This recipe riffs of one of favourite Greek appetizers, fried zucchini chips. Tavernas all over Greece serve this easy but delicious dish in the summer months, when zucchini are in season. They are often served with Tzatziki.
Another fave, although not as common are fried eggplant chips. I like combining both to make for a colourful stack of green and purple. Although fried, the vegetables are very thinly sliced with one of my favourite kitchen tools, the mandoline.
They are lightly dredged in my flour blend mixed with corn starch for an extra-crispy texture. There’s no Tzatziki here but I’ve concocted a thin but creamy garlic yogurt sauce that can be squeezed out of a bottle.
The surprise addition here is the use of Smoked Metsovone from the town of Mestovo, in the province of Epirus. This town is town is foodie-heaven with the many tavernas serving traditional Greek food, their local sausages and PDO/appellation Smoked Metsovone cheese. One of my favourite Greek cheeses!
This appetizer will leave wanting to make more batches: thin shavings/slices of Metsovone cheese are hidden in the stack of fried zucchini and eggplant, slightly melting and imparting a smoked cheese flavour. I’m off to make another batch!
Zucchini & Eggplant Stack With Smoked Metsovone Cheese
(serves 4)
1 medium, Japanese eggplant
1 zucchini (of equal size)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. corn starch
1/4 tsp. sea salt
sunflower oil for frying
thinly sliced Smoked Metsovone cheese (or smoked Gouda)
- In a shallow bowl, add the flour, corn starch and salt and mix with a fork, set aside. Cut the stem ends of the zucchini and eggplant and discard. Now take a mandoline and thinly slice your vegetables into coins and toss in the flour mixture. Shake off excess flour.
- Heat your oil to 375F in a shallow pot or deep fryer. Fry the zucchini and eggplant in batches, reserve on a paper towel lined plate.
- Stack a quarter of the vegetables on a plate, then top with thin shavings of cheese. Now add another quarter of the vegetables followed by more shaved cheese. Repeat with remaining vegetables and cheese with some more cheese to top the stack of fried zucchini and eggplant.
- Drizzle some garlic yogurt sauce, garnish with sweet paprika and serve warm.
TIP: Add plain yogurt into a bowl along with some garlic powder and whisk to blend. Now gradually add evaporated milk and continue to whisk until you’ve reached your desired consistency.
8 Responses
LIKE! Where can I buy this cheese? Is it available in most TO Greek food distributors?
Gianna, smoked metsovone isn’t but you can sub. with smoked Gouda.
Hi Peter,
What a delicious combination! Nostimotato !!!
Will try it .
Bye.
A great idea! Those stacks must taste ever so good. I’d love to taste that wonderful cheese…
Cheers,
Rosa
I really have to commend you on your recipes. They a welcome break from the dreary cliche of Greek restaurants usually available in Toronto. I’ve been living in Greece for the last few years and yours is the only Greek food site in the diaspora that seems to celebrate the lesser known and wonderfully diverse products that Greece has to offer. I love metsovone cheese! It’s so great to see it used like this.
There’s more to Greek cheese than just Feta and one of my favourites has to this Smoked Metsovone (from Metsovo). This town is a food haven with its long tradition of making sausages, wine, phyllo pies and its Metsovone cheese (smoked). I remember my mom bringing back from of the smoked variety from Greece years ago and I’ve been hooked ever since. Metsovone appears in a long cylindrical shape with a thin wax rind and the smoked Metsovone has a visible brown hue on the outside and an intoxicating smoked aroma that most can’t resist.
Oh this is brilliant. Love that it is stabbed with the pics to keep it all together. Fabulous presentation. Umm, smoked Greek cheese, YAY!
LL
This appetizer is amazing. I’ve been preparing this for the past 2 days.