Roasted Beets with Skordalia

Skordalia: A garlic lover's wet dream.  I first had skordalia with my mother in a Greek restaurant when I lived in Chicago.  The garlic in this dish hit us like a roundhouse kick to the face!  It's a puree of potato, a massive amount of raw garlic and a bit of vinegar.  At the restaurant, they served it with cold beets (probably boiled).  The first time I made it, to introduce it to Justin, I opted for roasting the beets and that's how we've made it ever since. 

It's got a mean garlic bite and is not for the garlic-whimps.  This is the stuff of nightmares for all city transit commuters!  And it's awesome.

The serving options are pretty limitless - it's a dip, a spread, a puree, a sauce.  We put it on roasted veggies, we dip fresh veggies in it, we use it as a spread in sandwiches.  We've eaten it with beef, pork, chicken.  Traditionally it's served with fish.  Tonight I toasted some baguette, spread the skordalia on it, sliced some tomato and fresh mozzarella real thin and laid it on top of the skordalia, then drizzled a basil-lemon vinaigrette over it all.  'Bout the best thing I've ever had! 

I had The Queers' "Fuck This World" in my head the other day.  And we haven't thrown any Queers up on the blog yet.  -jen

 

ROASTED BEETS

Time:  40-45 minutes

Difficulty:  Easy

Serves:  3-4 servings

• 4 cups beets (about 4 medium-sized beets),  peeled and diced into 1/2"-3/4" cubes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Toss diced beets with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet (I always line mine with foil to save on clean-up).  Bake at 400 for 35-40 minutes until edges start to brown, tossing halfway through baking time. 

SKORDALIA
Time:  20 minutes

I used some purple hard-neck garlic we got at the Farmers Market!

Difficulty:  Easy 
Makes:  2.5-3 cups
*requires a food processor - or try a blender or beaters at your own risk, I've only used the food processor!

• 4 large baking potatoes (1.5-2 pounds), diced into 1" cubes
• 12 cloves of garlic
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup white wine vinegar

Place diced potatoes into a large stock pot.  Put enough cold water in the pan to just cover the potatoes.  Generously salt the water.  Over a medium-high heat, bring the water and potatoes to a boil - once the boil is reached, cook for 6-7 minutes until potatoes are fork-tender.  Drain. 

Combine potatoes, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor and pulse together several times.  Then turn onto a medium speed and drizzle in 1/3 of the olive oil, then 1/2 of the vinegar.  Repeat and end with the last of the olive oil until combined.  Serve hot or cold. 

Parmesan & Basil Zucchini

Served with Mushroom & Onion Smothered Chicken

People always tell us that they don't have time, money, patience or know-how to cook a good, healthy dinner at night.  We call bullshit on that!  We're broke people who stick to a weekly budget and we cook simple, healthy meals several times a week after both of us working a full day (usually with enough leftover to eat a healthy lunch the next day, saving even more money).  A lot of the recipes we post on here are our "splurges" away from our regular, simple roasted protein/veggie dinners.  I was about to make one of those simple dinners tonight, but then I thought I'd "get crazy" by doing a sauce and cheesing up the veggies.  I wasn't really considering posting the recipes, they seemed too simple.  Justin asked, "Why not?  People like fast, easy and cheap recipes and it was really good!"  So it's coming at you... basic stuff!

This tune's been going through my head the last few weeks as I've seen a lot of The Transplants' recent tour pics.  Elvis Cortez, lead singer of Left Alone, was touring with them.  So I've found myself listening to some Left Alone in the last few days, and this is them doing "My Whole Life".  -jen

PARMESAN & BASIL ZUCCHINI
Time: 10 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Serves: 2-4

• 4 medium zucchini, sliced about 1/4" thick rounds
• 2 tablespoons olive oil 
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese 
• salt and pepper

 In a large bowl or plastic zip bag, combine zucchini and olive oil to coat.  Turn oven to broil.  Arrange zucchini in an even layer on a large baking sheet (I always line it with foil for ease of clean up!)  Sprinkle basil and Parmesan evenly over zucchini.  Broil for 3-5, until cheese browns.