Greek Flavor

Since JW's mom was heading off to Greece this week, I decided to make us a little Greek dinner.  Plus, I had an eggplant from the CSA, and I don't like eggplant. But baba ghanoush I seem to like.  So Greek it was!

After roasting the eggplant, it felt like and smelled like the cross between a banana and a squash.  I wanted to take a photo, but I was too busy :)

I did follow the directions for the baba ghanoush almost perfectly-- I even bought the sesame seeds!

 

Baba Ghanoush

Ingredients

• 1 eggplant
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Place eggplant on baking sheet, and make holes in the skin with a fork. Roast it for 30 to 40 minutes, turning occasionally, or until soft. Remove from oven, and place into a large bowl of cold water. Remove from water, and peel skin off.
3. Place eggplant, lemon juice, tahini, sesame seeds, and garlic in an electric blender, and puree. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer eggplant mixture to a medium size mixing bowl, and slowly mix in olive oil. Refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.

I did not follow the souvlaki and tzatziki recipe completely... I used lamb instead of pork and had no mint.  The tzatziki was no good, by itself. Together on the pita it was great!  But, the HIT of the night sure was the marinade and the lamb! wow. that was great!

Souvlaki with Tzatziki

Ingredients

1 1/4 pounds trimmed pork shoulder, cut into 3-by- 1/2-inch strips (I used Lamb)
1 large onion, cut through the root end into 1/2-inch wedges
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus lemon wedges for serving
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
2 garlic cloves, mashed to a paste
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup Greek-style whole-milk yogurt
1/2 European cucumber, seeded and finely diced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
Warm pita, for serving

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, toss the pork strips and onion wedges with the olive oil, lemon juice, chopped oregano and half of the garlic paste. Season with 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and let stand for 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix the yogurt, cucumber, mint and the remaining garlic paste. Season the tzatziki with salt and pepper.
3. Heat a large cast-iron griddle or grill pan until very hot. Add the pork and onion wedges along with any marinade and cook over high heat, turning once or twice, until the pork and onion are tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer the pork and onion to plates and serve with the tzatziki, lemon wedges and pita.