Cheese Puffs with Bread & Butter Pickles

FEATURING MONJAY MEZZA’S CHEESE PUFFS

Not much needs to be done to enjoy our products, Break open a packet of your favourite crackers or cut a carrot into batons and dip away. Or simply arrange our delicious finger foods on a platter and watch them crowd around. But the potential of our range is so much more, and we want to prove it. So we've created our very own recipe page to show you the versatility of our products. Dips to marinate or bake with, finger food transformed into main meals - the limit is your imagination.

SERVES: 2-4
COOK TIME: 30 minutes + pickling time in jar

Pickles have been around for about 4,000 years and haven’t changed much in that time. Why would they? From the moment the ancient Mesopotamians first pickled cucumbers in brine, they’d stumbled on perfection. Since then, pickles have traversed the globe and found a home, in one form or another, in just about every cuisine this world has to offer.

Bread and butter pickles are, in the scheme of pickled things, very new. We think the term was first coined in the 1920s by Omar and Cora Fanning to describe a style of pickle that had been in their family for centuries. When times were hard, the Fannings used to exchange them at the local grocer for essentials like bread and butter, such was their popularity.

Bread and butter pickles are on the sweeter side, with a ratio between sugar and vinegar that is closer to 1:1 than most. This makes them ideally suited to salty, creamy snacks like feta cheese that’s been stuffed into hot pastry. Speaking of which…

Ingredients

500 grams Lebanese cucumbers
Monjay’s Cheese Puffs
1 brown onion
2 tablespoons coarse salt
1 cup apple cider vinegar
¾ cup white sugar
2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
A sprig of fresh dill

Method

Slice the cucumbers and onion about four millimetres thick and then place in a colander. Sprinkle with the salt and give it all a good toss, then leave for around half an hour.

In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar, sugar and spices and heat until sugar has dissolved. You don’t need to boil it, but it should get nice and hot.

Rinse the cucumbers and onion and then pat dry with paper towel. Place them in a jar with the dill sprig, then pour the hot pickling liquid over the top. Allow to cool then screw on the lid.

You can, obviously, eat the pickles as soon as you like. But a couple of days to steep will do them the world of flavour.

When you’re ready to pop the lid, bake or fry our moreish cheese puffs according to packet instructions. Serve the cheese puffs with the pickles and one of our dips – perhaps the Tzatziki.

Monjay Mezza is the home of traditional Middle Eastern Dips, Finger Food and Desserts.