Hooray for hummus!

I was so disappointed after last night's hummus disaster, so imagine my delight when I went the the lunch room today, and saw that a huge spread of Greek food had been catered in for lunch!! There were lamb gyros, chicken shwarma, rice pilaf, tzatziki sauce, hummus, pita bread, and Greek salad. Oh, baby!

The food wasn't a big hit with my co-workers, but hey, all the better, because more food for me, bitches! Yeah! I had a huge plate of salad, a scoop of hummus, and a round of the most fabulously chewy pita bread. There were literally stacks of leftovers, so I was able to bring home an entire tray of hummus (leaving another tray and a half behind), about a dozen rounds of pita bread, and a big bowl of salad, which we happily dined on this evening.

Look at all that hummus!



Hooray for leftovers! And hooray for hummus!

Greek-ish Salad

Well, dinner tonight was a bust. Brad came home today (woohoo!), and had requested hummus, pita bread, and Greek salad. I make a kick-ass hummus, so I was happy to oblige, but it was an utter failure. I first realized that I didn't have garlic, so I tried to just substitute garlic powder instead. Bad, bad idea, I know. I hate garlic powder and think it makes everything taste awful, but I did it anyway. Then I decided to healthy it up a little by using liquid from the canned garbanzo beans instead of olive oil. Again, bad, bad idea. It's just not the same. And then I used too much of the liquid, and the hummus was terribly runny, so I tried to thicken it up by adding some chickpea flour. It did thicken it up, but it gave it this dry, beany, floury flavor. ICK.

So it was decided that I would run to the store and pick up some garlic and more garbanzo beans. Before I left, though, I figured that instead of letting the icky hummus go completely to waste, we could feed it to the dogs. So we put some scoops of it into the dogs' food bowls, along with their Puppy Chow. Yeah. Even the dogs wouldn't eat it. Talk about a recipe bomb!

I came back from the store and began mixing up the hummus, and only then did it occur to me that I had used the last of our tahini in the first disastrous batch of hummus. UGH! I tried to make it work anyway, by using just a spoonful of peanut butter (someone swore years ago that it's the only way to make fantastic hummus), and a drizzle of sesame oil, but yeah...it sucked.

Needless to say, we did NOT have hummus with dinner tonight. Instead I made a big salad of lettuce, grape tomatoes, green bell pepper, olives and garbanzo beans, tossed with red wine vinegar, olive oil and dill. Brad had feta in his, too. It was good, and very filling with some pita bread on the side, but we did really miss the hummus.

Spanakopita

Update! We had this for leftovers the next couple days, and it was fantastic! I mean, absolutely delicious! Who'd have thought the flavor would improve that much in the fridge? Go figure. And here's a pretty picture from this evening, when we're eating up leftovers.



[original post from 4/15 @ 7:11 PM]
Tonight's dinner was spanakopita. It was good. Not great, but pretty good. I'm going to try a different recipe next time I make it, but in the meantime, the recipe I used is below.

I looked at other recipes after tasting this, and saw that most of them don't call for cottage cheese and cream cheese, nor do they use as many eggs, so I'm definitely trying one of those next time. I felt like the feta got lost in there among the other cheeses, and come on, isn't the feta what we came for in the first place?

I also think that next time I'll spritz the phyllo dough with olive oil instead of brushing it with butter. That'll be faster and easier, as well as a little healthier.

It didn't taste spectacular, but it sure is pretty, isn't it?





Spanakopita

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
5 eggs
3 10-oz packages of frozen, chopped spinach, defrosted and drained
8 ounces cream cheese
8 ounces feta cheese
8 ounces cottage cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
1 1-lb box phyllo pastry
1 stick butter, melted

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook and stir several minutes, until the onion is soft and begins to brown. Set aside.

With a handheld mixer, beat the eggs until fluffy. Add spinach, cream cheese, feta and parmesan. Stir to combine thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350.

Using a pastry brush, butter a large, shallow baking dish. Line the bottom of the pan with half the box of phyllo, brushing with butter between each layer. Add spinach filling. Cover with remaining phyllo, brushing with butter between each layer.

Bake 50 minutes, or until crispy and golden brown on top.

Greek Hummus Pizza

I've had Greek Salad pitas on my menu for who knows how long now, but haven't ever gotten around to making them for some reason. They just always seemed to be the meal that got pushed back...and back and back and back. Today, though, I struck on the idea of making a Greek pizza, using hummus instead of pizza sauce. I've made Greek pizzas before, and just used a light olive oil glaze instead of pizza sauce, but I thought the hummus would add a nice dimension to it. And I was right!



This pizza is delicious! The hummus really did add to the overall taste of the pizza, but without overpowering it. I used about one cup of hummus, but you could use more or less to suit your taste. For the crust, I made a really quick, no-knead pizza dough recipe, and doubled the batch so the kids could make their own mini pizzas with the toppings of their choice. I baked the remaining dough by itself, spritzed lightly with olive oil and sprinkled with salt, for breadsticks.

Here are the kids' pizzas! Aren't they cute? They did such a great job! These are little mini pizza stones, about 8" in diameter, and perfect for personal pizzas. Love it!



Greek Hummus Pizza

1 recipe pizza dough
1 cup hummus
3 cups mozzarella cheese, divided
mushrooms, sliced
green bell pepper, diced
roasted red pepper, sliced
tomato, diced
red onion, diced
kalamata olives, halved
1/2 cup feta cheese

Prepare pizza dough. Press into a circle on a pizza pan or baking stone. Preheat oven to 425. Pre-bake pizza dough for 5 minutes before adding toppings.

After dough has pre-baked, spread the hummus over it in an even layer. Top with 2 cups of the mozzarella cheese, followed by the vegetables, and then the feta cheese. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese over all.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and crust is brown.

Hummus

Hummus

1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1/4 cup tahini
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Pulse garlic in food processor to mince. Add remaining ingredients except olive oil, and puree. Once blended, drizzle in olive oil to the desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Variation: For a spicier hummus, add 1 to 2 Tbsp chipotle chilies, chopped, or 1 tsp of chipotle chile powder.

Spicy Lamb Burgers

1 pound ground lamb (can substitute ground beef if necessary)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon sherry
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon molasses
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 pita bread rounds
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Preheat grill for medium heat.

Place the lamb in a large bowl, and mix with the mint, cilantro, oregano, garlic, sherry, vinegar, and molasses. Season with cumin, allspice, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper, and mix well. Shape into 4 patties.

Brush grill grate with oil. Grill burgers 5 minutes on each side, or until well done. Heat the pita pocket briefly on the grill. Serve burgers wrapped in pitas with feta cheese.

Greek Salad

8 cups romaine lettuce, torn
3 Roma tomatoes, diced
¼ cup Feta cheese, crumbled
1 cucumber, sliced
1 handful pitted Kalamata olives
2 Tbsp fresh dill
Olive oil

Toss all ingredients together in a large salad bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat.

Dolmades

(Stuffed Grape Leaves)

1/4 cup plus 1 cup olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 cup long-grain rice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 tablespoon minced mint
2 lemons, juiced
1 (8-ounce) jar grape leaves, or 36 medium-sized fresh leaves

In a large pan over medium high heat, heat 1/4-cup olive oil. Add the onions and sauté until translucent, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and pine nuts and sauté for 2 minutes. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and allow to cool slightly. Add the rice, salt, raisins, mint and juice of 1 lemon to the bowl with the onion mixture and mix well. Set aside.

Bring a medium pot of water to a simmer. Remove the grape leaves from the jar and drop them in batches of 4 or 5 into the hot water. Quickly remove them from the water and spread flat on a towel-lined work surface. Cut the stem from each grape leaf, as needed. (NOTE: Fresh grape leaves also need to be blanched for 1/2 minute.)

To assemble the dolmades, place 1 grape leaf on the work surface, dull side (or underside) of the leaf up. Place 1 to 2 teaspoons of rice filling near the stem end of the leaf. Fold the stem (bottom) end up over the filling, fold the sides toward the filling in the center, then roll up the leaf into a small cylindrical package, being careful not to fold too tightly, as the rice will expand during cooking.

Place the dolmades in a large Dutch oven or wide saute pan, seam side down. Combine the remaining cup of olive oil and juice of 1 lemon, and pour over the dolmades. Cover with a heavy plate or baking dish and add water to cover to the level of the plate. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 1 hour, or until rice is tender.

Serve at room temperature.

Baba Ghanouj

Cooking spray
2 eggplants, cut in half lengthwise (about 2 pounds)
1 garlic clove
¼ c tahini
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ tsp salt
paprika

Coat a grill rack with cooking spray, and place on grill over medium-hot coals. Place eggplant, cut sides up, on rack; grill, covered, 20 minutes or until very tender. Remove from grill and cool slightly. Peel eggplant and set aside.

Drop garlic through food chute with food processor on; process until minced. Add eggplant, tahini, lemon juice and salt; process 45 seconds or until smooth, scraping sides of bowl once. Transfer to a bowl; cover and chill. Sprinkle with paprika. Serve with pita bread wedges or sliced veggies.