I was looking for a light appetizer for Valentine’s Day dinner. I was already making Melanzane alla Parmiggiana (basically a lasagna made out of eggplant slices instead of meat) with fresh bread, and since that’s a pretty heavy dish on its own, I wanted something that was not too filling and salad-like, but perhaps a bit more exciting. A friend suggested “Slappetizers” on Facebook, and conducting a search for it through Google led me to Pinterest, where I stumbled upon these cucumber rolls. I have no idea what slappetizers are, but the recipe I found were just like these, except that they were filled with hummus. Since I was too lazy to make hummus, I decided to fill them with a light onion soup dip instead.

The cucumber rolls were easily made, preparing them took about ten minutes, they looked quite beautiful and my husband devoured them with great appetite. I love raw vegetables with onion soup dip, so I was obviously sold by the idea even before making them. These are best made immediately before eating given the cucumber will lose liquid while resting.

Ingredients
1 large cucumber
150ml low-fat quark
1 tsp cream cheese (optional)
1,5 tbsp dried roasted onions
gluten-free vegetable broth powder to taste
pepper to taste

Place all ingredients, except the cucumber, into a bowl and mix well.

Wash your cucumber well, and cut off both ends. With a vegetable peeler, peel long slices off the cucumber and place on a clean surface. Repeat and place a second cucumber slice onto the first slice of cucumber. Repeat until the cucumber has been sliced entirely.

With a teaspoon, gently spread the onion soup dip onto each of the cucumber slices that you have set onto your counter. Lift the end of the cucumber slice nearest to you and fold into a roll. Place onto a plate, resting the roll on its loose end so that it cannot unfold.

We eat these plain, but I’m sure they go nicely on a gluten-free cracker or with carrots.