Baba Ganoush

Posted on June 2, 2016 by jacky grace

I love Greek and Middle Eastern food and I love eggplant.

So baba ganoush is right there in my wheel house.

I order it every time we are out at a Greek or Turkish restaurant, but for some reason I never thought to try making it. It’s funny, meme (husband’s grandmother) always made hummus and yogurt dips, but she never made baba ganoush. I guess because she, master chef, never made it, I assumed it was hard.

It’s essentially a fire-roasted or grilled eggplant puree mixed with tahini.

Well, I hosted Greek Easter this year for the first time, and, ya know, since I didn’t have enough to do what with all the other food, I turned to my husband and said I’m making baba ganoush.

Have I got news for you all: it’s so easy!

No, seriously.

You don’t need a grill or even a stove with gas burners.

All you need:

1 eggplant
2 tablespoons tahini (or more or less to taste)
salt
white pepper
food processor

Preheat your oven to 450.

Slice the eggplant in half lengthwise and then score the flesh with your knife in a cross hatch pattern, not going all the way through to the skin. Drizzle with a little olive oil.

Place cut side down on a foil-lined cookie sheet and place in the oven.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the eggplant has basically collapsed.

Let cool then flip it over and scrape out the awesomely roasted eggplant with a fork.

Place the scooped out eggplant into the food processor

And add the tahini, salt and pepper. Blend until smooth.

Serve immediately or put it in the fridge to chill. Amazing with veggies or with pita.

Greek Tacos

Posted on August 26, 2015 by jacky grace

Yes, you read that title correctly.

Greek. Tacos.

Hear me out.

A gyro is seasoned meat, either beef or lamb, lettuce, tomatoes and sauce inside a pita.

A taco is seasoned meat, lettuce, tomatoes and sauce inside a tortilla.

All the Greeks out there shuddered. But whatever. This dinner was damn good.

I love a good gyro. The meat that’s been rotating and cooking on a spit all day, dripping glorious juices and layered with delicious seasonings. But it’s not exactly something i can easily make in my tiny kitchen.

Or so I had thought at first.

Sure, I couldn’t have that glorious rotating beef, but, I could use ground beef like i would for tacos and swap the Mexican seasonings for Greek seasonings to give it the Greek flavor profile.

Genius. I know.

You will need

one onion, diced
one pound ground beef
one tablespoon coriander
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
dice tomato
shredded lettuce
pita
tzatziki (cucumber yogurt sauce)

Drizzle olive oil in a pan and add your diced onions, cooking over medium heat until browned.

Add your ground beef, coriander and salt and pepper.

Cook until meat is cooked through and browned.

Se the table with the meat mixture, lettuce, tomatoes, yogurt sauce and pita, to make a build-your-own gyro stand.

Stuff the pita with your favorite fillings and enjoy.

And don’t try to tell me that isn’t a Greek taco.

Kalamata Olive, Feta, Arugula Pizza

Posted on April 12, 2014 by jacky grace

Friday night in my house has always been pizza night.

Which is very convenient during Lent when you need meat free dinners on Friday nights!

Now, pizza every Friday can sound a little boring.

But the thing about pizza is the possibilities are endless.

Mushroom ricotta, tomato basil, broccoli mozzarella…

Or, for something a little different, how about a Greek pizza?

Kalamata olives, feta and arugula.

Preheat the oven to 425.

Stretch out your dough and sprinkle with feta.

Add some pitted and chopped Kalamata olives

And then toss into the oven for about 10 minutes. We want to cook most of the way.

Then we’re going to remove form the oven, and sprinkle with arugula and add a drizzle of olive oil.

Back in the oven for another 4 minutes or so to wilt the arugula.

Then slice and enjoy.

A blend of Greece and Italy.

Hey, just like me and my fiance!

Christmas!

Posted on December 30, 2013 by jacky grace

I know this is a few days late. But I hope you will cut me some slack. I wrapped, I cooked, I cleaned, and then Iumped around.

That’s right. I cooked!

Christmas dinner came out of the Itty Bitty City Kitchen this year!

And there was no skimping on the food just because it’s a small space, oh no! It’s Christmas! There needs to be an overabundance of food. I mean, I’m Italian. And my fiance is Greek and Armenian. It’s all about the food on both sides.

So I have to admit, I was a little nervous to cook the big holiday dinner. I mean, you get one Christmas dinner a year. Talk about pressure!

And I knew this year would be a little harder without meme here with us. So instead of worrying and stressing, I took a deep breath and decided to do Christmas my way. I talked to meme about it first. She told me not to worry and to do it my way.

Seriously.

I tend to talk to her when I’m in the kitchen. Cooking was a passion we both shared. That and our love for family, especially for Christopher. My god, I’ve never seen a grandmother love her grandsons so fiercely.

But anyway. The food. We decided to do a combination of Greek and Armenian mezze and Italian antipasto, a fusion of our families.

It started with meme’s hummus. That is the only hummus recipe you will ever need.

Then we added pita, olives, salami, prosciutto, and basturma (a seasoned and cured meat)

The we brought out the brie (the Armenian side of the family went to France after the genocide so there’s a mix of French and Armenian there), mozzarella, provolone, kasseri (a Greek sheep’s milk cheese) and Armenian String Cheese (no, I did not make that up)

We left this array of munchies out and everyone picked at it while we relaxed, drank some wine and, of course, opened presents!

After gifts were exchanged and thank yous were said, I got started on dinner.

I actually started dinner a few days prior by making a big pot of meatballs and gravy. I just doubled my usual recipe. I also fried up some sweet Italian sausage and added that to the pot of gravy as well.

I stored it in the fridge for three days, so the flavors could, okay dad’s word all together now, fester. Then on Christmas morning I pulled out the pot and pot it over a low flame, stirring occasionally, and filling the whole apartment with that awesome smell of meatballs and gravy.

To accompany the meatballs, I went with stuffed shells. They don’t require boiling. You throw some gravy on them and throw them in the oven, so you’re not standing at the stove and then draining pasta and dirtying another pot like you would if you were making raviolis say.

Instead, preheat the oven to 350 (or follow the directions on your package), pull out an aluminum baking tray, and layer gravy, shells and then more gravy in the pan. Top with mozzarella (because we didn’t eat enough cheese) and bake for about 45 minutes.

The cheese will get bubbly and melty.

And despite the amount of mezze/antipasto consumed, everyone will find room for a meatball or 2 or 3 and a few shells.

And as if that wasn’t enough, for dessert we had fruit salad, chocolate chips and Dad’s Favorite – the Cheesecake Thing

So, don’t be intimidated. Cook what you love. Cook what makes you happy.

And you can have an Itty Bitty City Kitchen Christmas too!

Buon Natale

Kalá Christoúgenna

Shnorhavor Surb Tsnund

Joyeux Noël

Tahini

Posted on June 4, 2013 by jacky grace

When I made falafel, I told you that the tahini was optional.

I said this because not everyone is a fan of tahini or even knows what it is.

But I’m slightly obsessed with it. Even before I started dating my Greek Armenian boyfriend, even before I had his meme’s homemade babaganoush and hummus, I was in love. With tahini, not him. I love him, but I’m talking about my love of tahini right now.

It’s enough to dedicate a whole post to it.

Tahini is like peanut butter that’s made with sesame seeds instead of peanuts.

That’s all it is, is ground sesame seeds and oil. You can make your own if you’re feeling adventurous. http://mideastfood.about.com/od/dipsandsauces/r/tahinirecipe.htm

It’s nothing exotic or crazy, though it does play a large role in the unfamiliar to most flavors of middle eastern food.

But I have one word for you, you who are wrinkling your nose at tahini.

Hummus.

Tahini plays a huge role in hummus. There’s a hummus craze right now if you haven’t noticed. Long a staple at the middle eastern table and a key player in any mezze spread (think Greek version of Italian antipasto), hummus has made its way to our grocery shelves, to our diet menus and to our daily routines. Carrot sticks and hummus. I bet someone in your office brings that for lunch.

Hummus is essentially chickpeas, garlic and tahini.

Tahini has such a complexly rich flavor. It’s more intense than peanut butter, a tad smoky even. It’s a flavor that can’t be substituted.

I have a minor love affair with tahini. I’ve always loved the flavor, but even more so recently. I’ve always loved peanut butter. Slathered on celery, melted on a warm English muffin, straight from the jar. But sometimes peanut butter gives me a tummy ache.

Sad. I know.

Craving my usual celery peanut butter snack but being wary of how it would affect my stomach, I grabbed the tahini from the fridge. Brad’s Organics makes great tahini and it even comes in a jar that resembles peanut butter packaging. Great if your kid has a peanut allergy and doesn’t want to feel left out or different.

I dipped the celery in the tahini and it was love at first bite. Carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, pita bread. So good.

Tahini makes a fantastic salad dressing. A tablespoon of tahini, some lemon juice and some black pepper is a nice change to your usual side salad. Use it as a sandwich spread. Mix with tuna fish instead of mayo and stuff in a pita with some sprouts for a Middle Eastern twist on the typical tuna sandwich.

If you’re getting bored with the typical flavors of your kitchen, try tahini and bring a little Middle Eastern flair to your lunchbox.

It’s a great item to have in your itty bitty city kitchen arsenal because it has a long shelf life and it’s extremely versatile.

Most importantly, though, it’s delicious!

φάω

fáo

(That’s eat in Greek!)

Itty Bitty City Kitchen

tiny kitchen, BIG CULINARY ASPIRATIONS

Tag Archives: greek

Baba Ganoush

Greek Tacos

Kalamata Olive, Feta, Arugula Pizza

Christmas!

Tahini