feta

Basic Recipe for Greek Salad Dressing
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Basic Recipe for Greek Salad Dressing

The simplest of all salad dressings is a drizzle of Greek extra virgin olive oil and wedges of lemon on the side – squeeze to taste. For salads with feta cheese like the Greek Salad, I recommend straight olive oil (with a little water). For salads with cucumber, I like oil and vinegar.

Greek-Salad-

Ingredients

For 1 cup of dressing:

  •  3/4 cup of Greek extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup of good quality red wine vinegar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons of crushed Greek oregano
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • a pinch of pepper.

greek salad

How:

Whisk together in a bowl, or place in a tightly covered jar and shake to combine. The dressing will turn a light color with a creamy texture as the oil and vinegar combine.

Tip Add Dill: add 1 teaspoon of dried dill to the dressing nice touch!

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Leftover Lamb Flatbread Pizza drizzled with Pomegranate Molasses
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Leftover Lamb Flatbread Pizza drizzled with Pomegranate Molasses

We had cooked a leg of lamb and frozen the leftovers. I took out of freezer for one of our weekday meals and when I opened the frig and saw it staring at me my gut started to say what do I have in here to make an interesting meal. Leftover spaghetti sauce (Lyn secret recipe), Tandoori NAAN All natural flat bread, feta cheese, pine nuts, scallions, fresh oregano, cherry tomatoes, pomegranate molasses . Note: The cherry tomatoes not in the frig of course but always on the counter, just started had the first two from the patio mmmmmmm nothing better. Ok inventory taken now what I asked myself looking at the clock Lyn would return soon from work she has the 50 mile commute and I have the 3.2 mile commute she does not get how difficult it can be stuck behind a school bus as opposed to 1-2 hours of stop and go traffic. Anyway… sauce on stove with minced lamb and some chopped fresh oregano added, brought to bubble and then turned off. Meanwhile I sliced scallion whites and greens, quartered the cherry tomatoes, slightly roasted a handful of pine nuts, crumbled the feta, and preheated oven to 400◦. I spread the sauce over the flat bread top with the other ingredients then drizzle with pomegranate molasses and into to oven for about 10 minutes or until I thought looked done.

The unique sweet taste of the molasses was a perfect complement.

Turned out great hot or cold.

Sorry I do not have any measurements I kind of went into auto mode isn’t that what leftover meals are all about?

Scallions are most commonly referred to as green onions in the United States. They are a variety of young onions with a long, thin white base that has not yet developed into a bulb and long straight green stalks that look like giant chives. Both the white base and the green stalks are commonly eaten. (about.com)

The pomegranate is a focal symbol in the legend and lore of many different cultures. Some hold that it was the pomegranate which was the fruit of temptation (remember the Punic apple?) leading to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden in the Bible.
With its abundance of seeds, the fruit has long been a symbol of fertility, bounty, and eternal life, particularly to those of the Jewish faith. Many paintings of the Madonna Virgin and Child prominently display a pomegranate. Ancient Egyptians were buried with pomegranates in hope of rebirth.
The Hittite god of agriculture is said to have blessed followers with grapes, wheat, and pomegranates. The seeds were sugared and served to guests at Chinese weddings. When it was time to consumate the marriage, pomegranates were thrown on the floor of the bedchamber to encourage a happy and fruitful union.
Berber women used pomegranates to predict the amount of their offspring by drawing a circle on the ground and dropping a ripe pomegranate in the center. The amount of seeds expelled outside the ring allegedly prophesied the number of her future children.
Mohammed believed pomegranates purged the spirits of envy and hatred from the body and urged all his followers to eat goodly amounts.
When Persephone was held captive in Hades, the Greek goddess of spring and fruit swore she would not partake of food until her release. However, she could not resist the tempting pomegranate, consuming nearly the entire fruit before halting herself and leaving only six seeds uneaten. It is from this story that believers think our yearly cycle of six months of growth and harvest followed by six months of winter is derived. (about.com)

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Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast with Red Wine Sauce
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Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast with Red Wine Sauce

What does one do with a chicken breast that you took out of the freezer and had no plans for. My wife had mentioned stuffing chicken with feta last week so I guess that was my main influence. This was a real cook from the gut, open the frig and see what I have kind of creation. Boy you would think that with our new plan of a theme a day cooking I would be a little more organized but then some of my better meals came from the gut. Ok feta, red pepper, onions, mushroom, red wine, lemon and cherry tomatoes. Here we go!

Ingredients

  • 1 Chicken breast bone in with skin
  • About ¼ cup minced red bell pepper
  • About ½ cup feta crumbled
  • About 1 Tbsp. Dried Greek oregano
  • About 3-4 mushrooms roughly chopped
  • Fresh ground pepper (for my wife the pepper head)
  • 1 small onion quartered
  • 12 cherry tomatoes
  • 2 Tbsp. Lemon juice
  • About 1 cup red wine
  • Cornstarch and water combined.

How

Preheat oven with rake in middle to 450◦

In a small bowl mix pepper, feta, oregano, pepper together well.*

Rinse and thoroughly dry chicken

Sprinkle salt (lightly) and pepper all over the chicken

Gently loosen the skin on chicken with finger or fat end of butter knife to create a pocket.

Stuff the feta mixture into the pocket and then stick mushroom under skin on top of the feta.

Place in roasting pan (I used a corning ware dish) and drizzle olive oil over chicken.

Add the onions and tomatoes, enough red wine to cover the bottom and lemon juice.

Place in oven and turn heat down to 350◦

Cook until instant thermometer reads about 165◦ about 40 minutes. I started checking around 20 minutes because I was paranoid of drying out the chicken.

I crisped the skin by turning on the broiler for about 8-10 minutes still on middle rack.

Watch it though I kind of…what do they call it now on TV when the burn something. Oh ya look how beautifully caramelized it is!

Set chicken aside, pour the drippings into sauce pan add cornstarch bring to boil reduce heat slightly and simmer until thicken.  When it boiled I had to add more cornstarch to thicken a little more. Pour over chicken when plated.

Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast Prep 1  Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast Prep 2   Feta stuffed chicken breast prep 3

*Steve note: You could mince the mushroom and mix with feta but to tell you the truth I forgot them and stuck them in after. That’s what happens when you empty from frig to counter then move to preparation area and forget something.

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Gyros Sandwich “Lambie Pie”

I borrowed some pictures from the web for but will put mine in soon

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Serve in bread or on a bed of lettuce. You could make french fries, homemade potato chips or we usually have kettle baked salt and vinegar potato chips.

Ingredients:

  • Meat Mixture:
  • 1 lb. ground lamb
  • 1/4 cup minced red onion
  • 1-2 cloves garlic, minced  (depends on how much garlic taste you want)
  • 2 tsp. salt (I did only 1 tsp. salt)
  • 1 tsp. black pepper
  • 1 1/2 tsp. cumin
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano
  • I added about 1 tsp. of fresh mint minced.
  • 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
  • Sandwich:
  • 4 rounds of flat bread or pita. Still looking for the best flat or peta bread to use any suggestions. It has to be soft and pliable. I usually heat mine in low oven or toaster oven. Microwave can make rubbery.
  • Lettuce shredded
  • tomato; sliced very thin or chopped
  • Have also added crumbled feta cheese.
  • Tzatziki Sauce see below

Preparation:

Meat mixture
1. Thoroughly combine all ingredients in a bowl. At first I did this and refrigerated for about 3-6 hours not sure if this helped or not but we were not having until dinner and I thought maybe the flavors would come together. Now that it is a staple Monday night dinner I mix  it on Sunday

2. I roll out on parchment paper until very thin into oblong patty, 1/4″ or thinner. Refrigerate for an hour. Then divide into 4 parts.

3. I tried on broiler but could not get the crispness I was looking for at least with my broiler. I have been grilling it for about 3 minutes per side it got crisper. I might try the new 360 cookware pan Lyn ( my wife)  got us to see how that crisps up. You can see i am still looking for that crispness the open flame spit cooking method gets.

Sandwich

3. Grill patties over a hot fire for 2 – 4 minutes per side.

4. Spread tzatziki sauce down the center of a flat bread round, add a lettuce , add some sliced or diced tomato, some very thinly sliced onion (optional) and some crumbled feta cheese (optional), fold the bread over the lamb wrap with tin foil, and enjoy.

Note: wrapping in foil helps hold things together while you eat it.

Tzatziki” is the Greek name for this yogurt-based sauce recipe.

Makes 1 cup.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup plain Greek style yogurt
  • 2-4 garlic cloves to taste; roasted and finely chopped (see below)
  • If you want a bit more pungency, add a small clove of finely chopped garlic instead of roasting
  • 1/2 lemon juiced about 2-3 tbsp.
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped cucumber without seeds
  • Salt to taste

Optional:

  • 2 tsp. finely chopped mint
  • A pinch or two of cumin to this.
  • I also have added Dill to mine.

Preparation:

1. Place whole, un-peeled garlic gloves in a small, un-oiled skillet over medium low heat and cook for about two minutes per side – until lightly browned. Peel and chop finely.

2. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.

Note: The sauce is better if you allow it to sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before using.