Make Fried Kasseri Cheese with Cucumber Sauce
A unique variation of Greek saganaki, a cheese-based appetizer of fried cheese, this recipe combines the complex, rich flavors of Kasseri cheese (traditionally made with sheep's milk or goat's milk) with a cool, refreshing cucumber sauce. Although the recipe for this appetizer may seem difficult to some, it is actually quite easy with these step-by-step instructions. Your taste buds will thank you for indulging in this traditional treat with a gourmet twist.
Contents
Ingredients
- Kasseri Cheese (for 2 people, we usually make 2 or 3 wedges of "Stella Kasseri Cheese")
- Baguette bread - sliced (you can use both French baguette and sun dried tomato baguette, a good substitute is sun dried tomato flat out bread)
- 3 Eggs – beaten
- Italian style breadcrumbs
- Vegetable oil
Cucumber Sauce
- 3 – 4 teaspoons lemon juice (more or less to taste)
- 3 teaspoons garlic powder (more or less to taste)
- 3 – 4 good-sized cucumbers
- 16 ounces of sour cream or plain yogurt
Steps
Sauce Preparation
- Gather your ingredients for the sauce.
- Peel the cucumbers, cut them lengthwise into quarters, and then cut into small pieces.
- Put the cucumber pieces into a blender and liquefy.
- Strain the cucumber juice through a small-screened sieve. You will be using the pulp.
- Drink, save, or discard the leftover cucumber liquid.
- Mix the sour cream, cucumber pulp, garlic powder, and lemon juice together, using more or less garlic powder and/or lemon juice to taste.
- Serve the sauce in individual dessert dishes.
Cheese Preparation
- Take cheese out of packages and let sit until it reaches room temperature. (If the cheese is too cold, then during the time it takes to cook, the outer part of the cheese will melt but the inner part will still be too solid and not melted. And if kept in the oil longer to get the inside melted, then the breading will burn).
- Beat the eggs and pour onto a plate. Pour Italian breadcrumbs onto another plate.
- Dip all sides of the cheese into the egg mixture, then into breadcrumbs to bread the cheese.
- Set cheese on another plate and let the breading on the cheese dry.
- Repeat the breading process. They must be double breaded so the cheese won’t melt through the breading during cooking.
- Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan on slightly less than medium setting. (Use enough vegetable oil to come halfway up the sides of the cheese during cooking). Also heat up a skillet (such as one used for making tortillas, with shallow side walls).
- Put cheese into the oil until golden brown.
- Turn the cheese over and cook until that side is also golden brown.
- Put cheese in the skillet and serve as is, along with the cucumber sauce and baguette bread.
- Use a fork to cut a piece of the cheese (while cheese is still in the skillet), put the cheese from the fork onto a slice of bread, and put sauce on the bread also. Enjoy!
Tips
- Substitute the sour cream with yogurt for a more authentic tsatsiki sauce.
- You can also use flatbread for a more authentic dish. (Sun-dried Tomato flatbread is delicious!)
- In the absence of a small-screened sieve, 2 or 3 paper towels folded can be used to separate the cucumber juice from the pulp.
- For an extra touch, pour a small amount of brandy (1/4 cup will do) over the fried cheese. Light it on fire and then squeeze a lemon over it. Don't forget to yell "OPA!"
- The cheese should be between 3/4" and 1" thick.
- Don't be afraid to try this with other cheeses as well. Cheddar cheese and pepper jack cheese are also good when prepared in this manner.
- Serving the cheese in a hot skillet helps keep the cheese hot. You’ll need something on the table to set the skillet on so that it doesn’t burn or scorch the table.
Things You'll Need
- Blender
- Medium to large frying pan
- Skillet with shallow sides
- Dessert dishes
- Small-screened sieve
- Something to set on the table top to set the hot skillet on to prevent burning or scorching the table, such as an upside down pizza pan.
