It's All Greek To Me

This post will be short but flavorful. I have had a craving for Greek food and unfortunately my town is lacking in such fare, except for one restaurant which isn't always open when we want it to be.  Since I had a trip to Portland planned yesterday, I stopped by Barbur World Market which I have blogged about in the past and picked up some fresh baked pita bread along with some hummus for our delicious Greek dinner I served today. I made my own tzatziki which I have posted before also.

Included on the menu to go with our steak gyros was Greek potatoes.  I made up this recipe and the combination of ingredients worked out great.  They made a wonderful accompaniment to our meal. Now my Greek craving is satisfied for awhile anyway.

Greek Potatoes
(Serves 4)

One pound of new potatoes into one inch cubes and microwaved them until just slightly done  
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp. fresh oregano (optional)
Dash of cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine all of the ingredients together and toss the microwaved potatoes with the marinade.  Put in a baking dish in a single layer and roast in the oven for 30-45 minutes until golden brown.  Sprinkle with salt.  These can be served hot or at room temperature.

Exploring With New Ingredients

Recently I discovered a new ingredient, Quinoa. It is a grain-like product which is all the rage on many of the food blogs I read. It is nutritious, easy to cook, and very adaptable in recipes by picking up on flavors it is mixed with. Here is a link to Wikepedia for all of you interested readers who want to learn more about this remarkable food.

As I was making a Mediterranean inspired dinner with grilled lemon chicken breasts for the main dish, roasted asparagus, and Tiramisu for dessert, I decided to use the quinoa I had recently purchased and experimented to create a Greek style salad.  With no recipe at hand when I made this salad, please take these measurements and adjust them to your liking.  I was very pleased with the results and I hope you will be too.

Quinoa Greek Salad
1 cup quinoa
1 3/4 cup water
3 oz. crumbled Feta cheese
2 roma tomatoes, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 large cucumber, cut into bite size pieces
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and cut in half
3 Tbsp. chopped parsley
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
6 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. dried dill
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Make quinoa. Bring water to boil then add quinoa and let simmer for 15 minutes, uncovered, until water is absorbed. Fluff with a fork and take off heat to cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, add all of the vegetables, cheese and cooled quinoa;  mix gently. 

Make the dressing. Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, dill, oregano, salt and pepper until slightly emulsified.  Pour over salad and gently mix until it is all well coated.  Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving.

A Favorite Cookbook

Cooking vegetarian isn't something I choose to do that often, but when I do, Mollie Katzen's original Moosewood Cookbook is one of my go to cookbooks.  I'm sharing two recipes today; one for baked falafel (or as The Husband says " You can't say falafel without saying awful"), and lemon-tahini dressing. 

Unfortunately, I totally blanked out as I made the lemon-tahini sauce which is the recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook that I wanted to blog about so I have no pictures today.  I will provide you with the recipe along with some excellent baked falafel.  This is an experiment that went very well.  Usually falafel is fried in oil but I tried instead to bake them and see what happened.  They turned out to be slightly crisp using just a tad bit of olive oil on the bottom of the baking dish.  A much healthier alternative to the original method.

I just love falafel and lemon-tahini together with veggies as a sandwich in pita bread along with some cucumber tzatziki sauce as I have blogged about previously, or just falafel mashed up over a bowl of brown rice with the lemon-tahini sauce over the top.  It's a very filling alternative to a meat based meal.

Baked Falafel

1 15-19 oz can well drained and rinsed chickpeas
2 finely minced green onions
2 finely minced garlic cloves
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp tahini
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Drizzle olive oil evenly in baking dish.

Mash chickpeas with a potato masher, then add onions and garlic and blend together.  Add remaining ingredients and mix until well combined. 

With floured hands, shape mix into ping-pong size balls and place in baking dish.  Bake 15-20 minutes on one side, then turn them over and bake another 15-20 minutes until golden brown.  Serve hot or at room temperature.

Lemon-Tahini Sauce

3/4 cups tahini
3/4 cups plain Greek style yogurt
1 medium clove of garlic, minced well
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 finely minced green onion
3 Tbsp finely minced parsley
Salt to taste
dash or two of cayenne pepper
dash or two of paprika
1 tsp ground cumin

Beat all of the ingredients together well, using a whisk or wooden spoon.  The more you whip it, the thicker it becomes.  Serve at room temperature over falafel, sauteed vegetables or if thinned, this makes an excellent salad dressing.

The October Garden

As I have mentioned in earlier blogs, the garden has been extremely late in production this year due to a most chilly Spring. Here it is October 1st and we are just harvesting our corn and tomatoes. We also only had one cucumber plant which seemed to be in critical condition for weeks and we doubted there would be a harvest. Well, the plant perked up with TLC from The Husband (or was it the Miracle Grow?) and it produced some lovely bounty.

One of cucumbers was extremely long; approximately 18 inches. Most impressive indeed. A favorite recipe for cucumber in my repertoire is Tsatsiki, a refreshing Greek dip which is delicious with toasted pita bread wedges or as part of a Greek or Middle Eastern dinner. The dip is simple to make, refreshing and very tasty. Give it a try sometime when you are trying to figure out what to do with an 18 inch cucumber!

Tsatsiki (Greek Cucumber Dip)

2 medium (6-7 inches) or 1 VERY LARGE cucumber

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sour cream

1 cup plain yogurt

2 medium cloves garlic, minced finely

Peel, seed, and coarsely grate the cucumber.

Combine everything in a bowl and mix well. Cover tightly and refrigerate until very cold. Serve as a salad, appetizer or a dip.

I usually drain my yogurt overnight when I use it in dips to get some of the excess moisture from it. To do this, I line a fine mesh sieve with either paper towel or a coffee filter and put the yogurt in this, over a bowl in the refrigerater overnight. It really makes a difference in making a thicker dip.