Recipe: Tzatziki 4 ways

Chloé Monchalin and Benjamin Rousselet run Paris’s most popular Greek restaurant together: Grand Café d’Athènes. After careers in various Michelin-starred kitchens, they now share their love of Greek cuisine in the new cookbook Athína. The duo shows you how to make tzatziki, among other things, and how to easily give it a delicious twist. They also share culinary tips for when you go on holiday to Athens yourself (top city!).

Tzatziki is the ultimate Greek side dish. It goes with every dish as a delicious side, dip or sauce; especially with grilled meat and a splash of lemon juice. The perfect match!

How to make classic tzatziki

• Put the Greek yoghurt in a mixing bowl. Wash the herbs and remove the stalks. Roughly chop them and add them to the yoghurt. Add the spring onions too.
• Peel and grate the cucumber and leave it to drain in a sieve or clean tea towel; squeeze out as much moisture as possible, then stir it into the yoghurt.
• Peel the garlic cloves and remove the germ; grate them finely and add them to the yoghurt.
• Finally, stir in the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Mix everything well.
• Serve – deliciously chilled – in a (beautiful) bowl.

For tzatziki with olives

• Blend 50 grams of pitted Kalamata olives in a blender or food processor until smooth, then mix them into the tzatziki – as the final step.

For tzatziki with feta

• At the beginning of the preparation, add 100 grams of crumbled feta to the yoghurt and mix well with a whisk. Add the remaining ingredients as in the original recipe.

For tzatziki with smoked paprika

• Season the whole mixture with a little smoked paprika powder. Not too much, because before you know it, your tzatziki will be too hot…

Title: Athína
Author: Chloé Monchalin & Benjamin Rousselet
Price: €34,99
Publisher: Becht

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