Mediterranean Burgers with Fattoush Salad

This is Rachael Ray too. I've made this a couple of times, but not recently.

*March 23, 2013 update: This recipe is gluten-free if you don't use the pitas. But always check ingredient lists for yourself.

3 pita breads, torn into pieces

1 1/2 pounds ground chicken or ground lamb

1 cup full-fat plain yogurt

3/4 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves (a couple of handfuls), chopped and divided

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon ground cumin (a palmful)

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano (half a palmful)

1 1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika (half a palmful)

1 tablespoon grill seasoning (a palmful)

1 pinch ground cinnamon

Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), for drizzling plus about 3 tablespoons for dressing

1 seedless European cucumber, diced into bite-size pieces

1 red or green bell pepper, seeded and diced into bite-sized pieces

4 ribs celery with leafy greens intact, chopped

1/2 large red onion, chopped

2 vine ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced

1/2 pound feta, crumbled

1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped

6 pepperoncini (light green peppers), chopped

Juice of 2 lemons

Yields: 4 servings

Preheat oven 375°F.

Arrange the torn-up pieces of pita bread on a cookie sheet. Transfer to the oven and toast until crispy about 5 minutes.

While the pitas are toasting up, start the burgers: Combine ground chicken with yogurt, 1/4 of the parsley, 2 chopped garlic cloves, cumin, oregano, paprika, grill seasoning and cinnamon. Score the meat in 4 equal portions then form 4 patties about 1-inch thick. Preheat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, add a drizzle of EVOO to the skillet to coat the bottom in a thin layer. Once it ripples, add the patties and cook 6-7 minutes on each side.

While the burgers cook, combine cucumber, bell pepper, celery, red onion, remaining chopped garlic clove, tomatoes, feta, olives, hot peppers and the remaining chopped parsley in a bowl for the salad. Squeeze the lemons and drizzle about 2 tablespoons of EVOO over them, season with some salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Add the toasted torn pita breads and toss again. Let sit while the burgers finish cooking. Taste to adjust seasonings. Top salad with patties and serve.

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Green Eggs and Ham

Here's a Rachael Ray recipe. It sounds strange, but it's so delicious. This recipe could be gluten-free if the deli meat is gluten-free.




1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 tablespoon butter
2 large shallots, finely chopped
1 box frozen chopped spinach (10-ounce), defrosted in microwave and liquids drained
1/3-1/2 cup heavy cream, (eyeball it)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
8 slices deli ham or prosciutto di Parma

8 eggs

Preparation

Pre-heat oven to 375°F.

In a medium skillet over medium heat, heat the EVOO and the butter and sweat the shallots a few minutes. Add the spinach and stir in the cream, season with salt, freshly ground black pepper and a little grated nutmeg. Cook the spinach, stirring occasionally, until the cream has thickened, 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning to your taste.

Fold each slice of ham or prosciutto in half and line the nonstick cups with 1 slice of meat each. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the cooked spinach into each of the cups, then crack an egg into each, making sure it stays whole (hint - if you're worried about breaking the egg yolk, crack the egg into a small bowl first, then pour it into the muffin cup). Season the tops of the eggs with salt and freshly ground black pepper and bake in the oven until set, about 15 minutes. Allow the baked eggs to cool in the muffin cups for a couple of minutes before removing them from the pan. Serve immediately.

Greek Chicken with Feta Tzatziki

This is what's for dinner tonight.... as Rachael Ray would say. I'm really excited to try this!

• 4 pieces chicken breast
• Poultry seasoning
• Salt and pepper
• 3 lemons, 1 sliced, 2 halved for juicing
• 3 to 4 cloves garlic, 2 chopped, 1 clove pasted or grated
• 1 red chili pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 sprigs oregano, finely chopped
• 2 sprigs rosemary, chopped 

 

• 1/3 cup EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 seedless cucumber, peeled and grated or shredded
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup Greek feta crumbles
• A small handful of dill
• A small handful of parsley 

• Greek vegetable salad: (use a combo of all or some!) diced seeded tomatoes, cucumber, red onions, bell peppers, light green small Greek pickled hot peppers, parsley tops 

• Flat bread, pita or Naan bread 

Season chicken with dried poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Add to a bag with sliced lemon, chopped garlic, chili pepper, oregano and rosemary. Marinate several hours or overnight. 

Bring to room temp then cook on a hot grill or grill pan over medium-high heat 12-15 minutes. Let rest then slice on angle, douse with juice of 1 lemon.

For sauce, salt shredded cucumber and drain in strainer for 20-30 minutes. Press out all the liquid you can and transfer to food processor with yogurt, feta, dill, parsley, salt, pepper, juice of remaining halved lemon and grated or pasted garlic, and process until smooth.

Grill bread. 

Slather grilled bread with sauce, top with sliced chicken and some diced vegetable salad. 

Notes:

I forgot to get real garlic so I have garlic powder in the chicken marinade. Hard to compare real garlic with a powder, but it'll have to do for now.

I also have honey Greek yogurt.... so I'll have to think about going with the honey OR going back to the store for plain.

Delicious! Even Tava gobbled it up! 

I used what I had on hand, which means tortillas instead of pitas or Naan, but it was still good. I lightly grilled the tortillas to warm them up.

It always seems to me that Rachael Ray adds salt constantly, so I didn't add s+p to everything... but I should have. 

The honey in the Greek yogurt turned out okay. I think. I've never made tzatziki and I've only had it a couple of times, so I'm not all that familiar with what it should taste like. It was really tasty though.

Onion Rings

I took this directly off the Rachael Ray website. She calls them "Todd Wilbur's Onion Rings".

6 to 10 cups vegetable shortening
1 medium white onion
2 cups milk
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups plain Progresso bread crumbs
salt

In a fryer, heat shortening or oil to 350 degrees.

Cut the onion into 1/4 inch thick slices, then separate the slices into rings.

Pour the milk into a large shallow bowl, dump flour into another large shallow bowl and pour bread crumbs into a third large shallow bowl. The large shallow bowls will make breading easier.

While the shortening is heating up, bread all the onion rings first dip an onion ring into the milk, then into the flour. Dip it back into the milk then into the bread crumbs and once more into the milk and in to the bread crumbs. This will give each of the rings a nice thick breading.

When the oil is hot, fry the rings, a handful at a time, in the oil for 1 1/2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the rings from the oil to a rack or paper towels to drain. Lightly salt the rings and serve em up hot.

Notes:
I don't know what "Progresso" bread crumbs are, maybe it's an American brand, so I just used regular crumbs seasoned with salt and pepper.

By the way, good kitchen tip: I don't like to eat the last little end piece of the loaf of bread. So I put them on the counter to dry. When I have a bunch of pieces that are dry, I throw them in the blender and make crumbs. I keep them in the freezer in a Tupperware container. Always handy to have them available.

These really did get very crunchy so it makes me wonder what else I could dip and fry like an onion ring. Cheese sticks? Broccoli? Peppers? Mmm.