Memorial Day Weekend. Portland. Sunny. 70+ degrees. No rain. Really, no rain. What to do? Make lamb burgers!

Wow, these were good. Juicy and flavorful. The recipe is very easy to halve and make just two burgers (what I did). I found some kalamata ciabatta rolls at New Seasons which worked perfectly with these burgers.

Middle Eastern Lamb Burgers
Adapted from a recipe in Everyday with Rachael Ray
1 1/2 pounds ground lamb
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (you could sub flat-leaf parsley)
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup low fat, plain yogurt, mixed with 1 clove crushed garlic and 1/2 a grated English cucumber
4 crusty kalamata olive rolls, split
spinach leaves
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 tomato, sliced

In a large bowl, combine the lamb, cilantro, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Form into 4 patties.

In a grill pan, set over medium-high heat, toast the rolls, set aside. In the same pan, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil and brush it onto the pan’s surface.

Add the burgers and cook, turning once, for 5 minutes each side for medium-rare.

After the first side cooks, add some feta to each burger top. Slather each roll top with the yogurt and stack some spinach leaves and tomato slices on the other side of the roll.

When the burgers are done, place each on top of the tomato slices, place the top roll in place and nom-nom-nom!

On the side we had a salad with 1 cup cooked lima beans, some halved cherry tomatoes, diced red onion, kalamata olives, fresh oregano leaves and crumbled feta. The dressing was some red wine vinegar, lemon zest, crushed garlic and olive oil. Delicious!

So. Baklava. Mmmm. I have always wanted to make some. Then, last weekend I realized I had all of the components needed. It was like fate shouted down, “Make the baklava!” Really, you have to listen to fate.

I found a pretty simple sounding recipe at the Whole Foods Market web site and off I went.

Notes: The original recipe called for twice as much uh, everything. With two people, that seemed kind of unwise. Below is the halved recipe. If you want more, double all the ingredients and do not cut the phyllo in half. Use 20 sheets full size. I used a combination of pecans, pistachios and hazelnuts for my nuts.

Also, the original recipe called for baking at 400 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes. That seemed to burn some of the edges of my baklava (and I only had it in there for 20 minutes). Try taking the heat down to 350 for 20 - 25 minutes.

Personally, I’ve found working with phyllo dough to be pretty easy. Just remember to cover it and be gentle. And it if rips or tears a little, don’t worry, it will most likely be unnoticeable after baking.

Printable recipe pdf!

Mixed Nut Baklava
Adapted from a Whole Foods Market recipe
1 cup finely chopped nuts (can be all walnuts, or any combination of walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts and/or pecans)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
10 sheets frozen phyllo sheets, thawed, and sliced in half vertically, so that you have 20 sheets approximately 9 inches by 7 inches
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 small cinnamon stick (or a larger stick, broken in half — just use one of the halves)
2 green cardamom pods

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a jelly roll pan or rimmed baking sheet. Mix the nuts, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside. Alternatively, process the larger nuts pieces, cinnamon and sugar in a food processor, then set aside.

Lay the phyllo sheets out on a counter top and cover with a slightly damp towel to prevent them from drying out. Working quickly, place a sheet of phyllo in the prepared pan, brush with melted butter and then place another sheet on top. Continue with sheets, brushing each with melted butter until you have used 8 sheets.

Evenly spread half of the nut-sugar mixture over the stack of phyllo. Repeat the process of layering two more sheets, one by one, brushing melted butter over each sheet. Next, spread the remaining half of the nut-sugar mixture over the stack of phyllo.

Again, repeat the process of layering the rest of the sheets, one by one, brushing melted butter over each sheet.

Using a sharp knife, cut the pastry through to the bottom into serving pieces. I made a horizontal cut across the phyllo, then cut vertically five times so I had ten pieces of baklava. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the middle of your oven or until the baklava is golden brown. Remove baklava from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Here, I removed the baklava from the baking sheet and placed it on a plate, pieces pushed together, to keep cooling. I wanted to apply the honey syrup on a surface that I could easily stick in the fridge (ant season!) for storage.

Meanwhile, make honey syrup by stirring honey with water, lemon juice, cinnamon and cardamom in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 25 minutes. Cool.

Ladle the warm honey evenly over the baklava. Let cool completely before serving. Now, when you first pour the honey, you will think, wow, there’s so much, maybe I shouldn’t use it all. Don’t worry! The baklava will totally absorb most of it. Really.

Don’t forget about Weekend Cookbook Challenge 30…I’m guest hosting! Send me your entry by Sunday, July 27th. Let’s say by midnight, just to make it more mysterious.

This month’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge, (which I almost forgot about — oops!), is all about party food. So, to accomplish this, I turned to a book all about parties, entertaining and proper hostessing — I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, by Amy Sedaris. It’s very funny, kitschy, deadpan in tone and is sprinkled with hilarious photos of Amy and (quite honestly) some very unappetizing food photos. Ah, so what? I love this book. There’s also some handy and practical advice for entertaining:

A good trick is to fill your medicine cabinet with marbles. Nothing announces a nosy guest better than an avalanche of marbles hitting a porcelain sink.

or

Have toilet paper.

Genius!

While looking through the book I was tempted to make a cheese ball (one of her “famous cheese balls”), but figured another stick of butter is one of the last things jwa and I need right now. Instead, a recipe in the book submitted by Paul Dinello caught my eye. Paul’s Zucchini Fritters. The suggestion for serving these is at a “grieving party” but I say they just make a tasty breakfast, dinner snack or happy party snack! No one has to die!

The original recipe also included no measurements. Apparently Paul finds cooking without specific measurements, “exciting.” Huh. Okay. So, I’ve listed the measurements below that I used when making these. Help yourself. For the more adventurous, disregard those and just wing it like Paul. Oh and I added the mint and red pepper flakes and halved the amount of onion in my version. I just couldn’t help myself from making a couple of tiny changes, that is my way.

For a party, I’d make little fritters to serve as finger food. To make a meal of fritters, form larger patties, as I did, and serve three to a plate. The below amounts will serve about 3-4 as a meal. On the side, I whipped up some plain yogurt with garlic, tomato and cucumber. Excellent.

Paul’s Zucchini Fritters
2 medium zucchinis
2 cloves garlic, sliced or minced
1/2 a white onion, diced
8 oz feta cheese, crumbled
2 eggs
6-8 tbsp flour
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp fresh mint, chopped
Dash of red pepper flakes

Grate the zucchini. It’s important to get as much water out of the shredded vegetable as possible. It helps to salt it and then place a heavy lid on top it and press down. You can also wrap the grated zucchini in a tea towel and squeeze until you can’t squeeze anymore. Paul says, “When you think you’ve got all the water out keep pressing, because I can tell you, you haven’t.” He’s right about that.

In another bowl mix six tablespoons of the flour, eggs, onion, garlic, parsley, mint and feta. Combine with the zucchini and some salt and pepper. Add more flour if it seems too liquidy. Oh and don’t forget the red pepper flakes.

Coat the bottom of a hot frying pan in olive oil. For best results, make sure your pan is good and hot before adding fritters. Scoop a fist full of mixture from the bowl and shape into a small patty and place in skillet.

Let cook about 4 minutes on each side for larger fritters, 2 minutes per side for smaller ones.

I made medium-sized fritters and I got about 10 from this recipe, but if you made them slightly smaller (and depending on the size of your zucchinis), you could probably get 12. I’ve also doubled the original recipe (which said you could get 20-40 fritters from one zucchini) but I’m not really sure how that’s possible. They would have to be pretty damn tiny fritters.

I took two leftover ones today to work for breakfast and ate them cold. Wow. Still so very good. I think I’m going to definitely make these again. Thanks (as always) to Sara for hosting!

Lazy! Lazy! Lazy! And to think I have a whole other week off starting next Monday! Hooray! Okay. Enough of the gloating and the flaunting my time off. Let’s talk about fritters — mixed greens fritters to be exact. This recipe came from the cookbook, Modern Greek by Andy Harris, which is full of all manner of Mediterranean snacks and dishes.

We tried these a week or so ago when I discovered that I had all of the ingredients to make them. They looked good and I wanted to try them of course, but sometimes you just need to make a recipe because you can. And I could.

The verdict is that they were interesting. Not interesting in a bad way or anything, just really interesting — sort of like green, spinachy falafel. They were very crunchy and had a good flavor. We ate all of ours with some garlicky yogurt and snacked the night away.

Wild Greens Fritters (Hortokeftedes)
1 2/3 cups AP flour
1/3 cup polenta (corn meal would probably work too)
1/4 cup milk
1 egg, beaten (the original called for 2 yolks — I used 1 whole egg instead)
8 ounces mixed leaves such as dandelion, sorrel, watercress, mustard, arugula, spinach, or wild fennel (I used spinach and arugula)
2 cloves garlic,minced
3 tbsp fresh herbs such as parsley, mint and chervil (I used parsley, chives, basil and mint)
Salt & freshly ground pepper
3 tbsp olive oil (or more, depending on your preference)
Garlicky yogurt for dipping

Weigh out your greens if you have a scale. If not, do the best you can with your measuring implement of choice. Mix the four, polenta, milk and egg together in large bowl. Cover it and let it rest for 30 minutes — it’s sleepy, apparently. Meanwhile, cook the greens and garlic in some boiling water for 10 minutes and then shock in ice water. Drain well. Add the greens and garlic to the flour mixture and add a little salt (1/2 tsp or so) and some pepper. Form into little round fritters.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. You can also add up to a 1/2 inch of oil in the pan and actually pan fry the fritters. Cook several fritters at a time, for about 5 minutes per side. I just remembered, I covered the fritters while they cooked for the last minute or so on each side). They should be nice and golden brown. If fritters get too dark, turn the heat down. (Duh — you probably don’t need me to mention that, do you?)

Using a spatula, transfer the fritters to a wire rack or a paper towel lined platter. Continue cooking the rest of the fritters. When they are all done, sprinkle the fritters with a little sea salt (or kosher salt) and serve with the yogurt.

You can eat these as is, with the dipping yogurt, or make a falafel-type sandwich with some pita or flat bread.

Okay, I’m out of here until Monday! Have a nice weekend!

If I don’t say so myself, this was a good use of some chicken, feta, mint and phyllo dough. Now that I am over my apprehension of working with phyllo, it was even relatively easy. My one nitpick though, is that the chicken seemed to get a little dry. The flavor was still excellent, though, so it wasn’t the end of the world by any means. Next time, I believe I will mix a little of the egg/feta mixture into the chicken to keep it a bit more moist.

As the title picture shows, this recipe is from Meze: Small Plates to Savor and Share from the Mediterranean Table by Diane Kochilas. As I am prone to do, I added an extra clove of garlic, some mushrooms and a little fresh oregano. Oh and I also added a little lemon zest.

Chicken Pie with Mint, Feta and Eggs
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 white onions, finely chopped
6-8 button mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups shredded, cooked chicken
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
1 tsp lemon zest (about 1/2 a lemon)
1 tsp chopped fresh oregano leaves
salt & pepper to taste
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 pound phyllo, at room temperature
2 large eggs
3 tbsp milk
1 cup crumbled feta

Heat the butter over medium heat and cook the onions, mushrooms and garlic until lightly golden, about 8 minutes. In a large bowl, combine the chicken, onion-garlic mixture, mint, oregano and lemon zest.Season with salt and pepper and add the olive oil.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 10-inch pie pan. I used a plain glass pie pan. Place 1 sheet of the phyllo vertically across the pan. Brush with some olive oil and place another sheet overlapping a bit and brush that sheet with the olive oil too. Keep sheets that you are not using moist, under a damp towel.

Keep going until you go through the sheets, brushing each with a little oil as you work. I used few less than the whole 1/2 a pound — go ahead and use as much as you want but make sure you have the whole pan covered and layered nicely with overhanging phyllo available.

Beat the eggs, milk, salt and pepper until frothy and add the feta. Mix to combine. Add a little of the egg mixture to the chicken — a couple of tablespoons worth. Spread the filling evenly into the phyllo-lined shell. Roll the extra up and around the top of the pie. It won’t cover the whole top, just form a ring around the pie.

Pour the remaining egg mixture over the pie, tilting it so that it evenly covers it all.

Bake for 40-50 minutes until the filling is set and the phyllo is crisp and golden.

Remove from the oven and cool slightly. Cut and serve with a green salad.

Yep, there’s a new blog look today. I wanted a more Summery design and started playing around with new pictures and backgrounds Sunday afternoon. When I did this one, I also created two other themes so there should be another new look fairly soon.

Coming up, food-wise (maybe even all this week): tomato-basil salad, spinach & arugula fritters, green tea salmon and my Weekend Cookbook Challenge #7.