Mezedes

Mezedes. Mezz or Meze. It's a Greek snack. It's not exactly an appetizer, but it can be. It can be satisfying all by itself.

The simplest meze is bread and extra virgin olive oil - Greek olive oil of course. There is Italian, Tunisian and olive oil from other countries. The olive trees they come from were planted by the Greeks. Alexander the Great carried bags of olive pits on his campaigns. He planted them all over the Mediterranean and North Africa.

Meze can be almost anything to snack on by Greek men and women at the local taverna. Fried haloumi cheese. Little fish in olive oil and vinegar. Meatballs - tsoutsoukakia. Fried calamari and cold, marinated octopus.

Here we have fresh tomato, feta, Kalamata olives, English muffin pieces, good olive oil, lemon juice, fresh oregano, sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Easy Ratatouille

I have tried the classic Provencal preparation of ratatouille In that one, each vegetable is sauteed separately. It's good, but tends to come out oily if you are not careful. Also, it's labor intensive.
Jacques Pepin has a modified recipe that uses just two pans. Cook's Country has a recipe that roasts all the veg in the oven.
Ultimately, ratatouille is a vegetable stew. Why not treat it that way?

• 1 small very firm Chinese eggplant
• 1 small green zucchini
• 1 small yellow zucchini
• 1 small yellow pepper
• 1/2 Vidalia onion
• 1 medium beefsteak tomato
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp olive oil (extra virgin)
• 1 tbsp olive oil to finish each serving (extra virgin)
• sea salt (too taste)
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 24 oz tomato puree

1. Cut all the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Thinly slice the garlic cloves.
2. Add all the ingredients to the pot. Stir.
3. Simmer for 45 minutes

How easy was that?
Serve over couscous, rice or pasta or simply as a side dish.
Like any stew, it tastes better the next day! It is a great make-ahead dish.

Veggie Burger

This is loosely based on Bobby Flay Burger's veggie burger. Here I am using different ingredients.  The idea is the same: Some kind of bean, a grain and mushrooms.

• 10 oz black beans (drained)
• 1 cup couscous
• 4 oz cremini mushrooms (chopped fine)
• 1 tbsp olive oil (extra virgin)
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Finely chop the mushrooms. A mini food processor can really help.
2. Make the couscous according to the package instructions using olive oil instead of butter to keep the dish vegan. Use a pinch of salt in the water as well.
3. Combine all the ingredients. If too wet, add more couscous. If too dry, add some water.
4. Refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes to firm it up even more.
5. Form into three patties.
   
   
   
6. Fry in a neutral oil like canola oil for four minutes per side so that they are nice and crusty. Alternatively, bake in an oven @ 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
7. Serve any way you like your burger.

As is, this is a vegan burger. If you add cheese it becomes vegetarian. Add Worcestershire sauce and it tastes meaty, but it is no longer vegetarian. Worcestershire usually contains anchovies or fish sauce.

Cuban Burger

Cuban Burger

The favorite tastes and ingredients of a great Cubano Sandwich but with char-grilled beef.

• 1 Ciabatta bread roll
• 2 beef burgers
• 1/2 cup Goya mojo marinade
• 1 dill pickle
• 4 thin sliceds of ham
• 4 thin slices of Swiss cheese
• 1 dill pickle (sliced lengthwise)
• yellow mustard to taste

1. Marinate the burgers in the mojo marinade for 30 minutes.

2. Grill the burgers in a very hot grill pan or skillet. Put two slices of Swiss cheese on each burger in the last minute of cooking.

3. Slice the Ciabatta bread in half, lengthwise. Generously dot each half with yellow mustard.

4. Add the burgers to the bottom half of the roll. Add two slices of ham on each burger.

5. On the other half, add the pickle slices and combine the two halves together.

6. In the grill pan, weigh down the sandwich with a heavy pot. Turn over after about 2 minutes and weigh down the other side until you get nice grill stripes.

7. Cut in half and serve.

The mojo marinade is the key ingredient to this recipe.

Learn to Speak Greek Burger

Learn to speak Greek Burger:

Burger  -+- Boorg-ger

Tomato -+- Toe-mah-ta;

Feta      -+- Feh-tah;

Tzatziki -+- Zot-zee-key

Grill the burger. I like a combination of chuck and brisket. Season both sides with salt and pepper.

Grill the top and bottom buns in the burger grease.

Assemble:

Burger down on the bottom bun.

Salt and peppered tomato slice on the burger.

A slab of feta cheese on the tomato.

On the top bun, use a generous amount of tzatziki sauce.

Smash the buns together and enjoy!

The Big Kahuna Burger

This is one tasty burger.

Grill a burger. A chuck and brisket blend is terrific.

Grill a slice of fresh pineapple.

Grill the burger bun.

The burger and pineapple go on the bottom bun.

Homemade coleslaw and sriracha sauce go on the top bun.

Quickly smash the buns together and enjoy!



The Thai sriracha sauce is less hot and sweeter than the Chinese version. Go with the Thai sauce if you don't like food that is too spicy.