Asian Night

Asian night is comin up next.  So excited, my Love and I both love asian food.  I'm excited to see what we find and how our friends like it.  We're not getting to extreme yet, but it's in the works.  We found a website online that sells bugs and exotic meat.  Excited!  Details to come!

Remember, spread the word!

Is anyone out there?

Hello?  Is anyone out there?  Still trying to figure out what to do this weekend.  Anyone have any suggestions? Anyone?

On Second Thought

The more I think of it, the more I want to make dinner at home.  Its Valentines Day.  I want to spend it with my Love, alone.  Anyone have any ideas for something to make?

Valentines Day Meal

Its decided.  We are going to go out to eat for Valentines Dinner.  And I make a promise to order the one thing on the menu that makes me cringe!  Anyone have any suggestions for dinner in Columubs, Ohio?

Ideas

Anyone have any ideas for Valentines Day?  This will be a meal between just me and my Love.  No friends for this one.  I'm having a hard time thinking of something that we've never had before.  Ideas?  Anyone?

Valentines Day Meal

Valentines Day is around the corner.  Anyone have some ideas?

Greek Meal Rundown

The final menu ending up being :

Tsatsiki with pita bread and cheese to dip

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Stacks

Lamb and Eggplant Moussaka

And Baklava for dessert

*** All the recipes are at the bottom, or in the recipe section of this blog.

Tsatsiki

I wasn’t real impressed with this dish.  Well let me correct that, the recipe was a bit strange.  Every Tsatsiki I’ve had has been somewhat smooth; this recipe had chunks of Cucumber.  The flavor was good, but it was missing something.  The pita bread was delicious with the dip though. We’ll have to try other recipes in the future.

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Stacks

AMAZINGLY simple and delicious.  I could not find Halloumi Cheese, so I substituted with Yuri Grilling Cheese, I’m not sure how it compares to Halloumi, as I have never had it, but this flavor was almost smoky.  Paired with mint and cumin, it was heaven on a slice of cheese.  The only thing I have to complain with is the I cut the tomato too thick, so the tomato overpowered the cheese and grilled pita bread.  The overall flavor, was amazing.  Nothing to change or work on with this recipe.



The final Cheese Stacks with the Tsatsiki



B.  Being silly.  You can see the Cheese
marinating in olive oil, mint and cumin.





 



Lamb and Eggplant Moussaka

All of the igredients used for the Moussaka

The easiest way I can describe this dish, is a Greek version of lasagna.  A very delicious lasagna at that.  It’s a long process.  We made a couple of changes.  The recipes calls for salting of the eggplant and letting it drain for about 20 minutes.  We did this, but only for a few minutes.  The recipe states the reason for this is to take the bitterness out of the eggplant.  We like eggplant as is, and like the flavor, so we didn’t want to lose too much of that flavor, so again we only let it sit for maybe 10 minutes.  There is also a lot of cutting, so just make sure you have plenty of room to cut and keep all the veggies you cut up.  Also, the recipe calls for a dry red wine.  The wine that we bought as a Greek sweet red wine, I’m not a wine fan, but I couldn’t get enough of this wine, and it made the meat sauce almost a little sweeter then it probably would have been.  The overall mean was tasty. 

I have never had lamb, and I had heard that lamb was a strong tasting meat.  So I was expecting a big flavor when I ate it.  But when I tried the lamb before adding anything to the pan after it was brown, it wasn’t a strong flavor.  It defiantly has its own taste, you won’t get it confused with a beef or pork. 



The final Mousakka.  It kind of fell apart :(



 



Baklava

One word to describe this; SWEET; overwhelmingly sweet.  It is so rich and full over flavor, I could only honestly handle 1 bite, before I started feeling the rush of sugar to my head.  Again we made some substitutions, because we thought it sounded good.  While shopping for the ingredients, we found cinnamon sugar almonds.  The recipe called for 1lb of almonds, so we used half cinnamon sugar almonds and half regular.  Bad idea!  WAY too much sugar, way too much.  The coating on these almost were almost twice the size of the almonds themselves, so when we chopped them up, it ended up being all coating going into the bowl.  Next time, if there is a next time, we try Baklava it will be plain almonds and half the sugar.  My boyfriend loves Baklava, had a couple of pieces, but regretted it the next day working out. 

The process of making baklava is long, it isn’t hard, but it is a long process.  If you have never worked with phyllo dough, it is very thing, paper thin.  And you layer these sheets of dough with butter and the nuts.  It took us about an hour of layer before the baklava was ready to go in the oven.  Also heads up, the brush we were using to brush the phyllo dough with butter was one of those rubber ones, I think a traditional kitchen brush would work better.  This brush didn’t spread the butter too well, it just released it in one spot and it was a lot of work making sure the whole layer was covered with butter.  Which by the way, if you’re watching your girlish figure, this is NOT the meal for you, 3 sticks of butter! 

Not sure if you can see or not, but when
we added the syrup to the pan it started
to boil.  A little scary!

Overall with this week, I have not only learned some good recipes I will keep in my recipe collection, I have learned a lot of the Greek culture when it comes to food.  They love to share.  A lot of time is spent around the kitchen table.  Food is how the honor not only guests but Gods as well.  Just have fun with it.  Enjoy life, and that will translate into your food. 

I hope you guys enjoyed this week as much as I did, and try the recipes just as I have.  Give me your feedback, let me know how it turns out for you. 

Tsatsiki

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Stacks

Lamb and Eggplant Moussaka

Baklava

Other Pictures from the evening:

The nut mixture for Baklava



B, trying to open the wine. 



Baklava

  

Good friends trying the dinner.







He finally got it.... had to show it off :)



Greek Meal

Greek meal, went off without a hitch.  Lots of info and pictures to come.

In the mean time. I'm thinkin alligator is up next.  Anyone have any interesting recipes to use?

1/25/2011

Ok, I thought it was time for an update in my progress of finding the perfect recipes.  My search has been long and hard.  I’m not only trying to find the perfect recipe, I’m looking for the recipe that will throw me headlong into Greek food.  I want to taste Greek in every bite.  Anyone can go and order a gyro, I want something real.  So here are the recipes I’m kind of feeling right now.

Appetizers:

3 Cheese Eggplant rolls

Olives with Lemon

Peppers stuffed with feta

Mydia me Tomata Kai Skordo (Mussels with Tomato and Garlic)

Keftethakia (Cocktail Meatballs)

Main Courses:

Potato and Lamb Moussaka

Arni Tis Katsorolas Me Patates (Potted Lamb Casserole)

Lamb and Eggplant Moussaka

Desserts:

Baklava

Koulourakia

I’m also on the search for a good wine to drink with dinner.  Anyone have any ideas? 

1/21/2011

In the sharing of my mission, I have come across some mixed reactions.  I have encountered everything from the disgusted to the excited to share in my journey.  Lets clear up some confusion that I have created.  When I say ‘bizarre’ I don’t mean animal intestines and insects will be on the menu all the time, I mean different from the typical American food.  I want to cook with different raw materials then what is in the typical American kitchen. 

My boyfriend is extremely excited for this journey to start.  My first party is set for January 30, 2011.  Which would be next Sunday.  I am super excited.  I haven’t decided on what I’m going to cook as of yet, I found a couple of fun recipes that use beef and lamb.  Ground lamb.  A meat, that I, myself, have never had.  I’ve heard many different points of views on lamb, everything from its very delicious to its too gamey for some people.  Anyone ever had it?  I’m dying for your input!

One last note… Anyone know where to find exotic meats online? 

1/20/2011

I’m on my search for ‘bizarre’ recipes.  And I’m not really sure what I’m looking for.  I want to find recipes that are far out of our comfort zone as Americans.  If you think about it, what are Americans known for?  Food wise; we’re a pretty simple lot; hamburger and fries, the hot dog vender on the street, macaroni and cheese, and the southern fried chicken we’ve all come to love.  I don’t know about you, but I want to know more.  I want to know what rabbit tastes like, what snake and alligator taste like.  Will it be difficult, absolutely?  But isn’t that the point?  Isn’t that the point of self exploration? 

So like I said, I’m on the hunt for a recipe.  Do I want to travel to China first?  How about Russia?  Ireland, or how about to the land of my ancestors, Germany?  I have settled on Greece this week.  Let the research begin.

Not only do I want to research the recipes, I want to research the culture.  Learn what food means to the people.  I want to understand what food means, what traditions these people have with their food.  Is it merely a meal they seek, or something more? 

My Misson

Cooking; by definition means to prepare food.  How boring is that?  Cooking is so much more; it’s a form of self expression, of self exploration.  Conquering our fears of what is bizarre food really is.  Is salmon candy really all that strange?  Actually, the answer will surprise you.  Cow brain, really all that disgusting?  That I don’t know, but I do plan on finding out.  I am to my core, a very safe eater.  If it doesn’t look or sound good, I do not and will not bring it near my mouth.  A habit, which you should know, is very annoying to my boyfriend who is extremely adventures in both his life and his food.  Which very strange, seeing as cooking is a passion of mine. 

So this is my mission.  Over the next year, I will cook three ‘bizarre’ recipes every other week, a appetizer, main course, and a side dish, and I report back to you with pictures, and details of my journey.  I might even get my friends to try them.  Have ‘bizarre’ food parties.  How exciting does that sound?  So let the fun begin!  I hope you enjoy in the journey as much as I do.