Thursday, July 14, 2011

Tzadziki, Vasilis' way

Tzadziki is a dip for bread, sardines, sunburn, or fried potatoes, and once tried on potatoes you will swear off catchup forever.



It's very simple providing you can get good Greek yogurt like Fage (Fa yay).  If you can only get regular stuff look for Strauss, Nancy's, Continental or some yogurt that is only milk and culture.  Gelatin does not belong in the stuff.  If you use the alternate yogurt put it in some cheese cloth and a strainer to drain some liquid out of it.  It has to be thick.  If you use Yoplait, leave this page now.

Put the yogurt in a mixing bowl and stir to loosen and smooth it.
Grate a peeled and seeded cucumber (english if available) on a very fine box grater.
Grab small handfuls of the cucumber and squeeze all the juice out of it.  Press hard.
Add cucumber to the yogurt.

Why no voume on these ingredients?  OK, 3 parts yogurt, 1 part cucumber.

Grate a garlic clove (skorda) or two on a microplane or crush and paste the same with some salt on a board and add to the mix.
If you didn't add salt already, do it now.
Glug some olive oil into the mixture. Two, three, tablespoons or more.
Grind some black pepper to taste
If you want, chop dome dill and add it also.
Mix well, and eat or chill for later.  The flavor develops over a few hours in the refrigerator.

Plate, dress with some Cretan olive oil and sliced cucumbers and a few olives.

Enjoy with bread, fries or grilled meat or fish.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The Greek Food and Drink Definitions

I use some words that are not in the USA vernacular.  Seems they are all food definitions:

Avolemeno; sauce with egg and lemon.  used with lamb or rabbit or on Horta.

Dolmathes of Dolmadikia; rice and meat rolled into cigars inside of grape leaves and baked. Served with yogurt.  Also made with squash blossoms. Small carry the dikia ending but no real size requirements.

Horta; wild greens eaten boiled ar room temperature with olive oil, lemon and salt.  usually Amaranth greens but there are 200 wild greens in use.

Phyllo; or filo or phillo means leaves and is a wheat dough that is rolled very thin.  Used in thick sheets for Boureki and thin for Baklava.  Thick for savory and thin for sweet.

Retsina; white wine with pine resin, used in the old days as a preservative and jar sealer, now just a taste.

Skordalia; another dip for beets, bread, but made for fried salt cod (Bacalaou).

Tsikoudia;  Raki, Grappa or Eau de Vie, specific to Crete and made from grape must.

Tzadziki; a dip for bread made from thick yogurt, finely grated cucumber and Skorda (garlic).