I “invented” a new dip
We went to a trendy restaurant a couple of weeks ago and one of the things we had was a drop which was finely shedded zucchini with feta, a bit of parmesan and dressed fairly heavily with truffle oil. It was OK, but we felt the truffle oil was not a good fit for the other flavours. But it got me thinking 🤔 (often this can get dangerous 😂, DH cringes when I say, “I’ve been thinking...). So.
Then we were at a farmers market and I couldn’t resist a lovely shiny eggplant and a nice big zucchini. DH loves Baba ganoush and I thought I might do a riff on it with the zucchini.
I was using the oven the other night so I rubbed the zucchini and the eggplant with some oil and put them on a tray in the oven as well. When they were collapsed I took them out and let them get cold before I took off the peels, scraping off all the pulp. I put the pulp into separate containers and into the fridge.
Today I took them out and made Baba ganoush with the eggplant. It’s good.
With the zucchini, I drained it well, squeezing out as much liquid as I could between paper towels, then finely chopped the dried pulp. Into the mixing bowl it went, probably about half a cup of pulp. Then I added about four tablespoons of grated Parmesan, two tablespoons of pesto, two tablespoons of tahini and a touch of the oil from it, a bit of salt and a smitch of garlic (I’d have added more, but DH can only tolerate tiny amounts of garlic before his innards object 😕). Whipped it all together with a fork until it was creamy and smooth. It was yummy and DH liked it even more than the Baba ganoush. “Finally, a use for zucchini!” he said. 😂
Amounts aren’t exact as it was all “to taste” from a concept in my head, but it might give others an inspiration to experiment.
Sounds almost like tzatziki, substituting zukes for the cukes :-)
Always nice when you do that and really enjoy the result.
I'm making tzatziki today to have with grilled lamb tonight. :-)
chloebud, what time's dinner?? 😋
7:30! Think you can get here in time from the Great PNW?
This reminds me of when I tried to replicate Brazilian tartar sauce (Molho Tártaro). I got good results and can see how zucchini might be good in it also. I enjoy finding additional uses for zucchini and will try yours as well, as I like all of the ingredients you used.
LOL!! Dunno......haven't been more than about 25 miles from home for most of the last 12 months. But dinner sounds wonderful. I adore lamb and have it often. A zucchini based tzatziki should work just as well as the more typical cucumber recipe.
Zucchini gets a bad rap. Meh, not really. I do like it but have minimized my garden real estate I've given it in the past. DH would say, "a good use for eggplant".
I sovled eggplant last year but will keep in mind the roasting to a baba consistency.
“I'm making tzatziki today to have with grilled lamb tonight”
I’m making lamb tonight to go with my leftover tzatziki! (Made gyros the other day.)
How Colleen‘s invention sounds like tzatziki though, I’m not seeing.
"...haven't been more than about 25 miles from home for most of the last 12 months."
Good point!
Wow! 25? Less than 5 for me. :(
Colleen, that sounds really good. I don't think I would have thought to mix cheese and techinah, but I can imagine it, and it sounds good. :)
I must admit, I don’t see the tzatziki connection either; about the only common ingredients are garlic and salt. And I wouldn’t sub zucchini for cucumber because cucumber has a flavour and zucchini has minimal flavour, so all it would add to tzatziki really is bulk.
plllog, I originally omitted the tahini, but as I was tasting and adding I decided I wanted the creaminess it would add. It worked quite well and is not the dominant flavour, the cheese is.
My tzatziki recipe has a base of Greek yogurt, although I've been known to use sour cream, so Colleen's doesn't seem very similar to the recipe I use. Others may use different ingredients, of course.
The zucchini "concoction" sounds good to me.I'm going to have to remember it for "zucchin season", which is every day all summer here, LOL.
Annie
Annie, I use both Greek yogurt and sour cream in mine. I know the sour cream isn't traditional in tzatziki but pretty darn tasty.
colleen, sounds like you had bright moment of pleasure and enjoyment in your cooking!
Good for you!
I dont think it is like tsatziki, either. tzatziki has a base of thick yogurt.
You could use it a bit like tzatziki, though.