Lemon Feta Dip

[ts]
Hors d'oeuvres. We don't really roll that way.

Probably because for us, "appetizers" just mean the same food, but perhaps in smaller quantity. (Operative word is "perhaps".) Hors d'oeuvre sizes won't even register. Plus, making tiny, tiny things is labor-intensive! But, hors d'oeuvres is the theme for this edition of First Thursdays at Thursday Night Smackdown, and we wanted to enter something, seeing as we missed the last 3 editions.

Granted, given the time constraints, we had to do something fast. We were first debating making breadsticks, but didn't have time. So, what could be easier than a dip!


that's me being too lazy to wipe the sides of the bowl

[ts]
However, I should also say:

Dips.
We don't roll that way.

Not usually, anyway. We decided to go with a simple one from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.

They had a Creamy Dip Base recipe -- mainly a combination of mayo, sour cream, lemon juice and s&p -- then suggestions on different flavorings.

We didn't have sour cream on hand, so I used drained yogurt in its place. We didn't seem to have anything in the house to make any of their suggested flavors except lemons and feta.

It was a matter of combining everything into a bowl and finishing with some mint.



[ts]
All right, I cheated a little. The lemony feta dip was tasting too one-dimensional for me, so I added some leftover homemade Caesar-y dressing into it. Of course, the garlicky, anchovy-y, caper-y goodness enchanced this dip and just added a certain je ne sais quoi.



[ts]
We only had these crackers and some radishes in the house. Or, I should say, finding crackers and radishes was as far as I was willing to go in terms of looking for things to dip.



[ts]
Actually, the radish went really nicely with this dip. They provided a nice robust flavor (that the crackers lacked) to counter the lemony feta dip. One cannot beat its crunch as well.

My conclusion: this is better as a crudité dip as opposed to a cracker/chip dip. (Unless it's a very robustly-flavored chip, I guess.) I tried it with celery sticks and carrots the next day and it was great. That being the case, this will also work as a creamy salad dressing, perhaps loosened up a bit.



[ts]
Forgive the non-prettifiedness of my hors d'oeuvres. They're not put together that neatly. In my defense, it was already about midnight when I made this!

Knowing that we couldn't possibly eat all this dip as a dip (that is, in dip form), we thought of another way to use it. Stay tuned...


First Thursday posts:
Mario's Pine Nut and Ricotta Tart
Radishes, Three Ways
Semi-Lime-Cooked, Semi-Yucatecan Shrimp with Garlic Chips
Lemon Feta Dip
Chicken Marsala

We're submitting this to First Thursday: Hors d'oeuvres at Thursday Night Smackdown.