Saturday Morning Sides

I’ve been on a Mediterranean food kick of late.

This morning I was in the mood to put together some foods to have on hand over the next few days. Since I am off work, it makes sense to do something – particularly when I want to do something! So, I put together a couple of sides, one which we like to have on hand, and another we had in a restaurant the other night.

First side was to make some tzatziki. This is so easy it’s ridiculous, and really worth the bit of time to make it from scratch, because scratch is always better.

Tzatziki

2 c. Greek yogurt (I used homemade!)
1 large English cucumber
5-7 cloves garlic
1 T. fresh dill
juice of 2 lemons
salt
pepper
olive oil

Grate the cucumber. Place in strainer, mix with about a tsp. of salt. Place where the liquid from the cucumber can drain while you do the rest of the prep. Let the cucumbers sit for about 30 minutes.

Finely mince the garlic – we use a microplane. Juice the lemons. Chop the dill. Stir in the yogurt.

Rinse the cucumbers. Squeeze out as much liquid as you can. If you like, put the cucumbers onto a towel, or paper toweling, and squeeze and press out as much liquid as you can. Turn into yogurt-lemon-garlic-dill mixture. Pour in a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Mix well. Taste. Add salt as you wish, and pepper.

Refrigerate in container. Stir before using.

The next thing I did was throw together a sort of tapenade, mixed up from what I had on hand.

Sun-Dried Tomato, Anchovy, and Olive Tapenade

8 oz. / 1 c. sun-dried tomatoes in oil – use all of it
1 small can of anchovy fillets
2-3 T. capers
20 kalamata olives, pitted (if already pitted, slice them where the seeds might be – you don’t want them messing up your food processor!)
2-3 cloves garlic
1-2 finely chopped cayenne peppers (optional)
2 T. balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste; olive oil to thin to your liking

In a mini-blender, put in tomatoes, anchovies, capers, garlic, olives, peppers, and vinegar. Whir together into a chunky paste. Taste. Add seasoning as you wish, and to thin, you may add some of the oil from the anchovies or a bit of olive oil on the side. Refrigerate for a few hours to meld flavors. Store in closed container for up to a week. Good on crackers or bread or straight out of the jar.

And there you have it – Saturday morning sides when you have nothing better to do!

Me & My Cookie Scoop: Gluten-Free Almond Butter Cookies

I don’t like peanut butter. I’m off gluten. I love cookies.

It’s a hot, Sunday afternoon, and I am lolling around, overheated and sleepy.

What is a girl to do?

Well, one of the best – really the best gluten-free chocolate chip cookies can be found at My Gluten Free Kitchen – peanut butter cookies at My Gluten Free Kitchen so I went there in search of some kind of nut butter cookies, but finding only peanut butter, used the recipe as a basis for my own. The major differences are different gluten-free flour and use of almond butter and slivered almonds instead of peanut butter and peanut butter baking chips. (Ugh! You just don’t know how much I dislike peanut butter!!) But, these are pretty good, if I do not-so-modestly say so myself.

Gluten-Free Almond Butter Cookies

1.5 c. Bob’s Red Mill 1-for-1 Gluten-Free Flour
1/2 t. baking powder
3/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. softened, unsalted butter
1 c. almond butter (unsalted from Trader Joe’s)
3/4 c. white sugar
1/2 c. dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 T. cream / half-and-half
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 350F. Beat together butter, almond butter, and sugars till creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla until fluffy. Add the flour, soda, salt, powder, and beat until well blended. Stir in slivered almonds

Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes. Gluten-free baking – at least cookies – seem to do better with chilled dough. Use a cookie scoop or a couple of teaspoons to make your cookies.

If you like, roll your cookies in granulated sugar before baking.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. Be sure to make test cookies! Let cool a few minutes on cookie sheet, then remove to wire rack to cool.

When done – devour!!

Little Rags

About a month ago I was browsing through different food blogs and came across what seemed to me to be a perfect dish. Not Chinese Egg Drop Soup, which is thickened with cornstarch and, to me, rather unappealing. Not Greek Lemon Egg Soup, which I love, but didn’t have the taste for at lunch – though I do love lemon, and have lemons on the counter top. What I wanted was something simple and quick and made with ingredients on hand.

Enter Stracciatelle – “little rags” in Italian. A simple soup that takes about 5 minutes if you have stock, some greens or parsley, an egg, and some Romano or Parmesan cheese.

Besides being easy to make, it is damned fun to say! The Italian language just lends itself to enTHUsiasm!

Stracciatelle

I made this for myself at lunch – just multiply the amounts for each person if it going to be main meal, or maybe a little less for an appetizer.

1 – 1.5 c. chicken broth
handful of spinach, or some parsley, or some basil
1 egg
2-3 T. grated Romano cheese

Beat together the egg and cheese. Set aside. Put broth in sauce pan, bring to a simmer, dump in the green vegetables. Stir. As you stir, pour in the egg-cheese mixture. Cook until the egg is done and looks like its namesake – little rags.

Serve with fresh pepper and perhaps, if you want, a bit extra cheese.

Honey Bourbon Peach BBQ Sauce

Monday is the beer brewer’s birthday, so we are doing a small gathering of the clan for a barbecue. With any BBQ, you need a smoker, BBQ sauce, and pork ribs. (At least we think so!) So, Mr. put together a rub and I am simmering the BBQ sauce as we speak. As with all my recipes, this is a bit of this and that, and while I sort of followed a recipe, I sort of did my own thing. I like my sauce sweet and sour and hot all at once, and lately I have been in a real mood for peaches and bourbon for a sauce, so here is my attempt!

Honey Bourbon Peach BBQ Sauce

2 sweet onions, finely chopped
4-6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
8 peaches, peeled, pitted, chopped
2 c. tomato sauce
3/4 c. honey
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
1/4 – 1/2 c. bourbon
1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce
2 small hot chili peppers, seeded and chopped (I used Black Cobra)
1-2 T. hot chili flakes
2 T. chipotle chili powder or a few chipotles from a can
1 t. pepper
1-2 T. ground ginger
1/2 t. salt

Method

Saute together onions, garlic and chopped tomatoes (if used) until soft and translucent. Place chopped peaches and onion-garlic-tomato mixture in with peaches. Blend until smooth and creamy. You may need to blend in small batches; as each batch is done, put into large pan. Once all the blending is done, leave about 1/4 of the blender filled and add remainder of ingredients. Blend until smooth. Pour into pan with rest of sauce. Simmer on stove top for about 30 minutes. Taste it as it begins to cook – you may need to adjust the flavors to your own liking.

Cool.

Yield: about 6 c. (from what I am guestimating)

Cauliflower Rice Risotto

I am not a big fan of cauliflower, but I adore a good risotto. As we (the DH et moi) are changing our diet a bit, rice is off the menu (for now). Truthfully, most “substitutes” for other foods made in a traditional manner really are not good, as far as we are concerned, but we were both pretty pleased with this recipe, made by yours truly.

One of the most off-putting about cauliflower rice risottos is that they are too wet. Almost soggy. And never are they any good as leftovers. So, this recipe is good for 2 people as a side. Let me know what you think!

Cauliflower Rice Risotto

1/2 stick of butter
8 oz. riced cauliflower (I used a half of a Trader Joe’s packet)
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1/4 medium onion, chopped fine
Romano or Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 c. plain, whole milk yogurt
2-4 T. chicken stock

Ahead of time, fry up the mushrooms and onions in a very hot frying pan with the butter. Heat the pan first, put in the butter, and let it melt. When it begins to sizzle, add the mushrooms and chopped onion. Stir and flip the mushrooms and onions until the onions are rather browned. Continue to cook the mixture and let some of the liquor evaporate. Set aside in a small bowl until ready to use.

Add a small amount of butter back into the frying pan. Dump in the riced cauliflower and stir fry it, letting liquid evaporate. I used a rather high heat as I wanted to brown the cauliflower a bit. Stir constantly. When it is to your liking, return the mushroom-onion mixture to the pan.

Add a small amount of chicken broth to the pan, stirring everything together. Do not let the mixture become too wet, so it is better to slowly add the chicken broth. When you think it is ready, add the yogurt, and stir in thoroughly. (Yogurt? Yeah – it gives a slightly tart taste to the mixture, like white wine does to traditional risotto.) Again, let liquids evaporate. Add the Romano cheese (or Parmesan), and stir. Serve immediately; have extra grated cheese at the table for your dinner mates to add. Add pepper to taste but be careful if you add salt – the cheese is salty enough for us.