It's all Greek to me...Potato, Onion & Caper Salad and Dolmades!

This month has FLOWN by!  Seriously...where does the time go?  I told myself I was going to get my rear in gear and participate in my pal Joanne's Regional Recipes this month and I almost missed it!  But the month is not yet over, and here I am...sliding in under the wire!  This month's region is Greece...when I think Greek food, I think flaming cheese and dolmades!  Nothing wrong with that.  As a matter of fact...everything is RIGHT with that.  Cheese with booze ignited and oozing...oh man!  I would have made Saganaki if I'd had the time foresight to make (or buy) the cheese!  As a matter of fact, just talking about it is bringing on a whopper of a craving. 

But, back to the task at hand...I bought a gorgeous little bunch...if you can refer to potatoes in the term bunch...of multi-colored fingerlings at the farmer's market a week or so ago and really needed to use them!  So, I searched out Greek recipes that contained potatoes...and I find one that became a quick favorite.  I love potato salads made with vinegar, but mostly have it German-style (BACON!).  This particular recipe is fabulous...is packed full of those addictive, salty little bubbles...capers!  In a cookbook I found at the library called Modern Greece by Andy Harris, the recipes intro says... "In the Cycladic Islands, capers grow wild on the cliffs.  Picked and pickled by most families, they are added to this frugal salad found often in the summer months at the lunchtime table."  So, I will close my eyes and imagine I'm in that picturesque fairytale of a country...

Potato, Onion and Caper Salad
serves 4

2 1/2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks I (almost) never peel my potatoes
1 medium sized red onion, peeled and thinly slice I (almost) always DO peel my onions
1/3 c. capers, rinsed
3 Tbs finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
3 Tbs. olive oil
1 1/2 Tbs. red wine vinegar
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Boil the potatoes and drain in a colander.  Transfer to a large bowl and combine with all the other ingredients, seasoning the salad with salt and pepper.  Serve while potatoes are still warm.

My oldest son...potato-lover extraordinaire...LOVED this!  Me too ;-)

Since I have a plethora of grape leaves available right outside my door, I decided I had to make a few dolmades, too.  I was gonna hold off because I have an upcoming post about preserving grape leaves...but it fit, so...

No exact recipe...if using fresh grape leaves, rinse and blanch them for about a minute before using.  Lay out one of the blanched (or preserved/rinsed) leaves, shiny side down.  Place a heaping teaspoon (or more if the leaf is large enough) of your preferred stuffing in middle.  Fold in the sides, then roll loosely.  Line them up in a large pot, place a plate on top, to weigh them down.  Add water to cover and simmer gently for ~40 minutes.  These particular dolmades were stuffed with brown rice, red salad onions, garlic, mint, toasted pinenuts seasoned w/ salt & pepper.  Leave the rice raw, it will cook in the process.  You can add cooked, ground meat to the mixture...and raisins, too...but I was in the mood for meatless and I was out of raisins!

This is my entry into Joanne of Eats Well with Others' Regional Recipes: Greece event...whew, nothing like procrastinating.  I'm also sending the salad over to another friend, Deb at Kahakai Kitchen for Souper Sundays this week and Reeni of Cinnamon, Spice & Everything Nice and her Side Dish Showdown, plus I'm adding it to this weeks Two for Tuesdays post!

Basic Shepherds Pie (that you can make in advance)

Is there anything quite so comforting as a childhood favorite?  How 'bout the fact that you can make a dish your whole family will gobble up?  I know a goal for me has always been to make up some meals for the week in advance so that I can pull them out of the fridge or freezer when I'm in a rush or just don't have the time or energy to put something together that day.  Although by the time a day rolls around when I need that made-ahead meal, there's not usually one there. Best intentions.  Although I did find a way to make it a little more doable. 

Jane of Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms recently released a book by the same name!  Jane was kind enough to send me a copy of her new cookbook to try and review.

Although Taco Pie, Tuna Noodle Casserole, Sloppy Joes and Chicken Cordon Bleu and Cheesy Pasta, Ham and Peas all made it onto my list of must-tries from the book...Shepherds Pie was the recipe that ultimately earned its way into this post!  Jane's book is all about turning favorite family recipes into "make-ahead" recipes so that her family...and ours...can get something healthy and home made onto the table instead of resorting to quick and unhealthy in our busy lives.  Surprisingly, using a little of our spare time to create meals in advance can save us time and money....and sanity, if you ask me. 

I found that Jane's recipes are easily doubled...and are all very family friendly.  And while I love a good challenge...something gourmet and unusual...I equally love simple, flavorful dishes that are reminiscent of my childhood and that the kiddos will eat without countdowns and threats of no dessert for the rest of their lives.  This book fits that mark perfectly!

I think in the past, whenever I made Shepherds Pie, it was basically a meatloaf with mashed potatoes on top.  Jane's version is a little different...looser meat on the bottom and an added layer of creamed corn (something I hadn't used in mine before)...but simple and delicious and a new version that I will make often!

Basic Shepherds Pie
from Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms by Jane Doiron
yield: 4 svgs. (I doubled this & used a 9x13)

1 lb. ground beef, 85% lean
1/4 c. onion, diced
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 lbs. potatoes (~4 med.), peeled & sliced I used red potatoes, just quartered
1/2 c. chive & onion cream cheese (red. fat) I used regular Neufchatel
1 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs.milk
1/4 tsp. black pepper
14.5 oz. can creamed corn

In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the beef and onion together.  Drain well and season with salt and pepper.  Place the beef mixture in a 9x9x2" baking dish.  Set aside to cool.  Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in a medium pan for 20-25 minutes. Drain the potatoes and place them in a large mixing bowl.  Add the cream cheese, butter, milk and pepper.  Mix on medium speed until smooth. Pour the creamed corn evenly over the beef mixture.  Spread the mashed potatoes evenly over the corn.  When the potatoes have cooled, cover with foil and refrigerate until ready to bake.

Remove the dish from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Uncover and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the corn is bubbly around the sides.

This is a delicious basic recipe...but of course it is open to interpretation.  If you want to add different seasonings, by all means do...they would fit right in!  I added a little garlic to my potatoes, melted cheese on in the end and added hot peas...because I love peas with my meat & potatoes. Delish! 

And can I tell you a little secret?  I even made this a second time...and ate it right away!  No make-ahead that time...and it was just as good :)

Bacon-topped Meatloaf w/ Potato & Green Bean Salad

Nothing like some pretty colors to get people to eat their veggies!! Okay, starch and veggies...but never the less, people wanna eat 'em! Then, top a little something with bacon and it's a surefire winner! I adore bacon. Not much talk today...straight to the cookin'...after I tell you that I LOVE fresh green beans (do not like canned ones, though...all army green and drab) and paired with these Gemstone Potatoes, they make one of my favorite side/snack/salad-ish combos!Bacon-topped Meatloaf with Gemstone Potato-Green Bean "Salad"
Meatloaf adapted from Mark Bittman's Basic Meatloaf in How to Cook Everything

Meatloaf
2 lbs. ground meat (I used beef & pork)
1/2 c. Italian-Seasoned Bread Crumbs
1/2 c. milk
1 egg
1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 c. chopped, fresh parsley
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small carrot, peel & grate
1 small onion, peel & grate
couple pinches of dried Italian Seasoning
Black Truffle Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black pepper- to taste
4 slices bacon

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Soak the bread crumbs in the milk until all liquid is absorbed. Place ground meats in bowl. Add all remaining ingredients except bacon. Mix it all up well with your hands.Free form it into a loaf of any shape you like and place it on a foil-lined sheet pan. Drape the bacon slices over the loaf. Bake 50-60 minutes, or until thermometer registers 165 degrees F in center of loaf. Let sit for 5-10 minutes to recompose itself (juices). Slice. Break up fight over end piece. Enjoy warm or even better cold in a sammie the next day.Gemstone Potato & Green Bean "Salad"
I don't know if it's necessarily a salad...or just a side...but I like it hot, room temp or cold from the fridge for snacking. All amounts are "to taste".

Gemstone Potatoes (or any type you like...smallish or cut smallish)

Fresh green beans, ends snapped (I like 'em long, but you can halve them if you wish)

Olive Oil

White Wine Vinegar (or red wine vinegar)

Sea Salt

Black Pepper

Begin by thoroughly washing your taters & beans. Steam or boil each separately...but try to time it so they're both done pretty simultaneously.

Drain both and toss with some drizzles of olive oil & white wine vinegar. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Enjoy!Put it all together and you've got one tasty meal!

Sloppy Joes & Chips...love being a Tastemaker...tag, you're it!

One of the most awesome perks of being a FoodBuzz featured publisher is that you get the opportunity to be a Tastemaker and try new products! I love getting free things...free foodie things at that! I recently received a package containing a few of Emeril's products...Emeril's All-Natural Chicken Stock, Emeril's Chicken Rub and these two beauties that I used in the following recipe...Emeril's Kicked Up Horseradish Mustard and Emeril's Original Essence Seasoning. BAM! You know you can't resist saying it. Okay, I know I can't resist saying it! Boy it's hard to empty your pantry when you get more fillers in the mail. I'm not complaining. But, this is the last meal I made in my pantry/fridge-cleaning extravaganza. I hit the market the very next day. Kicked Up Sloppy Joes w/ Red Potato Chips

by girlichef

yield: 8-12 svgs (depending on the size of your buns...or the size you want your buns to be)

2 lbs. ground beef

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 3/4 c. ketchup

1 c. water

1/4 c. brown sugar

2 Tbs. Emeril's Original Essence

2 Tbs. Emeril's Kicked Up Horseradish Mustard

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. minced, dried onion

1/2 tsp. crushed red chiles

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper- to taste

1. Cook the ground beef, onions and garlic until ground beef is browned. Drain fat. Add all remaining ingredients except salt and pepper.

2. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Partially cover and let cook until liquid is reduced and coats the ground beef all nice & sloppy-like, ~20-30 minutes. Now season to taste with the sea salt and black pepper.

Red Potato Chips

Red Potatoes

vegetable (or whichever kind you prefer) oil for frying

Black Truffle Sea Salt (go ahead, click it...)

1. Thinly slice your potatoes with a mandolin, vegetable peeler or super-sharp knife. Fry in oil that has been brought up to ~350 degrees F.

2. Remove to paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with Black Truffle Sea Salt.Serve the Sloppy Joe on your choice of bread...I used small-ish, split rolls. Crunch some chips in between bites of the Joes...ahhhh, slightly sweet w/ an underlying kick!

I want to give a big shout-out to Palidor of Crazy Asian Gal for passing me this Premio Meme! award. If you do not know her, you must go visit her...she has some crazy delicious food over there...and she gives a big thank you to each new person who joins/follows her blog (sweet, huh)...so quick go bombard her and see how many thanks she has to put up on her next post...LOL!! Thanks Palidor :D This award states that we're supposed to share 7 of our personality traits...since I've done this before, I won't bore you. You can click here if you'd like to find out what I said. And I just know that you know that I'm gonna break the rules and not pass it on to 7 people...since I've passed it on before. Maybe I'll just hold it for later....speaking of passing things on....

I was tagged by Jenn of Bread + Butter to receive The Joy of Reading award....cool. Here's the skinny on this particular "tag" or "award":

1. Collect the book that you have most handy.

2. Turn to page 161

3. Find the 5th complete sentence.

4. Site the sentence on your blog

5. Pass it on to 5 other bloggers.

I imagine that most or all of you know that I love books. Can not get enough of them. I've told you of mexi's comments that we have more than the library. One of my all-time favorite quotes is...."A room without books is like a body without a soul." -anonymous This is so obviously the reason that I have books spread throughout the house...although I actually draw the line at the bathroom. Ewww, no thanks. The book I have most handy is actually a stack of 8 books, so...I'll pick a couple of them and share with you. Because I just know you're interested in how diverse I am. Why yes, I do practice sarcasm, why do you ask?

The first book I have handy is The French Chef Cookbook by Julia Child (come on, you knew one would be a cookbook) and the chosen sentence is: Pour fat out of browning skillet, pour in 2 cups of stock or bouillon, and boil, scraping up coagulated browning juices. Sheesh, now I'm hungry. Doesn't take much.

Another of the books in my current pile is The Zen of Eating by Ronna Kabatznick, Ph.D and the chosen sentence here is: You learn that mindfulness is something you can trust. Indeed.

So....Kim of The Ungourmet, Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies, Danielle of Cooking for my Peace of Mind, Wandering Coyote of ReTorte and Ty's Mommy of The Seventh Level of Boredom...you're tagged! Do with it what you will.

Good Morning Pizza

Whew! Today was a crazy day...it started out fairly normal, though. I was really in the mood for pizza. Homemade pizza. For breakfast. My favorite way to make a pizza is just grab anything good...everything good that's laying around and slice & dice...and bake into bliss! The pizza turned out beautifully. The day seemed "regular" enough. Then I decided that I needed to take a road trip. Things were feeling stale. So, we hopped in the car and headed to my mom's house (just a couple of hours away). We hit the beach...we drank some wine...we raided a taqueria...and we watched fireworks. And now, here I sit at a little past 1 o'clock in the morning writing this post. I don't sleep well when I'm not at home, so I figured I may as well use my time wisely (as opposed to tossing and turning). Plus, I really wanted to enter this pizza into this week's BSI (Blogger Secret Ingredient): Potato assignment; which is being held at Chez What? this week by Christo (aka DoggyBloggy). So, here's to fun weekends and spontaneity and pizza for breakfast!

Good Morning Pizza

by girlichef ...ingredients used in bold

Using 1 portion of pizza dough (homemade, store bought, whatever...I used one of those mixes..just add H20)

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Prepare your dough...get it rolled out onto your pizza stone or baking sheet. Drizzle with Olive Oil. Sprinkle with Italian Seasoning, Crushed Red Pepper and then grate some fresh Parmesan over it.

Have your chosen toppings sliced, diced & ready to go. I decided to use onion, garlic, plum tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, ham and this weeks BSI...potatoes (b-sized reds to be exact...sliced paper thin!)Pile all of your toppings onto the pizza. Next, add some sliced homemade Mozzarella (yup, here's one application of that mozzarella I so recently made), crack a couple of eggs on top, drizzle with a bit more olive oil, sprinkle with some more crushed red pepper and freshly grated Parmesan and pop into the preheated oven for ~15 minutes.

Let sit for a few minutes so you don't burn the top layer of skin from that little section between your two front teeth.

Slice and serve.

MMMMMMMM.....BREAKFAST! Good morning, pizza.

Okay, you can eat this anytime you like. But look at all of those yummy ingredients that may normally make their way onto your breakfast plate anyway! **Don't forget to enter my giveaway celebrating the 101 post mark!** Happy 4th of July to those celebrating today!!...and everybody else, too...

Grilled Steak and Veggies (basic, but super delicious)

Not too long ago, Al from Country Bob's contacted me and asked if I would like to try a great All-Purpose sauce made by a small, small company, that he just so happened to work for. If you haven't figured it out by now, I'll try pretty much anything at least one time. It's only fair, after all. I make my kids at least try (it) everything on their plates, so I should definitely set a good example.

What I'm trying to say is that I said Yes, of course I'd love to try it. I've actually been wanting to try it since I've seen it floating around the blogosphere quite a bit lately. A few days later, I had 2 bottles of Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce delivered lovingly by the boys in brown. I knew that the first thing I wanted to try it on was steak. I kept picturing my favorite fair food. Steak Tips mixed with potatoes, mushrooms and onions...they mix 'em all up and serve them in one of those rectangular paper "bowls"...know the ones...they're white with red checks. then I found some NY Strips on sale and decided just to grill whole steaks and throw some veggies on the grill at the same time. I honestly haven't used a steak sauce...or an all-purpose sauce on my steak in years...probably since I was a kid. I used to love dipping every bite in A-1. So, this actually was a bit of a throw-back for me...one that I quite enjoyed.

Grilled Steak and Veggies

Quick and simple steak and vegetables cooked on the grill. A basic, but incredibly delicious recipe.

by Heather Schmitt-Gonzalez

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 10 to 20 mins

Keywords: grill entree side beef mushrooms onions potatoes July 4th Memorial Day Labor Day American summer fall

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

for the steak:

• 4-6 New York Strip Steaks
• 1 cup red wine
• 1/2 cup Country Bob's All-Purpose Sauce (or your favorite)
• black pepper

for the veggies (amounts to taste):

• red potatoes, quartered- boiled until almost tender
• mushrooms, quartered
• onions, sliced
• garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• Country Bob's All-Purpose Sauce (or your favorite)
• Vintage Merlot sea salt (or regular sea salt)
• black pepper

Instructions

Start your coals or crank your gas. Once it is hot and ready to go, whisk together the red wine and Country Bob's in a wide bowl. Bring the bowl out to the grill with you.

Dip each steak in the mixture for a few seconds, then transfer to a grill (oil or spray your grates first). Crack fresh black pepper over each.

Grill, turning halfway through, until done to your liking.

If your grill is big enough grill veggies at the same time, if not, do it before or after.

Toss all veggies together and put on a large, heavy duty (or doubled) sheet of foil. Set on grill. Sprinkle all over with the Country Bob's, salt, and black pepper.

Fold up edges of foil and let cook and steam until everything is tender and flavored. Serve with extra Country Bob's on the side for dipping.

Verdict: Good stuff, Maynard! My love of dipping has been re-kindled. I don't know if I prefer Country Bob's to A-1...but I definitely enjoyed it enough to keep BOTH of them in the house. I mean, it can never hurt to have a back-up condiment. Not to mention, Country Bob's is All-Purpose!

I'm thinking meatloaf next...or Country Bob's has a scrumptious-sounding grilled pork tenderloin recipe in the flyer that accompanied my samples...and I'm betting on their website. Thanks for the samples Al!!!