly to fairly hard. Its flavor varies from mild to sharp.

Because it is cured (from a week to several months) and stored in its own salty whey or water brine, feta is often referred to as a “pickled cheese.”

Feta does not have a rind or outer hard layer and is usually pressed into square or rectangular blocks.

It dries out and sours quickly when removed from its brine; for that reason, blocks of packaged feta cheese are covered with brine, and should be stored, refrigerated, in the brine until used. Feta is available in most supermarkets as a solid block packed in brine, or crumbled.

Feta is used as an appetizer, side dish, and as an ingredient in salads, filled pies, and pastries.

Its use in preparing and serving Greek food is almost as imperative as the use of olive oil.

Feta may be used in most recipes that call for cheese: vegetable and fruit salads, filled pies, as a topping for or ingredient in cooked rice and tomato-based pastas, as a filling for omelets, in sandwiches, and elsewhere.

Feta has been a favorite cheese in Greece for many centuries.  

Homer’s “Odyssey” contains several references to cheese which may have been feta cheese. In Greek mythology, the Cyclops Polyphemus was perhaps the first feta cheese manufacturer: carrying the milk that he collected from his sheep in animal-skin bags, he discovered that, days later, the milk had become a solid, savory, and preservable mass – the first feta cheese?

Another tale from Greek mythology credits Aristaeus, son of Apollo and Cyrene, with its discovery.

Clifford A. Wright, a writer and cook specializing in the regional cuisines of the Mediterranean and Italy, suggests that the word “feta” may be of ancient Italian origin.

Wright says, “the word feta does not exist in classical Greek; it is a New Greek word, originally tyri pheta, or ‘cheese slice,’ the word feta coming from the Italian word fette, meaning a slice of food.”

Source:   About.com

I totally agree with the above article and that is the reason why I copied it as it is.  I read several other silly articles about feta which were outrageous as Bulgarians, Albanians Turks, Danish and French claim that they have the best feta. 

Some of them even claim that Greek feta is made only of cows milk!!!!   How ignorant.  That cheese is called Telemes.

Regarding the origin of the word feta, Greek language has borrowed a lot of words not only from the Italian language but also from the English, French, Turkish etc.   

These words came back to the Greek language transformed.   Here is an example you will all understand:

Μπιζέλι (το) < ιταλ. pisello < λατ. υποκοριστικό *pisellum < λατ. pisum < αρχαίο ελλ. πίσος (ο) | πίσον (το).

The word Μπιζέλι = mpizeli meaning (peas in English) in Italian pisello derived from the latin diminutive pisselum from latin pisum, which derived from the ancient Greek word πίσος (pisos) and in modern Greek it is now called mpizeli.

Greek is a very complex language and to understand ancient Greek it is even very difficult even for us, as well.

Stuffed Cucumbers with Fetatziki sauce image

I made this one day when I was planning to make tzatziki, only to discover the last minute that the last yoghurt in the refrigerator was eaten by one of my children 🙂   I am so grateful they did because we loved it so much.

If you love tzatziki, I am sure you will love fetatziki (this is how words and recipes are born)!!!

I never imagined how well garlic would match feta.   It has a totally different taste than tzatziki and is more spicy and makes a perfect mezes (appetizer) for a glass of wine or ouzo.

I have been making it ever since and  this time I filled the cucumbers with this filling.   I decorated it with some Piperies Florinis, which are roasted red sweet peppers.  It was really very refreshing and delicious not to mention impressive.

Collage preparation of fetatzatziki sauce image

Stuffed Cucumbers with Fetatziki 

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Makes:  4
Ingredients:

  • 100 grams Greek feta
  • 2 small cucumbers
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp dill
  • A pinch of smoked paprika
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Roasted red peppers or kalamata olives and dill for decoration (optional)

Directions:

  1. Wash cucumbers and drain.  Carefully scoop out the inside of the cucumber with the gadget or use the back side of a fork or spoon, being careful not to open the edge.  Cut the tip of the cucumber so that it may stand up.
  2. Put the inside of the cucumber in a food processor, add the cheese, olive oil, pepper and garlic. Process into a paste.
  3. Mix in the dill.
  4. Sprinkle the scooped cucumbers with a pinch of salt and fill in with the cheese mixture.
  5. Decorate with some roasted pepper or black kalamata olives and dill.
  6. Refrigerate before serving.

Note:
It is preferable to use small cucumbers which do not contain seeds and have less water.  Otherwise, seeds have to be removed and the cumber must be processed separately and drained.

fetatziki dip image

I am sending this recipe to Yasmeen of Health Nut, as part I of her Event Well Balanced 3 Course Meals.

You can find many more Greek recipes in my cookbook “More Than A Greek Salad”, and “Mint, Cinnamon & Blossom Water, Flavours of Cyprus, Kopiaste!” both available on all Amazon stores.

 

Other relevant recipes:

Classic Tzatziki

Purslane Tzatziki and Carrot Tzatziki

Avocado and Purslane Tzatziki

Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,

 

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Tim

Friday 24th of July 2009

I love this! Reminds me of the 'feta ghanoush' I made the other day when I was similarly short of yoghurt.

_ts of [eatingclub] vancouver

Monday 20th of July 2009

Oh, this is such a good idea! This sounds really good.

_ts of [eatingclub] vancouver's last blog post..Strawberry Cilantro Salsa, on Grilled Flank Steak

Kevin

Wednesday 15th of July 2009

I have enjoyed feta dips with roasted red peppers and a fetaziki sounds really good!

elly

Tuesday 14th of July 2009

I enjoy adding feta to my tzatziki sometimes too. I didn't know that "feta" was a protected name/product of Greece!

elly's last blog post..Spicy Baked Chicken with Toasty Arbol Chile Salsa and Peaches

Poornima

Tuesday 14th of July 2009

That is a delicious dish. It was great reading everything about feta cheese, I love its flavor.

Poornima's last blog post..Garam Masala

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