How the Garcias do Greek

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who emailed me their fabulous recipes! I am BEYOND excited to try them out!! I still cannot believe I actually have people reading this blog--much less take the time to email me their great ideas!! Many thanks to you all!! So last night, Ben and I decided to make Greek food.  Greek is certainly a genre of food we don't try much--especially now that I am a vegan, but when I found the Babaganoush recipe I figured a Greek theme would be worth taking a stab at!  We decided on an orzo greek pasta, baba ganoush, and toasted pita--can you sam YUM!? This recipe also allowed me to use alot of the fresh veggies Ben brought home--cucumbers, green onion, eggplant, and garlic! This meal reminded me that thinking outside the box is good, and also that Ben will surprise you and eat more unusual things than you give him credit for!! I realize that this is not some perfect rendition of a Greek meal but as people say, "It's Greek to me!!"  So Kali Orexi Fili Mou!! (aka Bon Appetite my friend)

Babaganoush

Prick your eggplant with a fork then put on a cooking sheet and bake in the oven on 450 for about 25 minutes, check about every 10 and turn your egg plant so one side does not get more cooked than the rest. I got this method of roasting the eggplant from Elie Krieger on Food Network.

While the eggplant cooks, make your tahini mixture in a blender or food processor. Start with about three cloves of garlic chopped (I clearly used ALOT of garlic b/c we love garlic--but it was alittle much...)

Add 1/4c of tahini

add the juice of two lemons and a teaspoon of salt

Pulse in the food processor until smoothe....

Once your eggplant looks about like this....cut it in half lengthwise

and scrape out the pulp, do not use the skin

and add to your mixture in the food processor

until it looks like this! You can enjoy this alone with pita or pita chips!

Now for the Greek Orzo Salad

Start by heating 3tbs olive oil on medium heat and add about 5 cloves of garlic chopped....cook for approx 10 minutes and do not let the garlic burn or get crisp.

Now add, 1/4c sundried tomatoes, chopped black olives, cucumber, and green onion

once the vegetables have softened, add two teaspoons of balsalmic vinegar...

Add your cooked orzo (orzo is just a rice shaped pasta, certainly any other small pasta would work in this recipe)

And one freshly squeezed lemon

 Serve with toasted pita bread and Enjoy Greek the Garcia way!

Babaganoush

1 medium eggplant

3-4 garlic cloves chopped

1/4c tahini

2 lemons juiced

1tsp salt

Start by preheating your oven to 450 degrees. Using a fork, poke holes in your eggplant then put on a cooking sheet and bake in the oven for approx 25 minutes, turning as you cook so that all sides get roasted.  While eggplant is roasted, add garlic, tahini, lemons, and salt to a food processor or blender and blend until smoothe.  Once the egglant is done, slice in half and using a spoon get out the pulp, leaving the charred skin behind.  Add pulp to food processor and blend until smoothe, serve with pita/pita chips.

Orzo Greek Pasta

1 1/2 orzo (cooked then drained)

3tbs olive oil

5 garlic cloves chopped

1/4c sundried tomatoes chopped

1/4c c green onion chopped

1/4c black olives chopped

1/4c cucumber chopped

1tsp salt

2tsp balsalmic vinegar

1 lemon squeezed

fresh basil for topping

Cook your pasta according to directions on package.  Preheat a skillet on medium heat with olive oil.  Add garlic and cook for approx 10 minutes until garlic is cooked but not burned.  Add tomatoes, onion, olives, cucumber and salt. Cook for approx 5 minutes until tender.  Add balsalmic vinegar and cook additional five minutes.  Add orzo, lemon juice, and fresh basil. Serve with toasted pita!