Tirokafteri - Spicy Feta Dip

When D & I went to visit my grandma (Meema!) for the weekend back in July, she took us to this little Greek/pizza place (I believe it was called Papas Pizza) that she had heard about but had never been to. We didn't get pizza, but I did get a calzone to share with Meema & it was off the hook! We also got a sort of appetizer platter that came with tzatziki sauce, hummus, and "tyrokafteri."

None of us had ever heard of the last one, which the menu described as a spicy feta dip, but we were willing to try it out. It was so tasty, especially combined with one or both of the other dips. D especially loved it and asked the waitress for a take-out menu just so we could look it up and make it when we got home.

Ingredients

8 oz package cream cheese

1 lb feta, crumbled

1 cup lemon juice

1/4 tsp ground White pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

1 cup half & half

4 roasted red peppers, diced (optional)

2 tsp. Tabasco sauce (optional)

This recipe is easy to make but be warned - it makes a LOT of dip!

Soften the cream cheese in large bowl with a mixer, then add the feta, lemon juice, and white pepper. Slowly add olive oil until it's evenly blended. Mix in half & half until the mixture is smooth and soft. Add the Tabasco sauce last - recipe says 2 tsp. but I could have used a little more.

Now add roasted peppers if you'd like to. Sadly this recipe doesn't tell you how to prepare roasted red peppers, but I will!

Heat up the oven to 450 degrees. Put the peppers in whole and turn every ten minutes until all the sides are slightly blackened. When it's time to remove the pepper, either place them in a brown paper bag and close up the end, or place them into a large bowl and cover the top. The steam released will help loosen the skin and make it easier to remove. Leave them to steam for 15 minutes or so.

Now it's time to pull the skin off & it should be incredibly easy. The next part is harder - removing the top and seeds. Actually, the top is easy to pull off, its just separating the rest of the pepper that is difficult. The website I used to help me with this process said to "pull or cut off the top of the pepper and squeeze gently to remove the seeds." It was really hard for me because the pepper gets so slippery after you take the skin off. I ended up tearing the pepper into strips and removing any seeds that might be on that particular tiny piece. It was somewhat time-consuming but, oh well!

The peppers are done once you've done all of the above. You could mix them in with the bulk of the dip or just save them to put in individual servings.

Anywho, here it is! It should be noted that this picture contains Naan which I did not make myself! I just put it in the toaster. :) Also the peppers are not in this picture.

If you're ever in the Virginia Beach area, make sure to check out Papas Pizza and get the dip platter with the Tirokafteri!

Here is the original recipe from Greek-Recipe.com.

Quick and Yummy Hummus

I stole that name from the actual page where I got the recipe, but it is a really good title because well... it is quick and it is yummy!

Ingredients

1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup plain yogurt

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 tablespoon water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

First of all, I felt really dumb when I read this recipe because I was like, "What the hell are garbanzo beans? Where's the recipe with chickpeas??" So for those of you who are challenged like I am, garbanzo beans = chickpeas. Oops.

So anywho, drain and rinse the garbanzo beans. I found a couple little stray pieces that didn't belong in there so it's worth sorting through the beans before you go to the next step.

Now, the next step! The recipe basically says to dump all of the ingredients into a food processor or a blender and mix them up. My food processor is a little small for my recipes lately, especially when it tells me to blend all the ingredients together (rather than just one ingredient at a time). Also, it doesn't really break them down as much as I'd like, so after my first attempt with the food processor, I poured the somewhat chunky chickpea paste into the blender and used that for the rest of the recipe.

So next I add the yogurt to the mixture. I got a single serving (6 oz) container of Dannon plain yogurt and it yielded just over 1/2 cup so go me! (I was eyeballing the amount and wasn't positive it was going to be enough).

Lemon juice, oh lemon juice. I love it but I never know how much one lemon will give me. I'll say have 1 lemon handy to get the 2 tbsp. The rest of the ingredients are easy enough & self explanatory. Just put them all in the blender and well... blend.

It should be smooth, creamy, and kind of beige colored when it's ready. Then just grab some carrot sticks, pita bread, or whatever else you want to dip and go nuts!!

Broiled Striped Bass

Dennis came home from an after-work fishing trip with this bad boy back in December 2008. He cleaned it himself and gave me the meat to do with as I pleased! I decided to cook and eat it (as opposed to what, I don't know). Unfortunately, this was one of those times when I had already eaten right before he brought me/cooked me some food and I ate a few bites and said "I'm full!" If you would like to hear more of those stories, just ask Dennis... I'm sure he's dying to relate them.

So Dennis took care of the hard part and I did the easy part. Cooking fish (certain types of fish, I want to say white fish but I don't know enough about fish to confidently say it) can be really simple, quick, and easy to clean up. When I was in college my dad told me how to cook fish and it's so easy I still remember it. Here's what you need.

Ingredients

Olive oil, salt, & pepper (all amounts to taste)

Lemon wedge, if preferred

Yep! That's it. Oh and fish.

This can get a little messy so I like to use aluminum foil to keep it all contained. Make a little tray out of foil and put it on a cookie sheet. I use a cookie sheet with sides just in case the oil gets out. Lay the fish down in the foil tray and drizzle the oil over it, then salt & pepper it. Flip it over and repeat. Then turn the broiler on and put the cookie sheet on the top tray closest to the broiler. Leave it in for about 7 minutes, then take it out and flip the fish again. Wait another 7 minutes then check on it. At this point, the fish should be "flaky," meaning that if you jab it with a fork, the pieces flake off easily.

If you like tartar sauce or anything like that with your fish, you can try it out, but I just add more salt & pepper if needed. I usually pair fish with steamed broccoli & squirt the lemon wedge over both. Fantastic!