Tzatziki
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 cup cucumber, peeled and shredded
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper, to taste
Place the yogurt in cheesecloth, tie tightly and leave to drain for at least two hours or overnight.
Place the cucumber in a colander set over a pan and leave to drain for at least two hours or overnight.
Then mix all ingredients together and season to taste.
Draining the yogurt and cucumber is not completely necessary but will give the tzatziki a much thicker texture.
Here is my father's attempt to use up some cucumber, specifically the larger ones that don't have the best flavor. He decided to make a batter and fry up some of the cucumber. He sliced it, then dipped it in a batter mixture he made up based on several different recipes. He used an egg, some milk, a pinch of baking powder, a pinch of salt, and a lot of flour to make the batter. He fried the cucumber on a griddle, the one we use for pancakes (I think this was because we had pancakes earlier that day, and the griddle was already set up). The result were some pieces of cucumber that were not crisp and crunchy from the garden, but not soft and tender from cooking either. I think they needed to be cooked a little longer, because the batter on the outside wasn't very brown and crispy either. Speaking of the batter, it reminded me very much of pancakes. Whether this was due to the cooking method or the batter itself (or both), I don't know. I like cucumbers and I like pancakes, but together I don't really care for cucumbers wrapped in pancakes. Actually, at first I thought it was cucumber wrapped in mozzarella cheese, because that's what it looked like to me. Oh well, I applaud the effort, and it wasn't too bad of an attempt to use up cucumber (hey, it got us to eat some, didn't it?). However, i think a breadcrumb coating might be better. Or a thinner batter with some more flavor to it - add some spice to it. Maybe the cooking method wasn't quite the right choice either, deep-frying may have given a better texture with slightly more flavor. Even shallow frying, which is just using a little oil in the bottom of the pan, would have worked better too. Oh well, you can't discover anything until you experiment. Maybe next we will try cucumber wrapped in mozzarella cheese, I have had that combination before and it is pretty good.
Yesterday I took a walk out to our tiny vegetable garden along the side of the house. I noticed, as usual, the cucumbers seem to have taken over the tiny patch. Sure, they left enough room for a few decent tomato plants, and a little bit of room for some peas, beans, green peppers, and lettuce, but the majority is cucumbers. That isn't a terrible thing, since I really do like cucumbers and I eat quite a bit of it. But there is only so much cucumber one can eat. Cucumber is best eaten fresh and raw from the garden, just after a quick rinse. Peeling isn't necessary and slicing is even optional. But once you eat some raw cucumber with your meal, or even as a sack, and add some to your salad and some to your sandwich, what more can you do with it? Cucumber isn't really a vegetable you can add to many cooked dishes, it doesn't work well in baked goods like zucchini does, and its high water content means it doesn't withstand freezing very well. The only other option is to pickle and preserve it I guess. Since we don't have the proper equipment for that, and aren't really big fans of pickles, and preserves, and that kind of thing, we will share our cucumbers with those who do. This is what I harvested yesterday. Some of these cucumbers were left to grow way too big. We will keep the small ones for eating as is, because they will have much better a flavor than the big ones. I also found a few tomatoes while I was at it, a few regular and a few cherry, which are so fun to eat just to rinse and pop in your mouth. Happy harvesting to all!
