Food things

[chanaleh]

I am home from The Margaret Ghost! Today we closed our triumphant four-show run, successfully deconstructed and stowed all the set and props, and were safely ensconced at heliopsis' place eating Chinese food by 8:30pm. Go us.

So, on that note, have some anecdotes about food.

NYT on hyper-palatability and the processed foods industry:
How the Food Makers Captured Our Brains

Before Friday night's show, I wanted to go to Stone Hearth Pizza in Belmont Center, so that's what I did (trowa_barton and hotpoint were kind enough to join me). I had my eye on one of the "flatbread sandwiches", which ended up being quite nice but also, on arrival, somehow wasn't quite what I was expecting -- more of a calzone in form factor, and rather small. So I ordered a salad to go with it: plain mixed greens with their Lemon Thyme dressing. OMG was this the best salad I have eaten in recent memory. I have no idea what the predominating green was; butter lettuce, maybe? I think I need to invest in a salad spinner. I also think I might end up frequenting their Porter Square location rather more often than I would have anticipated. NOM.

And, since I had bought cucumbers well over a week ago that were spoiling in my fridge, between yesterday and this morning I finally made ...

Tzatziki (of sorts)
Nobody told me how to make this, I kind of made it up myself, but I quite like it whether or not it's strictly accurate for tzatziki.
5 smallish salad cucumbers
1 T salt
1 clove garlic
1 bundle fresh dill, de-stemmed (thank you Barbara!)
about 1C plain yogurt (goat's milk yogurt is particularly nice for this if you are buying some specially; if you already have it on hand, you don't need me to tell you that's the stuff to use)

Peel most of the peel off the cucumbers (leaving thin strips between the peeled swathes). Slice them very thin (I use the slicing slot on my hand grater, but a food processor would zoom through it, or perhaps you are the kind of person who owns a mandoline) into a small- to medium-sized mixing bowl. Squeeze out any initial water.

Sprinkle on 1 tablespoon of salt (really; a lot of it rinses out) and mix around to distribute well. Leave this in the fridge for an hour or two and then squeeze out the rest of the resulting water. (I actually ended up turning them out into a sieve and letting it drain over the bowl overnight.)

Chop up one clove of garlic as finely as you have patience for, and the feathery parts of the dill, and/or whatever other additional herbs you might like to throw in. (Did I mention I bought a spiffy little knife sharpener at IKEA last weekend? I think this alone may have just changed my life.)

Mix up with the yogurt, adding little by little until it has a consistency more like sauce than salad. Return to the refrigerator to let the flavors blend (though I was sorely tempted to just eat the whole bowl for breakfast, I have to admit).

The destined use for this in my house is in a wrap with avocado, hummus, and possibly some arugula if I still have it. OM. NOM.

... Okay, bed now.

Comments

[ken_r]

Mmm, tzatziki... I just had some tonight from Greek Corner. It's tasty on lots of stuff, like pita bread, salad, meat... a spoon, a finger.... :-)

I wish I'd gotten out to TMG this time; at least I caught it last time around...

[trowa-barton.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the invite. We have to do that again.

[jessruth.livejournal.com]

I think I need to invest in a salad spinner.

I wish I had read this the other day....As I was cleaning out my kitchen, I came across a seldom-(never?-) used salad spinner, looked at it and said to myself, "Self, you are never going to use a salad spinner", and promptly recycled it. Oh well.

[dragonfriek.livejournal.com]

Ditto with a mandoline my mom bought me for Christmas years and years ago... *sigh*