Categories

Greek Millet Saganaki with Grilled Ono and Ouzo

Saganaki

I am officially a huge fan of millet. This is the 2nd really great recipe I’ve made with this grain and it was delicious. I suppose if you don’t have millet, you could use orzo or pearl couscous, but really, get some millet!

This is made in a few different steps, the millet is cooked separately, then stirred into the tomato and pepper mixture and then the fish is cooked in a different pan and added to the top.

The original recipe used shrimp, which would be great of course, but I had some frozen Ono* that I used (defrosted). Halibut or cod would also probably be delicious! Oh and I always thought saganaki was just the flaming cheese — apparently it refers to the actual frying pan that you maybe flame the cheese or say, cook tomatoes, peppers, olives and millet. Who knew? well, I guess I . . . → Read More: Greek Millet Saganaki with Grilled Ono and Ouzo

A New Bread Experiment: Feta and Spinach Stuffed Buns

Buns

Ever since I first got brave enough to try making yeast bread, I’ve loved perusing the King Arthur Flour website and finding recipes I wanted to try. I won’t say too much in the intro, because the recipe is pretty long, but, mmmm, these are delicious! Go make some right now!

Feta and Spinach Stuffed Buns
Adapted from a recipe by King Arthur Flour
3 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/3 cup dried potato flakes
1/2 cup Rye Flour
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (9 ounces) water
1 large egg
2 Tbsp olive oil
10-oz package frozen chopped spinach
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
2-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup (4 ounces) feta cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) chopped pitted black olives
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded or cubed mozzarella cheese

Start the bread: Whisk together, in a large bowl or the bowl of a mixer, all of the dry . . . → Read More: A New Bread Experiment: Feta and Spinach Stuffed Buns

Greek Macaroni and Cheese

Greek Mac & Cheese

Okay, wow, so first off, this is the first recipe that I have ever made with LESS cheese than the original recipe called for. Well played, Saveur Magazine. I have never been out-cheesed on a recipe before! You, sirs and madams, are magnificent cheese bastards.

The recipe called for 12 oz. — 4 cups grated cheese (I ended up using about 9 oz, or 3.25 cups) and I decreased the feta from 1 3/4 cup to about 1/2 cup. And it was plenty cheesy and rich, believe you me. Aside from all that, I’d like to comment that the dill here is delicious! In fact, I think this is my favorite mac and cheese recipe ever…jwa agrees and called it his favorite too.

Now typically, when I make macaroni and cheese, I use low-fat milk for the béchamel sauce. My thought is that it’s already . . . → Read More: Greek Macaroni and Cheese

Two Completely Unrelated Sauce-Type Things

enchilada sauce

Here are two accompaniments that I made recently (for different meals), that I really liked but they seemed really short for single posts. So, I bundled them up in one super-unrelated post!

The enchilada sauce I made for, uh, tostadas, which you can see in the title image. Does this make it tostada sauce? Anyway, it was very good. I thought it was a little spicy/harsh after the initial 15 minutes simmering time, so I added a pinch of sugar. I think that helped round it out. I also made the sauce about 5 hours before I needed it, which I think made the sauce perfect by the time I was ready to use it. I recommend doing that, or even making it overnight. It’s really great after the flavors have a chance to meld and stuff.

#1 Easy Enchilada Sauce
Adapted from a recipe by Emeril Lagasse
3 tbsp . . . → Read More: Two Completely Unrelated Sauce-Type Things

Middle Eastern Lamb Burgers

title

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

lamb

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

lamb . . . → Read More: Middle Eastern Lamb Burgers