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

Taboulé

Taboulé is an easy and refreshing summer dish.

This recipe is my version of the taboulé, so it's not the exact Lebanese taboulé recipe, but close enough and also delicious.

Just a tip before starting: Don't prepare your taboulé at the last minute as the semolina or the bulgur needs some time (about 40 minutes) to cool down.

Here are the ingredients you will need for a taboulé for two persons:

• 2 small tumblers of water
• A small tumbler of semolina or bulgur
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil for the semolina
• Some mint (see picture below, but feel free to adjust depending on your taste)
• Some parsley (see picture below, but feel free to adjust depending on your taste)
• Half an onion
• 2 medium size tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil for the dressing
• Some salt

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Resting time: 50-55 minutes

Start by heating your water in a saucepan or in the microwave, it just needs to be warm to the touch.

Meanwhile, in a bowl add your semolina or bulgur.

Once the water is hot, pour it on top of the semolina or bulgur and let it swell. Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil and run a fork through your semolina or bulgur. After few minutes outside, place the bowl in the fridge for about 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes, get your semolina or bulgur out of the fridge, run a fork through it to make sure if doesn't stick together, and let it sit outside while your prepare the rest of your recipe.

Finely chop your mint and reserve.

Finely chop your parsley and reserve.

Chop your half onion in small cubes and reserve.

Chop your tomatoes in small cubes and reserve.

Once all your ingredients are chopped, add them to a bowl.

Mix everything together.

Add your semolina or bulgur to the preparation, and mix together.

Pour into the preparation the lemon juice and the olive oil, and mix.

Add some salt to your taste.

Cover with plastic film and place into the fridge for about 10 to 15 minutes before serving. I like my taboulé really chilled, but if this is not your taste, you can skip this step of the recipe, and serve your taboulé right away.

Serve and enjoy!

Tip: you can also serve your taboulé as a refreshing verrine appetizer with any semi-sweet crisp white wine, and you might also want to serve it with our assortment of tartlets, it would be a nice contrast that leave you some freedom for your meal ideas.

Tip: If you use this recipe serve your taboulé as an appetizer, these ingredients will be enough to prepare 8 to 10 verrines (small tasting bowls).

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 Charline Leblond

Portobellos stuffed with lamb

No reason to feel sheepish if you've never cooked lamb, this is quite baa-sic. 

You will need: ground lamb, portobello mushrooms*, mint, coriander, and feta cheese. I also add garlic and chilli flakes, but you can do whatever you want. 

We will be using the oven, so we start by preheating it to about 200 degrees, with an oven pan inside.

I chopped up my fresh mint and coriander leaves, because I was bored and wanted to play with my knife. If you only have the dried leaves in a spice rack, that is fine too.

I'm also going to add some chopped garlic and chilli flakes.

We are going to mix everything into the ground lamb, along with one egg. You need to get your hands in there and mix everything together to ensure the egg and spices get all over that ground lamb.

To prepare the portobellos, I cut the stems and hollow the insides a bit, to leave just the cap.

Next, you want to take a handfull of the ground lamb and firmly press it into a patty. I've made some large ones here, but you essentially want to make the patties the right size for your mushroom caps.

Simply place the lamb in the mushroom cap, on the preheated oven pan, and we'll put it in the oven.

It takes roughly 30 minutes in the oven, you want to check in from time to time.

While the portobellos are in the oven, cut some feta cheese. I cut them into cubes, you can even just crumble them up if you prefer.

After about 25 minutes, place the cubes or crumbled feta on the patties and put them back in the oven.

It should be ready to go once the cheese has a nice brown crust. Now just plate and serve!

Garnish with the mint leaves if you like, its really just aesthetic. 

For another slight variation, I just crumbled some feta and finely chopped up some mint leaves and mixed them together with a bit of olive oil to make a sauce.

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

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