Fresh Spinach with Garlic-Yogurt Sauce

This was, well, interesting. I thought it had a nice flavor. The garlic yogurt really pulled it all together. Next time we’ll pre-cook the rice though – it took much longer than the 10 minutes in the recipe and use much more than a few tablespoons of water before the rice was even close to tender. By that time our spinach was so far beyond wilted… so much for ‘fresh’ spinach!

Excuse the bad photo… like I said, the spinach was overcooked. It’s better than it looks! I promise!

Fresh Spinach with Garlic-Yogurt Sauce

Recipe from Bon Appetit. Makes 6 side/appetizer size servings. Maybe we should stop trying to turn intended appetizers into main courses, eh?

INGREDIENTS
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2/3 cup chopped onion
1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
4 dried chilies de arbol
1 1/2 pounds fresh spinach leaves (four 6oz bags), divided
1 1/2 tablespoons uncooked medium-grain white rice
2 garlic cloves
6 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste, stir 1 minute. Add chiles and 1/3 of spinach. Cook until spinach wilts, adding remaining spinach in 2 additions and tossing often, about 4 minutes.

Mix in rice. Cover and simmer until rice is tender and moisture from spinach is absorbed, adding water by tablespoonfuls if needed for rice, about 10 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook until mixture is dry, about 2 minutes. Discard chilies.

Meanwhile, press garlic cloves into small bowl, stir in yogurt, and season with salt and pepper. Melt butter with 1 tablespoon oil in small skillet. Mix in cayenne and remove from heat.

Spread spinach mixture on platter; make indentations with back of spoon. Spoon yogurt into indentations and drizzle with cayenne butter.

Hummus and Flatbread with Cucumber-Yogurt Salad

If anyone out there has a fantastic recipe for hummus, please share. I don’t know what we did wrong, but our hummus was not good. It had almost a burnt-rubber aftertaste. Not so much when eaten on the flatbread (which is delicious), but by itself, uck.

Therefore, I shall not post the burnt-rubber hummus recipe. We’re going to keep trying with that, and post once we get a good one. The rest of this dish is worth making, however, and shall be posted!

For the flatbread, our grill-less selves baked it in a 400 degree oven for 8-10 minutes, or until it seemed cooked through, then quickly grilled it on a cast-iron grill pan. Not sure if it did anything more than leave pretty grill marks, but that’s worth it in my mind!

Grilled Flatbread and Cucumber-Yogurt Salad

Makes 4-6 servings. Recipe from Bobby Flay.

INGREDIENTS
Flatbread:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons green olive oil, plus more for brushing
Salt and pepper

Cucumber-Yogurt Salad:
2 cucumbers, peeled and coarsely grated
8 ounces plain yogurt, drained through a strainer lined with cheesecloth for 1 hour
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Dill sprigs

DIRECTIONS
Flatbread:
Mix water and yeast and let stand 15 minutes. Gradually pour in 2 cups of the flour and incorporate. Mix for about 1 minute to form a sponge. Let stand, covered for at least 1 hour up to 2 hours to create the sponge.

Put sponge in the bowl of an electric mixer. Using the dough hook, add flour 1/2 cup at a time to form dough. Remove from bowl and knead. Place in a clean oiled bowl and let rise, slowly, about 1 hour. Divide dough into 4 balls. Roll out into 6-inch circles.

Heat grill to high. Brush the dough with olive oil and season with pepper. Grill the bread for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes on each side. Remove from the grill and brush with more olive oil.

Cucumber-Yogurt Salad:
Combine shredded cucumbers, yogurt, garlic, cumin, and chopped dill in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Garnish with fresh dill sprigs.

Turkey Meatballs with a Minted Yogurt Dipping Sauce ottoman turkish

We saw Emeril make these little bites and just had to try them. I’m a huge ground turkey fan, and this was a delicious recipe for it. We ate them as our entire meal along with some toasted bread, but they’d be great appetizers as well. Or, make yourself a meatball sandwich! The yogurt dipping sauce is a must, though… really adds something special to the meatballs.

We also substituted soy creamer for the heavy cream, and used regular plain yogurt instead of the whole milk/greek yogurt. No loss there. :)

Turkey Meatballs with a Minted Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Makes 3-4 dozen. Recipe from Emeril.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small red onion, very finely chopped
1 scallion, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 egg
1 egg yolk
4 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 1/4 teaspoons salt, plus a pinch
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus 1/8 teaspoon
1 1/4 cups plain whole milk yogurt, preferably Greek, drained overnight in a cheesecloth-lined fine mesh sieve
1 lemon, zest finely grated and juiced

DIRECTIONS
Place the turkey in a medium mixing bowl and set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a small skillet and, when hot, saute the red onion and scallions until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Let cool slightly, then add to the turkey, along with the garlic, cumin, bread crumbs, heavy cream, egg and egg yolk, 3 tablespoons of the mint, the parsley, 1 teaspoon of the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper. Mix gently but thoroughly. Using a small scoop or spoon, divide the mixture into 1 tablespoon portions and roll into smooth round balls. Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, about 1 hour.

While the meatballs are chilling, make the dipping sauce. Combine the yogurt, remaining 1 tablespoon of mint, remaining 1/4 teaspoon plus a pinch of salt, remaining1/8 teaspoon of pepper, and lemon zest, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and lemon juice and whisk to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve the meatballs.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Brush the meatballs with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and bake until browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Let the meatballs cool slightly, then serve warm, with the yogurt dipping sauce.

Yield: About 5 1/2 dozen bite-size meatballs, generous 1 cup sauce, serving 6 to 8

Lentil Walnut Burgers with Yogurt Sauce

Obviously we are intrigued by lentils. They require some effort, but have so much potential we just can’t ignore them.

Side note, lentils also make a great filling for handmade computer wrist rests. Just sew a tube of fabric, fill it with uncooked lentils, sew shut, and save yourself $15 by not having to buy a fancy schmancy gel one.

Back to food…
These were quite good. The yogurt sauce is a MUST. So is the egg, apparently… I had made cookies earlier in the day, and failed to realize that we needed the last egg for these burgers. Ooops. So we made the recipe without the egg. Tasted great, still, but they were very volatile and a bit dry, crumbling all over the place. We ended up cooking them in the oven for 8-10 minutes per side instead of pan frying them, which is probably healthier anyway! Didn’t want to take a chance that the patties wouldn’t flip. :)

Lentil Walnut Burgers with Yogurt Sauce

Makes 4 servings. Recipe from Everyday Food.

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup toasted walnuts, cooled
1/3 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
Coarse salt and ground pepper
3/4 cup lentils, cooked, drained, and cooled
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large egg

Yogurt-Cilantro Sauce:
3/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

DIRECTIONS
In a food processor, combine walnuts, breadcrumbs, garlic, cumin, coriander, pepper flakes, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; process until finely ground. Add lentils and 1 tablespoon oil; pulse until coarsely chopped (some lentils should remain whole).

In a large bowl, whisk egg. Add lentil mixture; mix well. Divide into 4 equal-size parts; roll into balls, and flatten with the palm of your hand into 3/4-inch-thick patties.

Heat remaining 3 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add burgers; cook over medium-low heat until crisp and browned, turning gently with a thin-edged spatula, 8 to 10 minutes per side. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain.

In a small bowl, whisk together yogurt, cilantro, and lemon; season with salt and pepper.

Assemble burgers and top with yogurt sauce, sliced red onion, tomato, and lettuce.

Quinoa with Mango and Curried Yogurt Turkey Turkish Ottoman

We’ve been wanting to try quinoa (pronounced Keen-Wa) for sometime now, but it took a trip down to Wild Oats all the way across town to actually find it. But for this flavorful recipe, the trip was well worth it. The curry and peppers are deliciously spicy, but the cooling textures and flavors of the mango and mint perfectly compliment the heat. Plus, quinoa is really good for you (which makes you wonder why it isn’t more readily available). Anyways, if you can find it, I definitely recommend giving this one a try!

Quinoa with Mango and Curried Yogurt

Makes 6 side dish or 4 main dish servings. Recipe from Epicurious.

INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil
1 1/3 cups quinoa (7 1/2 oz)*
1 lb firm-ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks (2 cups)
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 fresh jalapeño chile, seeded (if desired for less heat) and minced
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup salted roasted peanuts (2 1/2 oz), chopped

DIRECTIONS
Whisk together yogurt, lime juice, curry powder, ginger, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add oil in a slow stream, whisking until combined.

Rinse quinoa in a bowl using 5 changes of water, rubbing grains and letting them settle before pouring off water (if quinoa does not settle, drain in a large sieve after each rinsing).

Cook quinoa in a 4- to 5-quart pot of boiling salted water 10 minutes. Drain in a large sieve and rinse under cold running water.

Set sieve with quinoa over a saucepan containing 1 1/2 inches boiling water (sieve should not touch water) and steam quinoa, covered with a kitchen towel and lid, until fluffy and dry, 10 to 12 minutes. Toss quinoa with curried yogurt and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Serve warm or at room temperature.