Spice Cabinet Chronicles: April
Greek dip with homemade pita chips
April is here and just around the corner, is Mothers Day and Memorial Day. Although entirely different celebrations, they share one thing in common. Dips. Who doesn’t love a good dip when they go to a gathering to celebrate? Especially one where we’re finally able to be outside and bask in the sun and the glorious promise of warmer days on the way. So that’s what inspired this recipe for the month, and of course our spice of the month, Greek Seasoning with Cheese Powder Blend. This dip pulls together to create something light, flavorful, and tasting exactly like the summer ahead we’re all creating in our heads. Without further ado, we’ll jump into the ingredients.
White greek style pita
1 32oz tub plain greek yogurt
1 bag mini cucumbers
Cherry tomatoes
Organic extra virgin olive oil
Greek oregano leaf, cut and sifted
Greek Seasoning with Cheese Powder
Instructions
(Disclaimer: There are parts to these instructions where honestly, I didn't measure exact. There are some things in life you just measure with your heart for and concerning the olive oil here, that’s exactly what I did. But I trust you to do the same and it’ll turn out just as delicious if not better!)
We’re gonna start by making the pita chips since that’s the only part of this recipe that takes any real time to do.
1) Start by Pre-heating your oven to 350 and lining two baking sheets with parchment paper. Next, take your pita rounds, and cut them into quarters. I wanted smaller chips so I took each quarter and cut them into thirds, but I stacked them up three pita rounds at a time so this was a really quick process. In the bag I had there were 8 total pitas and I cut and baked all of them.
2.) Put the pita chips into a large mixing bowl and then drizzle with olive oil, just measure with your heart here. We want enough to mostly coat the pita but not fully, just enough to get crisp in the oven and help the seasoning stick.
3.) Next, sprinkle in your sea salt, to your desired amount. I like a saltier chip but some may not. Next, I used a tablespoon of the cut and sifted greek oregano. Make sure to mix all this up nicely so it’s evenly distributed among the pita.
4) Now that they’re ready, place onto the lined baking sheets so they’re all flat, and place into the oven and start a 15 minute timer. Once that timer goes off, take them out and flip them, and set another fifteen minutes. Once those two timers are done you have fresh pita chips you can set aside to let cool.
Now time to make the dip. For this, I used a box grater we carry here at New Kitchen Store and it made this process fly by and grating the mini cucumbers took seriously hardly any time I could barely believe how fast it happened. Here's a link to the exact HIC Grater I used!
- Wash the mini cucumbers, I ended up using the whole bag which was about 7. Cut the ends off, and grate on the medium side, not the finest because we still want chunks to give the dip a nice crunch.
- Place all of the grated cucumber in a bowl and drizzle with salt, and mix together. Let sit for a few minutes to draw out excess water. While that’s sitting, lets slice up those cherry tomatoes. I like to keep mine in bigger chunks here as well.
- Once everything is cut, squeeze out the remaining water from the cucumber, and place back in the bowel with the tomato. Next, you’re gonna take the 32 oz tub of greek yogurt, and put half of the tub in, 16 oz or about 2 cups worth.
- Measure out a heaping tablespoon of your greek seasoning blend and add it into the mix here, and the last step is to stir it up!
Now you can plate and serve it however you wish to, but you have just created a wonderful dip with harmonious flavors that aren’t too heavy. It’s light and absolutely perfect for the budding warmth of the season.
The day I made this recipe in store we had some customers around who were happy to try it fresh and I can proudly say they thought it was great! If you give this recipe a try let us know how it went for you and tag us on facebook!
Side Note: If you make this recipe the day before you want to serve it, the spices have time to really join together and the flavor gets even better. It is still delicious if you make just before serving but this is just a tip for an even richer falvor!