This is the first community kitchen debut for Jorge (pronounced as ‘Hor Hey’). Jorge is from Columbia and a lawyer by profession. Jorge had worked in many restaurants; for eg. Bishop, Ganache Patisserie, Joe Fortes, to name a few. The South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors is glad to have Jorge to lead the kitchen.

Jorge selected a middle eastern theme for his first kitchen. The first recipe is Cucumber and Tomato Salad with Yogurt Dressing. This is very similar to Greek Salad.

Ingredients

For the Salad:

• 2 tomatoes, medium size
• 2 English cucumbers
• 12 lettuce leaves for underliners

For the Yogurt Dressing:

• 3 cups of plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup of crushed roasted peanuts (reserve some for garnishing)
• 4 tablespoons chopped cilantro (reserve some for garnishing)

Source: Jorge Viduenez

Prep time: 20 minutes; Yield 12 servings

Instructions

To prepare the dressing, combine the yogurt, sour cream, salt, sugar, part of the cilantro and peanuts in a bowl. Beat with a fork until smooth. Taste and adjust the salt and sugar according to the tartness of the yogurt.

Wash the tomatoes and cut out the core at the stem end. Cut each tomato into 5 slices of uniform thickness. Wash the cucumbers. Peel the cucumber or score them lengthwise with a fork. Cut the cucumbers of the bias into 1/8 inch (3mm) thick slices. Wash the lettuce.

Arrange the crisped lettuce leaves on a cold plate ready for service.Arrange the tomatoes and cucumbers on top of the lettuce, overlap 1 slice of tomato alternating with 1 slice of cucumber. Season with salt. Dress each salad wit 2 tablespoons of yogurt dressing and sprinkle with chopped cilantro and roasted peanuts (optional).