Tzatziki with Sesame Crusted Potatoes and Feta
This is Groundhog Day here at A Level revision bootcamp. I am used to working from home, here in my kitchen, fuelled on many cups of tea throughout my day, sometimes I make myself lunch, and sometimes I just eat toast to be honest. With my two teenage daughters here at home and not at school, I want to feed them both a good lunch to keep them going in this very strange school holidays!
My youngest daughter Dot and husband Matt are somewhere walking in the Pyrenees wild camping for the week. The house feels different.
A good lunch is a welcome pause to all the revision.
Tzatziki is such a pleasing thing to make, squeeze out as much of the juice from the grated and salted cucumber as you can, this will make all the difference to a super creamy Tzatziki. I have used a combination of fresh and dried mint, I like both flavours in this dish. The thing that works especially well with this dish is the hot salty seed crusted chips and the pool of creamy sharp tzatziki. It’s a great dish to take to a summer BBQ with friends for when summer decides to show up again!
I work from my kitchen, cooking and writing at my kitchen table, on days like today, with the rain lashing outside, I feel very lucky I can cook like this. All the ingredients were in my fridge ready to go, no shopping necessary.
INGREDIENTS
This fed x3 of us for lunch today
4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into fat chips, I used Cyprus Potatoes
1 tbsp coriander seeds, roughly crushed
2 tbsp sesame seeds
400g Greek yogurt
1 large cucumber, peeled, grated and salted and placed in a sieve to drain for at least 10 mins
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely grated
Small bunch of fresh mint
1 tbsp dried mint, plus extra to serve
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil to roast and to serve
2 tbsp crumbled feta
Big pinch of dried chilli flakes
METHOD
Roast the potatoes on a tray with some olive oil and salt in a hot oven for around 20 - 25 minutes until tender. My oven was 190C and is not a fan oven.
Remove the potatoes and sprinkle over with the crushed coriander seeds and sesame seeds and return to the oven for a further 5 - 10 or so minutes, until the sesame seeds have good colour and the potatoes are nicely burnished. Remove from the oven.
With the potatoes in the oven, make the Tzatziki. In a mixing bowl, add the yoghurt, dried mint, fresh mint, garlic, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir through with the well squeezed cucumber. Check the seasoning, adjust with more of anything from the above.
Spoon the tzatziki onto a large serving plate and pile on with the hot seed crusted chips. Sprinkle over with the feta, chilli flakes and a pinch more dried mont. Drizzle over with some good olive oil to serve.