No, there are no pictures.
It has all been consumed. How
much can you really expect when the food is good and its dinner time? I’m so glad you understand!
Last night I made a good dinner, inspired by our trip to Greece. I made gyros with tzatziki and spinach
pies. Mmmm. Very good.
And it all starts with a piece of beef (chuck roast) and a slow
cooker. Here’s how it went:
Slow cooker roast beef:
1 # chuck roast (or steak)
1/2 C olive oil
3 T lemon juice (or squeeze out a lemon and toss in the wedge)
6 cloves garlic, smashed
2 t dried oregano
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
Add all ingredients to the pot, and then coat the meat in
them, cover, and simmer on low for 8 hours.
Make sure that the meat is covered on top by liquid! When it’s ready, just at dinner time, remove and
slice, it should be very tender and it will smell great.
Now, for the delicious accompaniment of Tzatziki.
Ingredients:
1 C plain yogurt (not lowfat, please, but doesn’t have to be
Greek, I used Dannon all natural)
1 C cucumber*
1 garlic clove, minced or grated
1 squeeze lemon
black pepper, a few rounds from the grinder
dash salt
*for the cucumber, use a vegetable peeler to take off the
thick dk green skin, discard, then shave into the white pulp until you get to
the seeds (we don’t want the seedy part), give the white pulp shavings a quick
coarse chop and you are done!
Combine all ingredients, set aside to chill a while. This is enough for 2 people, and can be added directly
to the gyro over the meat, or on the side as a dip. I like to have it both ways!
To complete the gyro, you will need:
Pita-most bendable when warmed in the oven for a few minutes
Thin tomato wedges
Chopped lettuce
Red onion slices
Lastly, but certainly not least…the Spinach Pies. Ooo these were good. They cook in ramekins at 350 degrees for 30
minutes.
About 2 Tablespoons of dough that is not sweetened will do
if you have no filo dough, which I did not, nor could I acquire in these neck
of the woods (pathetic, eh?). So, if you
have made a pie, and smartly put the leftover dough scraps into the freezer in
a neat little ball wrapped tightly in plastic, you will have just what you
need. Otherwise, you may have to
improvise…or reduce the ingredients and check out my pie crust recipe on the
Pecan Pie post.
Ingredients:
2 T crust dough
2/3 of a can of spinach
1/4 C mozzarella shredded cheese + extra 2T for the top
1 T Parmesan cheese, grated
1 T milk
1 T margarine
1 egg
pinch of ground black pepper
dash of salt
Between two pieces of wax paper, roll approx. 1 T of the
dough into a flat disc about 6” in diameter.
Gently peel the paper away from each side and place the disc
on top of the ramekin, help the weight of the dough settle into the cup,
pressing gently into place and fixing any rips that may occur.
Trim dough to an even height with a knife (about 1/2” from
the top of the lip)
Place on a small cookie sheet and into the oven to bake for
10 minutes
While this is baking, drain the can of spinach, separating
about 2/3 of the contents (this you will work with)
Squeeze as much water as you can out of the 2/3s, save the
rest for another use or freeze.
In a small saucepan, tear apart the spinach (which is now in
tight little balls from squeezing) to separate it a bit
Add low-medium heat to the pan
Add margarine, and stir to incorporate
Add milk, incorporate
Add cheeses, salt and pepper, incorporate
Remove from heat.
Add egg, use a small whisk or fork to incorporate and mix evenly
Divide this mixture in half, placing equal amount in each pre-baked
shell
Top with extra mozzarella cheese
Return ramekins to the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
There you go! It’s really
a lot easier than all of these steps might indicate…trust me :)
Remove the ramekins from the oven, let cool 5 minutes, and the
pies will slip right out of them and onto your plate in a beautiful little spinach
pie.
I am definitely going to make these again and again. They were really tasty.
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