Showing posts with label Tsatsiki. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tsatsiki. Show all posts

Greek Omelets with Tomato, Avo and Tsatsiki .... It's what's for dinner.

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I am always on the lookout for a good quinoa recipe.  I also LOVE omelets.  This to me, seemed like a match made in heaven.  And I was right.  I loved this!  It wasn't complicated to make either.  Just do it in the five steps listed below and you'll be fine.

This recipe was my inspiration, and while I followed the ingredient list, I didn't follow any of the measurements.  I thought it looked like a recipe that would be easy enough to do with out measuring and I was right.  I'll give you estimates, but if you want exact measurements, go to the original recipe.  Also, I make my tsatsiki different.

I made four omelets and we had enough quinoa leftover to eat as part of two lunches today.

What you'll need for the tsatsiki:
Greek yoghurt
Cucumber
Garlic
A Lemon
Salt and Pepper

What you'll need for the omelets:
12 eggs (if you are making four omelets ... basically, it's three eggs per omelet)
Milk
Butter
Quinoa
Baby Spinach Leaves
Kalamata Olives
Roasted Red Bell Peppers (Capsicum)
Sun Dried Tomatoes, in oil
Feta Cheese
Pine Nuts
Dried Oregano
Dried Basil
Salt and Pepper
Shredded Cheese
Cherry Tomatoes
Avocado

Cook the quinoa ... I cook my quinoa in the rice cooker.  You can cook it however you like, but get that started.  For the four of us, I did two of the rice cooker measuring cups of uncooked quinoa.  

Make the tsatsiki ... I used four or five big spoonfuls of greek yoghurt, added about a 1/4 of a large continental cucumber (finely diced), squeezed in some minced garlic (to tasted) and then the juice of what ended up being 1/2 a lemon.  I just kept tasting as I went.  Add a tiny bit of salt and pepper ... again, to taste

Make the quinoa salad ... to your cooked quinoa, add chopped spinach (I probably used 2 cups) kalamata olives (sliced) and a couple of spoonfuls of the brine out of the olive jar, roasted red bell peppers (chopped), sun dried tomatoes (chopped) and a couple spoonfuls of the oil out of the sd tomato jar, crumbled feta cheese, pine nuts, the herbs and salt and pepper.  I just kept adding and stirring and tasting until I like what I saw and tasted. 

Make the omelets ...
(Do this for each individual omelet) Whisk three eggs, a blub of milk and a pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl.  Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat and add a scoop of butter.  The original recipe said to add 1 tablespoon of butter but we were at the end of the butter dish so I probably only used a teaspoon for each omelet and I would do the same next time. Once butter is melted, pour egg mixture into pan.  Tip the pan up and around so that the uncooked egg goes up the side of the pan and cooks. Using a spatula, push the cooked egg down towards the middle of the pan.  Tip the pan again to repeat this process until there is no runny egg left.  I found that when the runny stuff was gone, the egg in the middle was still a bit wetter than I liked so I left it to cook just a little bit longer. (this is when I whisked the eggs and milk for the next omelet!) Sprinkle with a little bit of shredded cheese.  Let that melt for a minute or two and then slide the omelet onto a big plate.  Add butter to the fry pan and start again .... 

To assemeble ... Add a few scoops of quinoa salad to one side of your omelet.  Fold the empty side over the quiona.  Top with halved cherry tomatoes, slices of avocado and tsatsiki.

Yum Yum Yum.

PS. The omelets cooked up pretty quick but I still had each person grab theirs and start eating straight away.  Omelets are always better hot!  They are quite big portions too ... my omelet was made last and I still finished eating it before my daughter who had been served second! In fact, she never finished eating ... it was too big a serve.  She saved about 1/4 of it for today.


Non-Meatball Greek Chicken

 

It's been necessary that I cook out of the freezer/pantry this week ... The other morning I pulled out chicken mince and a box of frozen spinach with the intention of making Spanikopita Meatballs.  When I got to time to cook dinner, I had run out of time !!  I decided to try a short cut.  It worked.  Instead of making meatballs and baking them in the oven, I just cooked everything in the big electric fry pan.  It tasted THE SAME !  Just not rolled up into balls !

So, here's what I did ...

chicken mince (ground chicken), 500g
red onion, diced
garlic cloves, diced
frozen spinach, thawed
greek seasoning
olive oil

Sautee garlic and onion in olive oil for a couple minutes then add the chicken mince.  When chicken is almost cooked through, add the spinach and seasoning.  Cook until chicken is fully cooked. 

Serve on rice with soy sauce and tsatsiki ...
Easty Tsatsiki 
No measurements ... just mix greek yoghurt, finely diced cucumber and a couple squeezes of lemon juice.


Quinoa Crusted Falafel


I had planned to make falafel one night and realized, too late to be bothered to go to the store, that I didn't have any breadcrumbs, or bread to be able to make breadcrumbs ... so, I improvised. And it was good. I have crusted chicken fingers with quinoa before and though I didn't do it exactly like that, it was my inspiration !

Here's what you do ...

Cook your quinoa. I think I cooked one cup.

For the Falafel :
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons canola oil
1 small onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained ( these are also called chickpeas )
quinoa, cooked
salt and pepper
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 egg, lightly beaten

Prepare the falafel. In a medium skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of canola oil. Add the onion and garlic and cook over moderate heat just until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the cumin and cayenne and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Scrape the onion mixture into the bowl of a food processor. Add the beans and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped but not smooth. Scrape the mixture into a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Form the mixture into 6 1/4-cup patties, about 1/2 inch thick.

Put the flour, and beaten egg into 2 shallow bowls. Lay your cooked quinoa out on a cutting board or some baking paper/tin foil. Dust each bean cake with the flour, tapping off the excess. Dip the cakes in the egg and then press gently into the quinoa - do both sides.

In a very large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil until shimmering. Add the cakes and cook over moderate heat, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

We ate this with a green salad and tsatsiki.

spankikopita meatballs with tsatsiki dressing

Rory and I made an interesting discovery last night. When you have a gas stove and you run out of gas, you can't cook on your stove anymore til you get more gas. We discovered this half way through making dinner !! We were making this. So ... Rory took the half cooked chicken out to the BBQ and finished cooking it. I cooked the Israeli cous cous in the microwave. Thank goodness I'd already finished cooking up the lemon.capers.almonds in butter. They're the best bit !!

The new gas bottle doesn't come until THURSDAY ! Good thing tonight's meal was one for the oven and tomorrow's can be done on the BBQ !!

These meatballs are yum. I loved them. I served them with tsatsiki, rice and roasted garlic brocolli. I need to stop. I'm making myself hungry again !

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I found this amazing recipe here.

Here's how I did mine ...

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely dinced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
500g ground chicken
1 tbsp hoyts BBQ and grill greek giro sprinkle (i tried to find this online to show you but came up empty ...i'm sure any sort of greek seasoning will do ...)

Preheat oven to 400F/200C degrees.

Defrost the spinach in the microwave, squeeze out excess water. Place in a large mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix really well.

Roll into about 18 (1 1/2 inch) meatballs and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes, turn over and bake for another 10-14 minutes or until the meatballs are golden brown and cooked all the way through.


Fa la la la la la la fel Salad ... You have to sing the name !

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I got this recipe HERE ... I'm copying and pasting the recipe ...

Falafel Salad

For the Tsatsiki Dressing:
1 container Greek yogurt
1/4 cup minced cucumber
1 tablespoon minced fresh mint
juice of 1 lemon
pinch salt

For the Falafel :
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons canola oil
1 small onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained ( these are also called chickpeas )
2/3 cup dry bread crumbs
salt and pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 egg white, lightly beaten

For the Salad:
3 cups baby greens, such as baby arugula (called rocket in Australia)
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly
1/4 cup chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped seedless cucumbers

I didn't worry about my cucumber being seedless ... I just used some nice continental cucumber. I also added some kalamata olives to our salads just because I love 'em !

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To prepare the dressing, combine all ingredients in the bottom of a large salad bowl, stirring with a fork until well combined.

Next, prepare the falafel. In a medium skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of canola oil. Add the onion and garlic and cook over moderate heat just until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the cumin and cayenne and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Scrape the onion mixture into the bowl of a food processor. Add 1 cup of the beans and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped but not smooth. Scrape the mixture into a medium bowl. Mix in the remaining whole garbanzo beans and 1/4 cup of bread crumbs. Season with salt and pepper. Form the mixture into 6 1/4-cup patties, about 1/2 inch thick.

Put the flour, beaten egg white and remaining bread crumbs into 3 shallow bowls. Dust each bean cake with the flour, tapping off the excess. Dip the cakes in the egg and then in the bread crumbs, pressing so that the bread crumbs adhere.

In a very large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil until shimmering. Add the cakes and cook over moderate heat, until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels.

Meanwhile, toss the baby greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions in the tsatsiki dressing. (I didn't do this, we just had it on top ...) Divide the dressed vegetables between two plates. Top each plate with 3 falafel patties.

And her recipe for Pita Chips to serve with the salad. They were delicious ... I didn't get any photos of mine ... next time !!

Grilled Pita Chips

2 pitas
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

Prepare the grill. Meanwhile, combine the cumin, paprika and sea salt in a small bowl. Next, brush both sides of the pitas with the olive oil. Sprinkle the cumin mixture over both sides of the pitas. Grill the pitas for 2 to 3 minutes per side. Cut into wedges and serve warm, preferably with your favorite hummus.

(We did these under the broiler)