Gastronomy - The Food & Drink Thread

[Mara]

Tzatziki

I became addicted to this stuff when it was offered as an appetizer at a Greek restaraunt conveniently close to my last job. It's alternately cool (with the yogurt and cucumber) and hot (with the garlic.) Again, be careful with the garlic! You might want slighly more or less. Taste as you go.

Place in food processor:

8 oz plain, non-fat yogurt
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon fresh dill (to taste)
2 cloves garlic, minced.

Process until smooth and pour into the bowl. Add:

1 medium cucumber, peeled and grated

Mix. Excellent with the pita. My sister likes it with tomatoes, but I do not find tomatoes convenient for dipping.

[Mara]

Thai Tofu Spread

Don't be put off by the word "tofu"-- I'm generally not a fan, but this is a very flavorful and delicious dip that uses the tofu for texture.

I don't think this is very authentically Thai, but, eh.

12 oz firm tofu
1/4 cup carrot, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons minced onion (green onions are great, if you have them)
2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped fine

Mash the tofu with a fork. (Don't over-mash. The final product will look like... um... feta.) Combine with the carrot, garlic, onion and cilantro, and mix.

In the food processor, process until smooth:

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
Juice of one lime
1/4 teaspoon grated lime zest (about half of the lime rind)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 Tablespoons soy sauce

Fold the processed sauce into the tofu mixture. Good on the pita, or with crackers or bread.

[bac0n]

wooo, dogies, that looks like some tasty stuff! The latest Fine Cooking has a recipe for grilled pita bread that looks pretty tasty too.

[bac0n]

A pal of mine has a great idea that I'd like to share, for those of you with some wholesale reseller account such as Sam's Club or CostCo, a weight scale, a meat grinder and a freezer.

Tip: Better Hamburger

They buy their beef boneless chuck in bulk, then run it all through the meat grinder to make hamburger out of it. They then divide it up into 1/3 pound balls using the scale and squish them down to paddies with the lid of a mayonnaise jar, wrap 'em up tight with plastic wrap and throw them in the freezer.

Then, when they want to make burgers, they thaw them out by turning a frying pan over and letting them sit on the frying pan bottom. The conductance of the metal thaws them out in no time. Otherwise, if they need hamburger for a recipe, three paddies make a pound.

And of course, since the hamburger is all from the same cut of beef, and not from who-knows-where like store-bought hamburger is, you run less the risk of ecoli, which means you don't need to cook the shit out of it. And plus, fresh-ground beef just plain old tastes better than the packaged stuff.

[Justin]

Here is a nice little sandwich I have been making recently, I am sure it has been done before, but I couldn't find anything on it. It is basically an egg in a basket combined with a grilled cheese.

Butter one side on two pieces of bread, insert cheese in the middle. Make a hole in the center of the sandwich(I use a shot glass). Put it on a frying pan and drop an egg in the hole, fry both sides, and eat.

[monolith94]

A couple weeks ago, we made some tzatziki sauce with lamb kebabs – delicious! We followed this recipe, and it worked out really well (although we halved it).

http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/20...ipe-greek.html

[Scar]

I whipped up a braised beef brisket. Had the rub on for 36 hours, and cooked it today. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find stretchy pants.