Aug/091431
Haydari - Turkish Yogurt with Garlic and Dill
This absolutely delicious recipe is shared by Elisa, a wonderful mom, wife, teacher, friend and cook…
We just returned from a trip to Turkey where we fell in love with this dish. It is so wonderful I serve it daily. Everyone else loves it, too, even the kids eat it up! It is great eaten immediately and holds well in the refrigerator for days – just like yogurt usually will. I like it best with a medium tart yogurt, and a little heavy on the salt. It is great made with full fat to nonfat yogurt. I especially love it on its own or in a bite with grilled lamb. It has inspired me to explore more ideas with plain yogurt – including making my own. YUM!
Haydari – Turkish yogurt with garlic and dill
(Recipe adapted from Binnur’s Turkish Cookbook)
2 cups creamy yogurt
3 – 5 medium garlic cloves, finely minced
½ tsp salt – to taste
4 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
Optional
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of crushed red pepper
Combine all the ingredients. Serve plain or with olive oil on top. Serve as a salad, side dish, or as a dip with pita slices, pita chips, or crudite.
Jul/090
Salads and healthy snacks
I like eating healthy, but find it difficult to do all the time because I just don’t crave all that healthy stuff, like wheat and greens and apparently, quinoa (disasterous quinoa experience the other night, I’ll try it again later). So I’ve developed a few tricks to fool myself into eating better on a regular basis. I keep healthy staples on-hand (and very few no-no items) and put them together in ways that do taste delicious to me. Here are my tricks, hope you can use them.
Arugula and Goat Cheese Salad
1. I keep greens around. I feel too guilty to let them go bad (though there are some weeks I let it slip), so I force myself to whip together a small salad for lunch. Here’s my favorite salad combo that’s super easy to make and really tastes great. Sub any of the items for your favorite type of greenery, nut, fruit, soft cheese, etc.
Arugula and Goat Cheese Salad
Arugula
Goat Cheese
Pecans
Dried tart cherries
Sesame Miso Dressing (or any dressing on the healthier side - you know, low-cholesterol, low-fat, etc.) This particular miso dressing, by Follow Your Heart, is also preservative and dairy-free, and tastes like it has bacon in it, it’s so delicious.
2. I make snack mixes, aka trail mixes. Dan loves these and so does Ryan. I follow suit, because I eat what I’m making them for snack!
Easy Snack Mix
unsalted, unsweetened nuts
unsweeted dried fruit
pretzels
plain or multi-grain cheerio-type cereal
and because you need a little sweetness, a few chocolate chips (dark are healthier) or Annie’s Bunny Graham Friends
Jul/090
Super easy beef and veggie meatballs for the kids
Like most toddlers at some point, Ryan is going through a “food phase”. He’s barely eating anything currently. Just a month ago, we were bragging about how he’d eat anything, and a lot of it.
But one thing he still loves to eat is beef - burgers, meatballs - especially with ketchup. So I decided to hide some veggies in meatballs tonight, and they turned out rather deliciously, if I do say so myself. He loved them, and gobbled up three in no time!
Beef and Veggie Meatballs
1/2 lb of beef at room temperature (we use 22% because they make such juicy burgers, but anything’ll do)
1/2 cup veggies (I used frozen corn, peas and brussel sprouts, but of course the possibilities are endless)
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat an iron pan (or if you don’t have one, a non-stick pan with a little cooking spray).
Toss the veggies into a small food processor or blender and chop until very fine. Incorporate all the ingredients in a bowl and form into 1-inch balls (I was able to get 14 meatballs).
Cook the meatballs over medium heat, turning every 2-3 minutes, until all sides are browned and the center of one that you cut into reveals that it is cooked completely, about 10-12 minutes. If you’re going to freeze them all, undercook them just slightly, so that when you reheat them in the microwave, they don’t overcook.
I refrigerated half and froze the other for future meals!
Jul/091
sushi @ home
Dan and I recently took a sushi class at Let’s Get Cookin’ (LGC), and found that the making of sushi, sashimi, rolls and rice is way easier than we thought. We first attempted it at home for just the two of us, just in case we royally screwed it up (which happens a lot when you’re trying new things!). It turned out pretty fantastic. For us, a good roll means that the rice is slightly warm and perfectly sticky, but not so moist that the Nori (seaweed wrappers) get soggy and chewy. The fish must be extra fresh and cold, and a sauce, if any, shouldn’t be too overpowering that you can’t taste the fish. For sushi, same goes for the rice and fish, and sashimi (Steph’s favorite), should be thin thin thin and freshly drenched in a lemony ponzu sauce.
Here are some tips on the rice, which we found to be the most difficult part. We’ve made sushi at home three times now and that seems to be the biggest variable.
1. Wash the rice REALLY well. Rinse and drain at least 5 times under cold water. Ideally, you’re supposed to wash it until the excess water is clear. This removes the starch on the outside of the grains, to prevent it from becoming too sticky.
2. While the rice is cooking, combine 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 3 tbsp of granulated sugar and 1 tsp salt in a small sauce pan and heat until sugar and salt are dissolved. Move the rice into a wooden bowl and with a flat wooden spoon, fold the rice into itself gently to cool it. Drizzle in the vinegar mixture and fold it in until the rice is cool enough to handle.
3. Don’t mash the rice - it will become gummy.
4. Keep a damp cloth covering the rice bowl, and it will keep for up to one hour.
5. When you’re working with the rice to make the sushi or rolls, keep a cup of warm water nearby to rinse your hands before and after handling the rice - or you’ll end up a huge mess.
High quality ingredients are important. LGC shared some vendors with us and we found them all to be awesome.
99 Ranch Market
6450 Sepulveda Blvd
Van Nuys, CA 91411-1300
(818) 988-7899 *they have many other locations, but this is the closest to us
Recommended for all the ingredients you’ll need for a sushi night at home, except for the fish. Not that the fish is bad there, but it’s pre-wrapped so you won’t be able to smell it to ensure its freshness. Plus, there are other places that specialize in super fresh fish (see below).
OceanFresh
2810 East Los Angeles Ave.
Simi Valley, CA 93065
(805) 584-FISH
A small place with a beautiful counter of fish - I’m sure they’ll have everything you’ll need. And I am told they get their fish fresh each morning from Hawaii. That just sounds nice, doesn’t it? And they make their own sauces, and have a variety of fish ecroutements for sale.
May/090
Salmon Baked in Couscous
We are partial to raw salmon, and rarely eat it cooked. However, this dish really highlights what we do like about the fish - rich flavor and flakey meat. Baking it in the couscous keeps it moist and from overcooking. Try experimenting with different ingredients to the couscous. We love adding raisins, dried apricots and pine nuts.
We’ve also done this dish with chicken and it works well.
Salmon Baked in Couscous
½ bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
¼ cup golden raisins, coarsely chopped
¼ cup chopped kalamata olives
3 tablespoons chopped sundried tomatoes
3 tablespoons chopped dried apricots
3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 lemon, juiced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 ½ cups couscous
2 cups water
(or, instead of all these ingredients, use a packaged couscous with raisins and nuts)
2 (6-ounce) salmon filets skinned
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, stir together first 7 ingredients (through salt and pepper). Stir in the couscous to moisten completely and season generously with salt and pepper. (Or simply prepare the packaged couscous).
Put the salmon in a single layer in a smallish buttered baking dish. The filets should not touch one another. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil. Spoon the couscous mixture over the top of the fish so that it completely covers them and fills in the whole dish at the same time. Pour over the water (not needed if using a packaged couscous). Drizzle with olive oil. Put the dish in the oven and bake 25 minutes.