Flank Steak with Cucumber-Pepperoncini Relish...yep, it's another Greek inspired grillin' night

Rick was away for most of the weekend at the Masters, and while I had toyed with making some sort of mushroom-centric meal, I opted to go out to dinner with a friend on Friday and then had Homecoming for the College of Nursing on Saturday.  Oh well.  For dinner this evening, I had tossed around a couple of ideas...some sort of casserole, but the weather is so nice that it would've been a shame not to spend part of it at the grill.  I went searching myrecipes.com for something new to try, and I came across this recipe for flank steak with cucumber-pepperoncini relish.  It was featured in Cooking Light magazine so it would be perfect for our goal of eating better!  I also liked it because it gave me an excuse to make my famous tzatziki sauce

to serve with grilled pitas that we brushed with olive oil and Italian Seasoning (from the grinder).  This time, I also added a little bit of the Garlic and Herb grinder that we used with the Brussels sprouts.  Instead of serving the cucumber relish on top of the steak, we ate it on the side.  And I gotta say, it made fabulous leftovers today!

Here's what we did...

Flank Steak with Cucumber-Pepperoncini Relish

Ingredients

• 1  (1-pound) flank steak, trimmed
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  black pepper
• Cooking spray
• 2  tablespoons pickled pepperoncini pepper pickling liquid
• 2  tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon  Dijon mustard
• 1  pickled pepperoncini pepper, chopped
• 2  tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2  tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2  English cucumber, quartered lengthwise and sliced (about 1 cup)

Directions

Sprinkle both sides of flank steak evenly with garlic, salt, and black pepper. Massage seasoning into steak.

Combine pepperoncini pickling liquid, olive oil, and mustard in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add chopped pepperoncini pepper, parsley, cheese, and cucumber to oil mixture in bowl; toss well to combine. 

Grill steak 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Place steak on a cutting board; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Uncover; cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices.

Serve steak with relish.

Enjoy!!!

Yep, it's another chicken orzo dish!

So obviously, I'm a sucker for orzo and chicken dishes.  They are just so easy to make and so versatile!  I found this one on myrecipes.com, and it is another one from Cooking Light (the October 2005 issue).  As usual, I decided to play with it a bit and took some suggestions from the reviewers on the website and added feta and substituted roasted red peppers for regular red peppers. You may notice a lack of additional salt in the recipe, but between the feta and the capers, it was fine by me.

Once again, I was pleasantly surprised by the results.  Rick is having a hectic week so I won't get to see him until tomorrow, but now, I have leftovers for the rest of the week! I enjoyed it with pita bread and a little bit of the tzatziki sauce that I made last week.  Here's my rendition!

 Orzo with Chicken, Roasted Red Peppers, and Feta


Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1 cup of uncooked orzo
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 cup of roasted red pepper chopped
2 tablespoons capers (drained)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon Greek seasoning 
Juice of 1 lemon

4 oz crumbled feta cheese
Extra virgin olive oil


Directions
Cook orzo according to the directions on the package.
While the orzo is cooking, season chicken with pepper, and grill chicken on George Foreman grill (or they can be sauteed in a pan with olive oil or cooking spray) until cooked thoroughly.  Saute onions and garlic in a small pan in a little bit of olive oil until tender.

Mix Greek seasoning, lemon juice, capers, olive oil, and roasted red peppers in a bowl.  Add onion and garlic to the bowl.  Combine orzo, chicken, and feta in a larger bowl with the roasted red pepper mixture. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Serve warm (leftovers are great cold, too!).


Enjoy!

Chicken Souvlaki

In continuing with my raiding of the Cooking Light recipes on myrecipes.com, I am happy to share this Chicken Souvlaki recipe.  After finding a tzatziki sauce of my own that I love, I'm always looking for an excuse to use it.  The Cooking Light recipe had one included with it, but why mess with perfection (or close enough for me)?  Unfortunately, Rick wasn't able to come over for dinner due to his needing to ready his house for a showing tomorrow, but it meant that I had some yummy leftovers to take for lunch.  Because it was a cold, dark, rainy night, I opted to use my broiler to cook the chicken and zucchini on skewers that I soaked for 30 minutes while the chicken and zucs marinated in the refrigerator. I also added a little pepper to the marinade as well.  Of course, I had to serve it with a pita that I toasted in the toaster oven (would've preferred to grill but it's not that time of year) on medium.  And here's what I did...

Chicken Souvlaki with Zucchini

Ingredients

• 3  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  chopped fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2  teaspoons  olive oil
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  
• 4  garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2  pound  skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1  medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Directions

Preheat the broiler.

Soak bamboo skewers in water.

Combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.  Add chicken and zucchini and marinate (covered) in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Thread chicken and zucchini on the skewers (alternating chicken and zucchini).   Spray the broiling pan with cooking spray and place in oven.  Broil the skewers, turning every 3 minutes, until done, about 9 minutes total. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

Serve with tzatziki sauce and pita bread.

Enjoy!!!

Taking on Tzatziki

While I was at Publix gathering the few ingredients and necessities that I needed for my Greek Shrimp dish, I stumbled across Greek yogurt in the dairy aisle.  It was called Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt.  I lamented the fact that they didn't sell pre-made tzatziki sauce, but my mood was immediately lifted when I saw on the side of the container directions for making this white, tasty treasure.  Should I dare try to make my own based on this simple recipe?  Of course I should!  I bee-lined straight (back) to the produce department, grabbed two cucumbers, and headed to check out.  The original recipe can also be found on the Oikos website. With that to go on, here's what I came up with...  I gotta admit that I was pretty impressed with my first attempt, and I'm pretty picky about tzatziki.  You can serve it with pita bread, veggies, or in a gyro.  

Tzatziki Sauce

Ingredients
2 cucumbers

1 cup Greek yogurt
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste


Directions
Peel and seed cucumbers.  The seeds can be taken out using a melon baller or a spoon once the cucumnbers have been halved.  Grate the cucumber and place into a small bowl that is lined with a coffee filter.  Use the filter to squeeze out the excess water and place the shredded cucumber in a medium bowl.  Press each clove of garlic and add to the bowl.  Add yogurt, white wine vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.  Stir together until well mixed.  Refrigerator for at least one hour.


Enjoy!

Greek Style Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp

A friend of mine from high school also has a food blog, and today, she had a posted a recipe for Greek Shrimp Scampi.  Before I even read the recipe, just seeing the words "Greek" and "shrimp" made me think of one of my favorite recipes from epicurious.com called Greek-Style Pasta with Shrimp.  Prior to my moving to SC, I lived in the Triangle and worked part time at this Greek restaurant in Durham called Spartacus. It was my first restaurant job, and I loved working there!  It is a family-owned business, and they have wonderful food!  When I first moved, I missed it a lot.  For all of the wonderful cuisine around here, Mount Pleasant is seriously lacking in the Greek area.  I have to go all the way to West Ashley to find any that is decent!  Anyway, I stumbled across the epicurious.com recipe about a year or so after I moved here, and it really hit the spot.  The recipe is quick and easy, and since I use canned, diced tomatoes, I usually have everything that I need in my pantry (well, and freezer if you include the shrimp)!  Now, if I could just figure out how to make amazing tzatziki sauce like Spartacus has, I'd be all set!  Hmmm, I feel an experiment coming on...

Here is my adaptation.  It is excellent served with pita bread brushed with olive oil and Italian seasoning, wrapped in aluminum foil, and heated in the oven at 250 while making the sauce.



Greek-Style Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp


Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can artichoke hearts, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
4 tablespoons crab stock (white wine can be subbed)
Feta cheese

8 oz cooked Angel Hair Pasta
Salt and pepper to taste



Directions
Cook angel hair pasta according to directions on box seasoned with garlic powder and salt (if desired).  Set aside.



Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add garlic and onion and saute for 30 seconds.  Add artichokes, tomatoes (and juice), crab stock, lemon, basil, oregano, and parsley. Saute for 5 minutes or until thickened a little bit. Add shrimp and saute until shrimp is cooked. Salt and pepper to taste.


Divide pasta into individual servings.  Top with sauce and feta cheese and serve.


Enjoy!!

Greek-inspired grillin'

While perusing the latest recipes on epicurious.com this week (yes, I was being bad and doing it during class on Wednesday), I came across a couple of recipes that I thought would be perfect to try. After a quick trip to Publix on the way home from work, I had everything that I needed for an atypical but appetizing grilling experience: steak, roasted red peppers, coriander, and pita bread.

I started marinading the steak, but unfortunately, the weather decided not to cooperate. It started raining. When Rick and I talked on the phone, he said that he wasn't going to be able to come over that night due to his having to do some work at home. I decided that I would just throw the meat on my George Foreman and make a Greek salad as a test-run for our meal. Luckily, the weather cleared up, and Rick called back to say that he wanted to come over! Yay!!! While I waited for Rick to come over, I made bread crumbs out of leftover hamburger buns that were in the refrigerator for the roasted red pepper spread and started soaking bamboo skewers in some water.

I was finishing up the roasted red pepper spread when Rick arrived. I was excited to let him sample a taste of it. We were both pleasantly surprised at the spread, and when I put it in a plastic container to store until dinner time, I swear it looked like something I would buy at Whole Foods.

As I've mentioned before, Rick has expressed interest in taking a more active role in dinner preparation, and I have to admit that it is difficult for me to hand over the reigns. He told me last night that he doesn't like to follow recipes which doesn't make it any easier for me. Baby steps!! He was eager to help and joyfully smashed garlic to make the garlic and oregano oil to brush on the pitas. I decided not to do the feta corn that was part of the menu and do a simple Greek salad instead.

We headed outside to the grill and started off with the pita bread. Rick brushed them with the garlic-oregano oil after I took them off the grill, but of course, I had to brush at least one! As we were grilling them, Rick came up with an excellent idea--grilled pita bread pizzas! Looks like that's what we are going to be doing on Friday. He's going to bring over the toppings (a surprise) so we'll see what happens!

The meal turned out wonderfully! Th roasted red pepper and walnut spread was delicious with both the pita and the meat. It was also wonderful on the pita "sandwiches" with the leftover beef that I had for lunch today. Rick's apparently did not make it past 10 am. I promised Rick that I wouldn't quote him this time around because he fears that no one will believe the continued positive reviews of our meals. I'll just say that even though he's not a huge Greek fan, he definitely enjoyed this meal!

Here is the Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Spread recipe:

yield: Makes about 3 cups
active time: 10 min
total time: 15 min

Ingredients
2 (7-to 8-ounces) jars roasted red peppers, rinsed and drained
1 cup coarse fresh bread crumbs (from a baguette)
1 cup walnuts (4 ounces), toasted
1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Preparation
Purée roasted red peppers, bread crumbs, walnuts, vinegar, cumin, cayenne, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a food processor until almost smooth.
With motor running, add oil in a slow stream, blending until incorporated.

Cooks' notes: •Spread is also delicious with crudites, crackers, or toasts.
•Spread can be made 3 days ahead and chilled. Bring to room temperature before serving.


Changes that I made:

• Used leftover hamburger buns to make the breadcrumbs
• Reduced the recipe by 3/4 due to my purchasing a 12 oz jar of roasted red peppers

The Garlic-Oregano Grilled Pita recipe:
yield: Makes 6 servings
active time: 20 min
total time: 30 min
Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed
2 tablespoons finely chopped oregano
6 (6-to 8-inch) pocketless pita bread rounds
Kosher salt to taste


Preparation
Heat oil in a small heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Cook garlic, turning once, until pale golden, about 1 minute. Discard garlic and remove skillet from heat, then stir in oregano.

Prepare grill for direct-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (medium-high heat for gas); see Grilling Procedure . Oil grill rack. Grill pitas, 3 at a time, covered only if using a gas grill, turning once, until grill marks appear, about 2 minutes total per batch. Transfer to a cutting board and brush both sides with garlic-oregano oil. Cut pitas into wedges. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Serve warm.

Cooks' note: Pitas can be grilled in an oiled hot 2-burner grill pan over medium heat.
Changes that I made: We did 3 pitas only, and I added a little fresh ground black pepper to the oil.
And finally....the Cumin-Scented Beef Kebabs!
yield: Makes 6 servings
active time: 30 min
total time: 2 1/2 hr (includes marinating)
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 pounds sirloin flap steak or flatiron steak, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
Equipment: 12 (12-inch) skewers, soaked in water 30 minutes if wooden
Accompaniment: roasted red pepper and walnut spread

Preparation
Stir together oil, oregano, garlic, spices, and 1 teaspoon salt in a bowl, then toss with beef. Marinate, chilled, at least 2 hours.
Prepare grill for direct-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (high heat for gas); see Grilling Procedure . Thread about 4 pieces of beef onto each skewer, leaving small spaces between pieces, then transfer to a tray.
Oil grill rack, then grill beef, covered only if using a gas grill, turning, until browned but still pink inside, 4 to 5 minutes.

Cooks' notes: •Beef can be marinated up to 8 hours.•Kebabs can be broiled on an oiled broiler pan about 3 inches from heat.

Changes I made: I used 1 pound of plain ole sirloin because there were just two of us (and of course, I cooked mine rare).