Mezze Sides

A mezze platter is a fun and interactive way to serve a lunch or dinner party. Its also fantastic as the small dishes and sharing style mean that each person can decide what combinations of flavours they want while also trying everything available without feeling gluttonous. For a simple mezze all you need are pita breads, dips and a grilled meat and/or veg. You can augment this by adding a tabouleh, fried haloumi and other side salads to fill your pita with or eat alongside.

We have a great butcher right by our house (Craighall Meat Market) that stocks amazing mint marinated lamb kebabs so we chose to grill these, fry some marinating aubergine and haloumi and made a tabouleh and some dips of our own.

Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 6-8

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

Tzatziki

• 2 Cups Greek Yogurt

• 1 Medium Cucumber

• 2 Cloves Garlic

• Juice of One Lemon

• 1 Tbsp Fresh Dill

• Salt & Pepper

Spinach and Pistachio Dip

• 2 Cups Greek Yogurt

• 100g Baby Spinach

• 50g Parsley

• Juice of One Lemon

• 50g Pistachio

• 1 Clove of garlic

Tabouleh

• 1 Cup Bulgar Wheat

• 1 Medium Cucumber

• 200g Rosa Tomato

• 30g Fresh Parsley

• 30g Fresh Mint

• 3 Spring Onions

• 1/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• 1 Medium Garlic Clove

• 4 Tbsp Lemon Juice

Method

Tzatziki

1. Place a cheesecloth inside a strainer and add yogurt. Allow to strain for up to 4 hours.

2. Grate the cucumber and squeeze all the moisture out of it

3. In a small bowl mix together the strained yogurt, grated cucumber, dill and lemon juice. Season to perfection

Spinach & Pistachio Dip

1. Boil the spinach for 5 minutes and remove from the pot. Once cool enough to handle squeeze all the water out.

2. Add the spinach, parsley, pistachios and 1 garlic clove to a food processor and blend with 2 Tbsp of the yogurt. Once smooth mix into the rest of the yogurt and season with lemon juice

Tabouleh

1. Cook the bulgar wheat according to the package instructions, allow to cool completely.

2. Dice the cucumber, tomato and spring onion then finely chop the herbs and add everything to the cooled tabouleh

3. Whisk together the garlic and lemon juice then continue whisking as you slowly drizzle the olive. Mix this dressing into the tabouleh.

Happy Cooking!

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