We were both craving some falafel not too long ago... we probably saw something on tv that made us think of it. Where we live, there's only one Greek place and it's really just a gyro joint - gyros, falafel, fries, dolmas, kebabs... and it's in the next town over, so we don't get there often. Might as well make our own!
Going with a little hardcore for this recipe with DFL's "Society's Pressure".
And speaking of hardcore... this is a video I caught of a guy that walks through our neighbourhood, usually growling out hardcore. I love it!!! -jen
FALAFEL Soak Time: Overnight Prep Time: 15 minutes - then refrigerate 1-2 hours Fry Time: 10 minutes Difficulty: Medium Makes: about 20 Need: Food Processor
1 cup dried garbanzo beans
1 cup onion, rough chopped (1/2 medium onion)
1 tablespoon garlic, rough chopped (3-4 cloves)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, rough chopped
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, rough chopped
1 tablespoon flour
1.5 teaspoons salt
1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon lemon zest (about 1 lemon)
1 teaspoon baking soda
Place garbanzo beans in a large bowl and cover with 2-3 inches of water. Cover loosely with foil and let sit overnight. Beans will double in size.
Drain and rinse soaked garbanzo beans. Place in a food processor and add all remaining ingredients. Pulse until mixture is about the size of couscous and just beginning to turn into a paste. Test consistency by forming a small patty (about 2 tablespoons). If patty is loose, try pulsing the mixture just a little more.
Refrigerate mixture for 1-2 hours.
Form patties with 2 tablespoons of falafel mix. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet until ready to fry.
Heat 1" of oil in a large skillet over a medium-high heat. Fry in batches - do not over-crowd your skiller. When oil is hot, use a metal spatula to gently place falafel patties into skillet. Fry 2-3 minutes on one side, then use the spatula to flip and cook another 2-3 minutes. Falafels should be browned and crispy. Drain on papertowels.
I had this great plan to make gyros and tzatziki this weekend... and for a minute, it looked like it was a disaster. But as history has proven, necessity is the mother of invention and what I thought was a problem turned into awesomeness.
I grew up in the Chicago area where gyro stands are everywhere and I love them. Where we live now, in Humboldt, there's only one gyro place and it's a 15 minute drive each way. They don't load them up as much as they do in Chicago and so while they're decent, I always feel a little gypped. So I decided to make some gyros here at home. I hastily made the grocery list while I was at work; I couldn't check to see what we had on hand at home. When I went to make everything today, I realized the cucumbers I'd been counting on to use in the tzatziki had gone bad, so I had no cucs. We always have at least one onion on hand, but it seems this time was an exception. And I thought we had some leftover basil, but turns out we didn't. So a lot of my main ingredients were missing and Justin is gone for the weekend with our only car, so I had no way to get to the store.
Instead, I decided to try shredded apple in the tzatziki sauce and I was pretty much counting on not liking it as much as the classic cucumber. I was wrong. It came out awesome! Good crunch and just a slight sweetness at the end. Lacking fresh onion for my gyro loaf, I used some dried shallot, dried chive, and onion powder. And though I had no basil (fresh or dried), I did have fresh mint and decided to load the loaf up with a ton of herbs and spices! Sooooo good! I know there's like 25 ingredients in the gyros; we use what we have on hand. But I recognize most people don't have the spice and herb collection we do, so I made sure to add an alternative. Don't let it intimidate you!
While I typed this whole post out, I listened to the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" a few times on repeat. I love this song so much. So rad. And the retro 70s detective theme isn't so bad either. -jen
2 teaspoons dried chives (or half an onion chopped fine in food processor in place of shallots and chives)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
*1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon dried dill
*1 teaspoon ground dried lemon grass
*1 teaspoon dried marjoram
*1 teaspoon dried oregano
*1 teaspoon ground dried rosemary
*1 teaspoon tarragon
*1 teaspoon ground dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
*If you don't have all of these herbs, you could replace the 7 teaspoons of herbs with 3 tablespoons of Italian seasoning. Or 7 teaspoons of whatever combination you may have on hand.
In a large food processor, pulse old fashioned oats until they're about half their size. Add the remaining ingredients into the food processor and process about one minute until meat mixture feels tacky.
Place meat into a large bowl and cover meat with plastic wrap (not top of bowl, but place the plastic
wrap on the meat itself) and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Pack meat mixture into a 7"x4" loaf pan, pressing it down well to eliminate any air bubbles. Place a damp kitchen towel in the bottom of a large roasting pan. Place the loaf pan on top of the damp towel and carefully pour boiling water into the roasting pan until it comes 1/2 way up the sides of the loaf pan.
Bake until inner temperature reaches 160 degrees F, about an hour and fifteen minutes. Remove loaf pan from roasting pan and carefully pour off accumulated fat. Cool slightly before slicing thinly. Brown slices either in a non-stick skillet on medium-high or place in oven or toaster oven broiler until browned. Serve on a pita with lettuce or cabbage, onion, tomato and Apple Tzatziki sauce.
APPLE TZATZIKI Prep Time: 40 minutes minutes Difficulty: Easy Makes: almost 3 cups
1 small red apple, peeled
3 tablespoons lemon juice, divided
1 and 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
2 and 3/4 cups plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh chopped mint
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Shred apple. Place shredded apple in a fine colander over an empty bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice. Once coated with lemon juice, toss again with teaspoon of the salt. Allow to drain for 30-60 minutes.
Place shredded apple in some cheese cloth or a clean tea towel and squeeze out remaining juice. In a medium sized mixing bowl combine the shredded apple with the remaining 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt and all the remaining ingredients. Mix well. Can be served immediately but the flavours merry better if you refrigerate for an hour or more.
We had our good friend Lua over for dinner tonight and wanted to do something that would be simple and fast, but still have a bit of a "wow factor". Justin and I had been talking about a yogurt marinade recently and having company seemed like a good reason to do it (not that we really needed a reason). So we went with a Mediterranean themed dinner.
What I really like about these three dishes is that I used lots of the same ingredients in everything, so everything just stayed on the counter and got used again and again. That's actually how I came up with the green hummus! I had the intention of just making my regular recipe... but then I had the 3 green onions leftover, the mint, and some parsley from when we did our Italian Chopped Salad. I was super stoked about how it came out all herby and delicious. J and I both decided that every recipe listed below was perfect... lots of times we make a recipe, like it, make it the next time, change it a little, make it again, change it a little. With these, we decided there wasn't room for improvement. We liked them all just as they are. (It was a pretty awesome compliment from Justin.)
The song playing right now in our kitchen, as I was typing this up and deciding what kind of music to post, is Bouncing Souls' "Letters From Iraq". I think it's technically "Fourth of July Weekend", since the 4th is this Wednesday. -jen
In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients (except the chicken - that's hard to whisk). Combine chicken strips and yogurt marinade in a gallon Ziploc and marinate for at least an hour (longer is optimal!)
The chicken would probably be better grilled, but it's a lousy day so we're baking it. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly oil a baking sheet, then line up chicken strips on pan and pour remaining marinade over them. Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes (depending on the size of the strips, check with meat thermometer or cook until juices run clear).
Serve on a toasted pita with lettuce, tomato, onion, and cucumber. We like to spread some hummus on the pita and top the pita with tzatziki. Sprinkle with some crumbled feta cheese.
juice of 1/2 large lemon (use other half in chicken marinade)
zest of 1/4 large lemon (use remaining 3/4 in chicken marinade)
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 green onion, diced fine
1/2 teaspoon dill
2 teaspoons fresh mint, chopped fine
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon Accent (optional)
ground black pepper to taste
Place diced cucumber in a strainer over a bowl. Toss evenly with 1 teaspoon salt and let drain for 1/2 hour to 1 hour. Squeeze out excess juice. Discard juice and combine the cucumber with Greek yogurt. Add all remaining ingredients and mix. Serve on pita sandwiches, as a dip with toasted pita, or as a fresh vegetable dip.
GREEN HUMMUS Time: 5-10 minutes Difficulty: Easy Makes: 1 cup (maybe 1.5 cups) Need: Food processor or blender
1 can (14.5oz) garbanzo beans, drained
2 heaping tablespoons tahini
3 green onions, rough chopped
2 tablespoons parsley, rough chopped
1 tablespoon fresh mint, rough chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/8-1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (depending on taste)
1/4 teaspoon salt
few grinds of fresh black pepper
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (or lemon juice)
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
Combine all ingredients except the olive oil in the food processor. While blending, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until desired consistency. Blend for 2 minutes on high until completely smooth. Same application as tzatziki - use in pita sandwiches, to dip toasted pita or tortilla chips in, or as a fresh veggie dip.
PITA CHIPS Time: 15 minutes
pitas
olive oil
salt and pepper
Zatar seasoning (optional, but awesome)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut pita into 1/8 sections. Place in a single layer on baking sheet. Brush tops with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and Zatar. Bake for 5 minutes. Turn pieces over and bake another 5 minutes, or until crisp. Can be eaten with both hummus and tzatziki.
