Cucumber and Mint Verrines

This Cucumber and Mint Verrine is a lovely summer appetizer, it is cool and refreshing, and helps to cleanse one's palette before the main meal. One great thing about serving these verrines is that they are meant to be served cold, which means you can make them few hours in advance of your meal and put them away in the fridge.

Verrines are meant to be small-sized servings. You don't want to get bored of eating one, it is just a little refresher. If you are unsure on how many servings to make or what serving size to use, always make more, smaller servings. That way, nobody thinks its too much, and you have a few more servings if someone wants seconds!

For three to four servings, you will need:

1. One large cucumber
2. Three tablespoons of Philadelphia® Cream Cheese
3. One tablespoon of crème fraîche
4. A handfull of mint leaves
5. Two teaspoons of salt


First, we start by peeling the cucumber.

Next, cut it in half, and then slice it into quarters, like this:

With a small knife, now cut out the fleshy insides. While these taste good, they will make the verrine too watery and sloppy, which we don't want.

Finally, dice the cucumber up into small pieces.

We need to try and get as much water out as possible, so place your chopped cucumber in a strainer and toss them around with the salt. Then place the strainer in the fridge, with a plate underneath to catch the water, for about an hour.

After the cucumber has been sitting in the fridge for an hour, we can get back to preparing the verrines. Chop up a handfull of mint leaves and set them aside. Save a few full leaves for decoration.

To prepare the top layer of the verrine, whisk together the cream cheese and the crème fraîche until they form a creamy consistency.

And finally, it is time to arrange the verrines. You'll need a glass and all the ingredients you have prepared so far. You can use a martini glass, shot class, a cocktail glass, or a verrine glass. 

First Layer: Divide the cucumber pieces into the glasses. Try to level them as much as possible.

Next, divide and sprinkle the chopped mint on top of the cucumber.

Top Layer: Carefully spread the cream cheese and crème fraîche on the top. Use the back of a teaspoon to level out the top.

And finally, garnish with a mint leaf.

Now cover your verrine with film and store them in the fridge for a few hours ...

... and remove them just before serving. Enjoy!

As with all the other recipes we put on this site, this is meant to be easy to follow. We are hobby chefs who love to cook, and we are always up for learning new techniques. If you know of anything in this recipe which can be done a different way, whether for increased ease of preparation or better taste, please add a comment below!

Whipped up by Shyamal Addanki

Assortment of Tartlets

For a fun appetizer, snack, or a light dinner if you so wish, this is an assortment of tartlets. Of course, you could only do one of these tartlets if you like.

The tartlets we are going to make here are Salmon with Crème Fraîche and Sun-dried Tomatoes* with Goat Cheese. We will use smoked salmon and tinned sun-dried tomatoes, so it is really easy to prepare.

While preparing the tartlets, start preheating your oven to about 175C (350F).

If you have an oven tray, preheat the oven tray in the oven as well.

We start with the pastry; you can buy pastry dough at the supermarket and you just have to unroll it. I like to further thin it just a bit; you will have to experiment with the dough you find in the supermarket. You can use a drinking glass or another round thing to cut out your pastry.

I used a package of smoked salmon and sliced it up to make it easier to arrange the salmon on the pastry.

Place the salmon in a little heap on the pastry circle and sprinkle on some chives, I just used dried chives from a spice jar.

For the sun-dried tomatoes, I place them so that they open up on the top (see the picture for a better explanation).

And in this little pocket, I place the goat cheese. Now, I'm using a goat cheese spread, which I formed into a little ball. You can do it which ever way you like.

Finally, crinkle up the edges of the pastry; almost as if you are folding the edges in just a little bit. Don't sweat it too much, it does not have to be perfect.

Now we are ready to bake! Place the pastries in the oven on the tray for about 15 minutes; but keep checking in on them. (The pastries on the right are Croissants with Ham and Swiss).

And after 15 minutes or so, your crust should be nicely browned and raised, carefully take the tray out of the oven and plate the tartlets.

Finally, drop a dollop of crème fraîche on the salmon tartlets and drizzle some honey on the sundried tomato tartlets and they are ready to eat!

I love doing these tartlets for a light dinner because, as you saw, it is very easy to do and it has quite a nice mix of textures.

*Tip: Don't throw away your sun-dried tomatoes, refer to our "Let's not waste anything!" page, and check out few ideas on how to use your sun-dried tomatoes.

As with all the other recipes we put on this site, this is meant to be easy to follow. We are hobby chefs who love to cook, and we are always up for learning new techniques. If you know of anything in this recipe which can be done a different way, whether for increased ease of preparation or better taste, please add a comment below!

Whipped up by Shyamal Addanki