18 Greek Appetizers With Aromatic Herbs and Tangy Feta

August 27, 2024

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Whether or not you are planning an all-out Greek feast or simply on the lookout for contemporary and attractive pre-meal noshes to entice your friends, you’ll be able to’t go flawed with any of our favourite Greek appetizers. Known as mezedes in Greece, these dishes ship huge taste in small bites. Go for creamy dips like tzatziki and taramosalata, phyllo-wrapped delights, saganaki, and probably the most scrumptious methods to showcase tangy, briny feta cheese — your largest problem will likely be leaving room for the principle occasion.

Cucumber-Dill Tzatziki

Julia Hartbeck

Constructed from only a handful of components, this creamy yogurt dip comes collectively in minutes. Pair tzatziki with toasted pita wedges or a crudités platter for an instantaneous appetizer; drizzle it with olive oil simply earlier than serving for further richness.

Spanakopita Pie

Meals & Wine

Whether or not folded into triangles, rolled into logs, or layered in a pan, spanakopita is a basic Greek appetizer. This crunchy, tacky pie is filled with earthy greens and tangy feta cheese and topped with store-bought phyllo dough.

Saganaki Halloumi (Cypriot Fried Halloumi)

Photograph by Cedric Angeles / Prop Styling by Stephanie Bohn

Cheese saganaki is considered one of Greece’s hottest starters. Right here, halloumi is fried in clarified butter, then brushed with spiced honey and served with lemon yogurt, brandy-basted nectarines, and contemporary tomatoes on this candy and savory appetizer from Houston chef Christian Hernandez.

Dolmas (Stuffed Grape Leaves with Lamb, Rice, and Herbs)

Morgan Hunt Glaze / Meals Styling by Jennifer Wendorf / Prop Styling by Josh Hoggle

Stuffed grape leaves might be discovered throughout the Mediterranean, from Greek dolmades to Lebanese warak enab. These dolmas characteristic earthy grape leaves hugged round an ultra-savory lamb, herb, and rice filling.

Marinated Feta with Lemony Herb “Jam” Balls

Greg DuPree

A bounty of contemporary herbs is put to a tasty new use for these inexperienced jam balls studded with preserved lemon and currants. Steaming basil, mint, and cilantro tenderizes the herbs by exposing them to mild warmth, serving to protect their taste and shade; submerging the combination in olive oil with cubed feta infuses every little thing with a touch of brininess.

Roasted Crimson Pepper Feta Dip

Matt Taylor-Gross

For this straightforward model of tirokafteri, a jar of roasted pink peppers is mixed with a package deal of feta cheese to make a tangy, smoky dip in simply 5 minutes.

Roasted Child Artichokes with Parsley and Mint

Eva Kolenko

Known as aginares in Greece, these child artichoke hearts are plunged into a shower of lemon water earlier than they’re browned on the stovetop, briefly roasted till crispy, then cooked with garlic, crushed pink pepper, and dry white wine till tender. To complete, they’re showered with contemporary parsley and mint, seasoned with flaky sea salt, and drizzled with olive oil.

Avgolemono Hen Soup with Rice

Diana Chistruga

Silky avgolemono soup is a Greek basic — and a sensational solution to begin your meal. Made with lemon juice, egg yolks, and hearty chunks of shredded rooster and rice, this soup is satisfying any time of yr.

Greek Salad of Kinds

Crisp pita chips, briny bits of feta, mildly spicy peperoncini, and a sprinkling of contemporary herbs mingle with juicy tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, and kalamata olives for a contemporary and flavorful crowd-pleasing Greek salad that hits all the fitting notes.

Tirokroketes (Greek Fried Goat Cheese Balls) with Honey

Golden fried tirokroketes are sweet-savory balls that may be served as an appetizer or dessert. For this variation, membership soda lightens the egg batter that coats the cheese, and a double coating of panko crumbs amplifies the crunch.

Mushroom and Goat Cheese Phyllo Triangles

Paper-thin phyllo dough is folded round a buttery mixed-mushroom filling flavored with garlic, shallot, and contemporary herbs. The mushroom combination is pureed with gentle and creamy goat cheese, then the stuffed triangles are baked till golden and crispy.

Taramosalata

This creamy, briny dip made with jarred tarama (carp roe) belongs within the pantheon of basic Greek meze dips, alongside hummus, melitzanosalata, and skordalia.

Hen Souvlaki

Souvlaki — which suggests “small skewer” in Greek — is usually rolled to eat in your hand as a snack. Serving it on a plate with pita and veggies transforms the skewers into a correct meal, however you can too serve it merely with tzatziki for a improbable appetizer.

Shrimp Saganaki

Saganaki is called for the vessel it is cooked in — “little frying pan.” Right here, we sauté shrimp with tomatoes, olives, and feta cheese, then serve it proper out of the skillet with bread to take in all of the scrumptious juices.

Greek Hand Pies with Greens, Dill, Mint, and Feta

This recipe from chef Jacques Pépin was impressed by a turnover he loved at Marianthi tavern within the Greek village of Monemvasía. The olive oil within the dough makes the crust terribly flaky.

Herbed Zucchini Feta Fritters

Laced with contemporary dill, parsley, and mint, these zucchini fritters get a contact of tang from the addition of feta cheese. Serve them sizzling alongside the chilled yogurt-cucumber sauce for dipping.

Grilled Manouri Cheese with Caramelized Plums

Chef Michael Psilakis riffs on halloumi saganaki by swapping in manouri, a contemporary, milky white cheese constituted of the whey drained off throughout feta manufacturing. Plum wedges are caramelized in honey for an extra-special accompaniment.

Thrace-Model Spicy Mussels

Award-winning cookbook creator Paula Wolfert’s mussels are first steamed with butter, cinnamon, and white wine, then seasoned with pepper and lemon juice and tossed in an herbed chile-tomato broth swirled with feta cheese.

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