Today’s party appetizer is so delicious, that I wonder why I haven’t tried it before. It also happens to be wickedly easy. I simply put all the ingredients into my food processor and turned it on, then let it sit in the fridge overnight to develop the flavors. The next day, when I was ready to serve, I sliced my cucumbers and used a teaspoon to dollop a portion of dip onto each cucumber slice. The garnish was chopped kalamata olives and basil.
Let me tell you about the olives. When I stopped in the olive aisle to pick up the kalamata’s I found the greatest new product- Pittes Kalamata Olives! I wasn’t looking forward to the task of pitting an entire jar of olives (which I do by a gentle knife-whacking, and then prying out the pit with my fingers), so finding them already pitted was wonderful. The olives were a beautiful shade of purple, and their briny attributes really were necessary to finishing the dish- as was the basil. Don’t skip the basil. I was so proud of my husband when I gave him a sample bite, and he looked at me and told me he thought it needed more basil to really round out the bite. He was absolutely correct.
I doubled the recipe below and it made plenty. The dip part could also be used as a vegetable dip if you have extra after assembling your bites. I will caution you on the garlic, after resting overnight, the garlic was very present, and actually developed a bit of a bite. Next time I would use half the garlic, and as I recall, I also added a tiny squeeze of lemon juice to the dip too. As I mentioned, I used my food processor to combine all the ingredients into a very smooth dip. If you would rather have your topping be more on the chunky side with chunks of feta, follow the directions below and just stir the ingredients together. Either way, I promise that if you like Greek flavors, you will love these bites.
Greek Salad Bites
1 cup crumbled feta (4 ounces)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 Tbs. oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and finely chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper
1 1/2 medium cucumbers ( I used English)
1/4 cup finely shredded fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped Kalamata olives
1. In a small bowl stir together the cheese, sour cream, parsley, tomatoes, garlic, and pepper. Cover and chill for at least two hours.
2. Bias-slice cukes into 1/4 inch slices. Spoon 1 1/2 tsp. cheese mixture onto each cuke slice. Arrange on serving platter.
3. In a small bowl, stir together basil and olives. Spoon some of the mixture over each cuke slice. Serve immediately.