New Year's Eve-ie Series: Tzatziki

For years now, my sister and I have been saying how we need to make a dictionary of our dad's vocabulary. For example:

"Can you rub a little of that sauce on my back?" Where sauce = sunscreen
or
"Bo-jangles" = Brangelina (during a game of Taboo)

Needless to say, I knew going into making tzatziki that we were going to have some doozies. And of course, he didn't let us down. After several attempts, I believe he settled on tetrazzini. Close enough.

The first time I had this wonderful dip was with my friend Neish at a winery when she came up to visit me back in August. Now, I'm not usually a huge fan of cucumber, but this stuff had me hooked. It's traditionally used as the sauce in gyros and in other Greek dishes. Soo good that I just had to replicate it... even if it WAS 4 months later.

Tzatziki
From: Ina Garten

1 pound (1 pint) plain yogurt (whole milk or low fat)
1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled and seeded
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 lemon)
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh dill
Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Place the yogurt in a cheesecloth or paper towel-lined sieve and set it over a bowl. (Or coffee filters in a strainer will also work.) Grate the cucumber and toss it with 1 tablespoon of kosher salt; place it in another sieve, and set it over another bowl. Place both bowls in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours so the yogurt and cucumber can drain. Greek yougurt can also be used here, no draining necessary.

Transfer the thickened yogurt to a large bowl. Squeeze as much liquid from the cucumber as you can and add the cucumber to the yogurt. Mix in the sour cream, vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, dill, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. You can serve it immediately, but I prefer to allow the tzatziki to sit in the refrigerator for a few hours for the flavors to blend. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Serves: 40 (2 tbsp per serving)

This was very close to what I had tasted in restaurants (and wineries). Next time I make this (and there will definitely be a next time) I might back off about 1/2 tablespoon on the lemon juice. It wasn't bad, just a little bit stronger of a lemon flavor than I preferred.

Of ALL people to love this dip... little 20 month old Michael. He was so cute dipping his piece of pita bread in the tzatziki, sucking off the dip, and then using the same piece of pita to go back for more. I swear that kid likes the strangest things...

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 19	Calories from fat 10
% Daily Value
Total Fat 1.1g	2%
Saturated Fat 0.6g	3%
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 2mg	1%
Sodium 216mg	9%
Total Carbs 1.4g	0%
Sugars 1.0g
Protein 0.8g
Vitamin A 1%	Vitamin C 1%
Calcium 3%	Iron 0%

Dinner Spanakopitas

I don't know, I think it's just me, but food with a weird name always lures me in, tempting me to try it. I mean, Almond-Stuffed Chicken, no surprise there. Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Onion and Chive Sauce? I think I can figure out what's in that. But Gougeres? I can't even pronounce it, let's put it on the menu for Thanksgiving! Pollo la Uva Blanco con Cilantro? The title isn't even in English, sure, why not? Beef Wellington? Sounds fancy, let's try it out on company.

So no surprise when the word Spanakopita caught my eye. Over the course of the past year and a half, I had ran across the word a few times, so I was familiar with what the dish actually was. I had tried a similar dish a while back, and though Adam and I were not wowed by it, it enabled me to be familiar with phyllo and the wrapping technique to pull off this dish.

Dinner Spanakopitas
From: Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics
Via: Annie's Eats

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
2 green onions, white and green parts, chopped
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Plain dry bread crumbs
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup small-crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts, chopped
12 sheets frozen phyllo dough, defrosted
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a medium sauté pan, add the onion, and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat. Add the green onions and cook for another 2 minutes until they are wilted but still green. Meanwhile, add the thawed and drained spinach to a large mixing bowl. When the onions are done, add them to the bowl. Mix in the eggs, Parmesan cheese, 1 1/2 tablespoons bread crumbs, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Gently fold in the feta and the pine nuts.

Place one sheet of phyllo dough flat on a work surface. Brush the dough lightly with butter. Working quickly, place another sheet of phyllo on top of the first, and brush it lightly with butter. Continue this process until you have a stack of 4 sheets of phyllo. Cut the stack of phyllo in half lengthwise (I found a pizza cutter useful for this step). Place 1/3 cup of the spinach filling on the shorter end and roll the phyllo up diagonally as if folding a flag. Then fold the triangle of phyllo over straight and then diagonally again. Continue folding the first diagonally and then straight until you reach the end of the sheet. The filling should be totally enclosed. Continue assembling phyllo layers and folding the filling until all of the filling is used. Place on a sheet pan, seam sides down. Brush the tops with melted butter, sprinkle with flaked salt (such as kosher) and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the phyllo is browned and crisp. Serve hot.

Serves: 6

Look at all that flakiness

All in all, these guys came together relatively quick and painless. Or as much as anything can be quick and painless when working with phyllo. I'm pretty sure it only took me about 30-40 minutes (or however long it takes Adam to get home from softball) to make these. So not to bad for a somewhat labor intensive meal.

I really liked these. Adam thought they were just alright. Apparently, his list of things he doesn't like has now grown to include: bell peppers and feta cheese. (Such a long list, I don't know how I'm going to handle it.) He about freaked out when I told him there was feta in these. But he was a trooper and tried them anyway. And thought they were good "probably because the feta isn't very strong tasting". So, I'd recommend them -- although go on the light side with sprinkling on the salt at the end, or you'll get super salty spanakopitas with the feta and all.

Now on to tzatziki, and baba ghanoush, and...

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 336	Calories from fat 240
% Daily Value
Total Fat 26.7g	41%
Saturated Fat 12.9g	64%
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 116mg	39%
Sodium 937mg	39%
Total Carbs 15.9g	5%
Dietary Fiber 1.9g	8%
Sugars 2.2g
Protein 9.7g
Vitamin A 100%	Vitamin C 25%
Calcium 21%	Iron 15%