School is back in session which means LA is crawling with Trojans. Excuse me? No, that’s USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins. And that means if it hasn’t already started, then Greek Week is on the calendar.
But Greek Week has nothing to do with beer bongs on fraternity row for me. It’s all about pita bread, hummus, spanakopita, souvlaki, gyros, and that incredibly cucumber-esque yogurt dip dripping with garlic and lemon juice, tzatziki.
It’s almost unfair how easy it is to prepare at home and eat by the spoonful, since every Greek restaurant in LA that I’ve been to is so stingy with it. Greek yogurt is the best, but if obtaining a 16 ounce container of it means you need to charter a plane to Athens, then stick with plain, full fat yogurt. It needs to be drained overnight in a sieve lined with several layers of cheesecloth, but you can cheat like me and drain it over just a few hours by covering the yogurt in the sieve and placing a weight on top (like a large can of tomatoes).
Coarsely grate a large seedless cucumber (or a regular one with the seeds scooped out), sprinkle with about a teaspoon of salt and then let it sit for a few hours to drain the liquid. Mix drained yogurt, cucumber, 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill and 1 finely minced garlic clove. A big clove. Or just use more, like me. Refrigerate until devouring.
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