Greek-inspired Dinner

Sometimes, when I'm not too busy, I'll get carried away and go rather more in depth  with something than I really need to.

Case in point -- this morning, my mother asked me to cook dinner in the evening since she'd be busy with her piano lessons.

I made four courses in an hour and a half.


Mom was talking the other day about how it had been a long time since she had Greek food, so when I started to plan the meal this morning, that was where my mind went. I dropped by the grocery store on the way home for an eggplant, a couple of tomatoes, a cucumber, and some feta cheese, and when I came home, I went to town improvising! This is the end result:

 

Blurry photography quite aside,  I'm pretty proud of how it all turned out. All together, I turned out four dishes--two salads, pan-fried eggplant, and a feta-veggie flatbread pizza. And let me tell you, they were delicious! Plenty of leftovers in the fridge tonight.

RECIPES:

Mediterranean Flatbread Pizza

Ingredients:

• 1 flatbread crust 
• 1 medium tomato, washed and sliced
• 1/4 medium onion, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 medium red pepper, washed and sliced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt + pepper, to taste
• a stem or two of fresh oregano (optional)
• 1/2 cup feta cheese
• around 1/2 dozen kalamata olives (optional, but I'm not usually crazy about olives and they were excellent here, for the record!)

1. Follow the directions here.
2. About 10 minutes from the end of the bake time, put a pan on the stove and lightly sautee the vegetables with olive oil, salt, and pepper. If using oregano, add it about a minute before taking the flatbread out of the oven. Stir well!



Vegetables!

3. Removing the flatbread from the oven when it's finished and leaving it in the pan, add one layer of sliced tomato.



Pizza Assembly I 

4. Sprinkle on half of the feta cheese.



Pizza Assembly II




5. Add the vegetables on top, then the rest of the feta. Be sure to take the flesh of the olives off of the pits, if applicable.
   

   

   Gaze upon it in slack-jawed adoration! If you don't, it will have been just me.

6. Put the pan back in the oven, until warmed thoroughly (feta doesn't really get all that bubbly, just use your judgment!)
7. Remove, and serve warm. Serves 3 as a major part of the meal, about 6 as an appetizer.
   

   

   The finished product!

Pan-Fried Eggplant  

The eggplant I used last night

This recipe is incredibly simple. The trick, as I learned here, is to salt and squeeze the eggplant before cooking, which keeps them from absorbing too much oil and helps them get a little more tender before cooking!

Ingredients:

• 1 eggplant, peeled and sliced
• a dash of olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Place the eggplant slices in a bowl and salt them well. Toss a little to ensure even coverage, and set them aside for 10 minutes to go do something else.



In the bowl and salted







2. After 10 minutes, rinse off the salt and squeeze the moisture out of the slices by hand.
3. Heat up a pan with just a little bit of olive oil. When it's warm, lay the slices along the bottom of the pan.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. When they're nicely browned on the bottom, flip them over! Add more salt and pepper if desired. Spices like thyme, rosemary, or oregano could be good with this recipe, too, I think.



Just about done!

6. After a few more minutes, they're finished! Remove to a plate and serve.

Greek-style Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

•   1 fresh cucumber
• ~3 oz plain Greek yogurt
• 1 small clove garlic, pressed or chopped
• 1 small slice lemon
• 1 tsp olive oil

1. Rinse the cucumber and slice it into circles. Place in a bowl.

2. Mix the yogurt, garlic, and olive oil; squeeze the juice from the lemon in and mix that, too. If you're smarter than me, you will do this in a separate bowl, then add it to the cucumbers.



"Oh, I'll just mix it all in here!" My planning skills, clearly, are just exemplary.

3. Speaking of which, add it to the cucumbers!
4. Toss, and refrigerate until ready to serve.



Deliciousness.

And, last but not least...

Spinach Salad with Greek Dressing

Ingredients:
Salad-

• 2-3 cups spinach (I didn't measure, really)
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 1/4 cup feta cheese

Dressing-

•  1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 small clove garlic, chopped or pressed
• 1 small slice lemon
• a few leaves of fresh oregano (optional)

1. Toss spinach, tomato, and feta together in a large salad bowl. 
2. In a container with a lid, mix olive oil, vinegar, and garlic. Squeeze in a bit of lemon juice, and tear up the oregano before adding. Shake well, and shake again immediately before use.

 

Dressing ingredients

Aaaaand I have to run to work now! More to come later, I hope :)