Seasonal Sunday: Tzatziki Sauce (use up some of those garden cukes!)

When I think cucumbers I think Tzatziki Sauce. Tz what? It's actually pronounced Zatziki. It is a Greek cold sauce usually served with souvlaki or gyros. It consists of three main ingredients: yogurt (either strained plain or Greek), cucumbers and garlic. After the three main ingredients it becomes highly debated. Some add olive oil. Some add vinegar. Some replace the vinegar with lemon juice. Some add parsley or dill. Some will fight to the end that lamb gets mint and only mint. I like to switch it up, but today here's how I'm rolling...

Go get it:

16 oz. plain yogurt, strained.
1 small cucumber, peeled and seeded.
2-3 cloves garlic, minced.
1 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. mint
salt to taste

Go make it:

1. Strain your yogurt unless you are using Greek yogurt. I use an extra large restaurant style coffee filter placed in a colander. Strain it over a bowl in the fridge for about an hour or until desired thickness is achieved. It just so happens to become nice and thick in the amount of time it takes for the gyro meat to cook.
2. Peel and seed your cucumber if you haven't already. Then dice it real small or shred it with a box grater. Place into a towel or another coffee filter and squeeze out as much juice as you can.  Stir cucumber into your strained yogurt.
3. Mince your garlic and add to yogurt mixture. I won't tell if you use garlic from the jar. ;) Worst case scenario you could use granulated garlic, but I haven't tried this and can't guarantee results.
4. Stir in olive oil and red wine vinegar.
5. Add mint. If using fresh double the amount. Fresh would look pretty in this dish. Store in the fridge until you are ready to add it to your dish. Add salt to taste. This is awesome served with freshly made pitas or slathered on your favorite gyro. You could even use it as a vegetable dip.

Speaking of gyros....recipe coming soon. The hubbs and I love love love gyros. Seriously could eat them weekly. I didn't think it was possible to make your own at home. The hubby always really wanted one of those turning gyro machines thingies that they shave the meat off of in front of you. Um, no. So this gyro recipe involves a loaf pan. How boring that sounded, but I promise it is tasty and will trick you taste buds into thinking you stopped off at your local gyro joint.