Homemade Gyros

When coming up with this week's menu on Sunday Matt said he wanted to try making gyros at home. I imagined this would be a little complicated but was pleasantly surprised at how easy Alton Brown's recipe was, no harder than making meatloaf (actually easier than our favorite meatloaf). Does it taste like a gyro you get out that's cooked on a spit? Not exactly, but it was still really tasty. This recipe makes a lot of meat, enough for 6 to 8 servings. We halved it since it was just for 2 & it seemed to work just fine. The biggest difference is the loaf won't be a thick but since you are just slicing it and putting it in a pita is doesn't really matter.


Gyro Meat

1 med onion, chopped
2 lbs ground lamb
1 T garlic, finely minced
1 T dried marjoram
1 T dried ground rosemary
2 t kosher salt
1/2 t freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 325. Process the onion in a food processor for 10 to 15 seconds. Put it into a tea towel and squeeze out as much juice as you can. Return the onion to the food processor and add the remaining ingredients. Process until a fine paste is formed. Place the mixture into a loaf pan, spreading it into all the corners. Put the pan into a water bathe & bake until the mixture reaches between 165 & 170, should be about an hour. Remove from the oven & drain off any excess fat. Place a brick covered in foil on top of the meat (we used another loaf pan filled with canned goods for weight) and let sit for 15 - 20 minutes. Slice and serve on pita with tzatziki sauce, onions & tomatoes.

You can also cook this on a rotisserie. See Alton Brown's recipe for details on that.

Tzatziki Sauce
(this is a wonderful version of this sauce)

16 oz plain yogurt
1 med cucumber, peeled, seeded & finely chopped
pinch kosher salt
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 T olive oil
2 t red wine vinegar
5 to 6 mint leaves, finely minced

Place the yogurt in a tea towel, gather up the edges, suspend over a bowl and let drain for 2 hours in the refrigerator. (I've read you can buy Greek yogurt & skip this step.)
Place the chopped cucumber in a tea owl & squeeze to remove the liquid. In a medium bowl combine the drain yogurt, cucumber and all remaining ingredients. Can be stored up to a week in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Makes 1 1/2 cups

Small Batch Baking

I recently read about Small-Batch Baking on a blog (which one I can't remember for the life of me now) & thought what a good idea for Matt & I. So, I picked up a copy at the library to test out some of the recipes too see if it was as good an idea as it sounded. We all know how hard it can be to size a recipe down for just two people, especially baking recipes that call for eggs (seriously how do you half & egg?) so this book has done that for you. It allows you to bake up just 5 cookies

3 brownies

A 4-inch cake

or 3 scones

I've also made the 6-inch focaccia bread, the mixed berry cobbler for 2 & a batch of 4 cupcakes. So far I've had very good success with all of the recipes. Some people are probably thinking why go through the work of baking for such a small amount. Well, I enjoy baking but really haven't done much of it because I don't want 36 cookies or a whole cake around the house. I like the idea that I can make a dessert or mid-afternoon treat for us & not have leftovers to tempt us into snacking for days or end up getting thrown away. I especially like the idea of small batches of breakfast treats such as muffins, popovers & scones. We tend to eat a healthy breakfast on weekdays but like a treat on the weekends, it was so nice to have 3 small scones on Sunday morning instead of 8.
I've found that some of the basic recipes in here can also be a good jumping off point to create your own small batch baked good. I used the Plain Good Cupcake recipe to test out peach cupcakes (you don't feel so bad about something not working out when its only 4). I took the recipe for Chocolate Chip Cream Scones & turned it into amazing Lavender Scones. It was so nice to have the basic ingredients worked out to the right measurements for me.
The one thing about this book that might be a little bothersome is the need for new smaller (she has exact sizes in the book) baking pans. She does bake her cakes in empty cans but calls for a couple different sizes of muffin tins, small individual tart pans, petit loaf pans, 4-inch baking rounds & small ramekins. I figured since I planned on doing a lot of baking from this book I'd invest in some of these pieces but they have been hard to find the exact sizes. I found 4.5 inch cake pans at Michael's Craft store which I use instead of the cans (it give me one two layer cake instead of two smaller ones) . The Gobel 4-by-1-Inch Quiche Pan, Set of 4 with removable bottoms was much harder to find & I ended up ordering some from Amazon. I did have petit loaf pans though mine are smaller than the ones she calls for though still seemed to work with a little adjustment of baking time.
In the end I decided this is a good baking book for me to have in my library especially when I saw its only $11.16 on Amazon.

Onion Potato Gratin for Two

Sometimes there's just nothing like meat & potatoes. Last night we grilled up a steak & some asparagus & served it with this gratin. As easy as it was to put together it felt like a special Sunday dinner. This gratin can be prepared 8 hours before cooking & kept covered in the fridge which makes dinner time even easier


1 Russet Potato (about 3/4 lbs), peeled & cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 medium onion (about 12 oz), thinly sliced
2 oz grated Gruyere
1 oz freshly grated Parmesan
1/3 c whipping cream

Combine potatoes & onions in a sauce pan & cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat & simmer for 3 minutes. Drain well.
Arrange half the potato and onion mixture on the bottom of a 4 c souffle dish. Sprinkle with 1/3 of each cheese. Season with salt & pepper.
Arrange the remaining potatoes & onions on top. Pour the cream over. Season with more salt & pepper. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
Now either cover & refrigerate or preheat oven to 400. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, it should be bubbly & the cream should look a little thicker. Preheat broiler & broil until golden brown, about 2 minutes or use a kitchen torch to brown the top.

Serves 2 - 3

Original recipe from Bon Appétit

Weekly Menu 3/10-3/15/08

Wow, did we eat well this weekend. Dinner out Friday at a local bistro called Cave Vin (a little hidden gem), where I had an amazing beef tenderloin with blue cheese on top of brussels sprouts and Matt had a pork loin with fingerling potatoes & peaches. Saturday we had friends over for two type of lasagna, a sausage & spinach one & a spinach, roasted red pepper & wild mushroom one. Then last night we really treated ourselves with a grilled steak, asparagus & a potato onion gratin.

Now its back to real life & the weekly menu for Menu Planning Monday.

Cream Chicken Wild Rice Soup - As far as Matt's concerned I could make this soup every week & he'd be happy.

Leftover lasagna - We have both sausage & vegetarian lasagna left. I'll share our vegetarian recipe later this week.

Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce - Using the recipe for gyro meat from Alton Brown. - RESULT - This turned out quite good with a lot less fuss than I expected. Just remember to drain the yogurt early.

Chicken, Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Roulade - Thinking of things to do with the open jar of roasted red peppers & this sounded good. I'll be making up the recipe as I go along. - RESULT - This dished turned out really quite wonderful, I loved the goat cheese flavored sauce.

Rigatoni, White Beans & Brown Butter - I saw this recipe last week on Eating Out Loud & it just sounded too good not to try this week. - RESULT - Oh so yummy!

Chicken Chili - As well as making a fabulous smoky beef chili, Matt makes a wonderful white chili with chicken. Its perfect for a lazy weekend. - RESULT - This didn't end up being the white chili I had planned on but turned into a new fabulous chicken & two bean chili.

This week's cupcake is a brainchild of Matt's - Lemon cupcakes with blackberry filling. - Best cupcake yet!

Patel Chicken Curry

The search for the perfect curry recipe continues at Chez Good Appetite. My cousin saw our other tries & brought over a recipe a co-worker of her husband had given them. We've changed the recipe a bit by adding broccoli & chicken broth (instead of water).


4 T oil or butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4-inch square of ginger, chopped or grated
1 t coriander powder
a pinch of tumeric
1/2 t cumin powder
1/4 t garam masala powder
1/4 - 1 cayenne pepper to taste (we did 1/4 & it was a little too mild)
4 chicken boneless chicken thighs, cut into cubes
1 c chicken broth
1 med tomato, seeded & chopped
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
salt
1/2 c coconut milk

In a large soup pot heat the oil over med-high heat. Add the onion, garlic & cloves. Cook until beginning to brown. Add the spices & cook 1 minute. Add chicken thighs & cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add chicken broth & bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add tomatoes, broccoli & coconut milk. Let simmer for 15 more minutes. Salt to taste. Serve over jasmine rice.

Serves 2 - 3