Going Greek

Dinner last night was another surprisingly good meal! I had gone to the grocery store earlier in the day and bought a lot of new-to-me things and I was excited to get home and start experimenting. One thing I knew for sure I wanted to make was tzatziki. I had seen Claire Robinson make a 5 ingredient recipe earlier in the week and it just kind of stuck with me. Although, I opted to make my own recipe, based on some others I had read. . . just to make sure it turned out good.

It may come as a surprise to you, but I don't normally make things look so pretty as I cook. It's all for you, my readers! :) So my tzatziki recipe is SUPER easy, and as usual it's really just a little of this, a little of that. But just to make it easier to reference quickly:

32 ounces plain Greek yogurt

2 teaspoons lemon zest

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1 clove garlic crushed and finely chopped (I would use more. . . but I tend to overuse garlic)

3 Tablespoons fresh chopped dill

1/2 seedless cucumber, finely grated (either use an English cuke - the kind that comes individually wrapped, or slice a regular cuke in half lengthwise and scrape a spoon across the middle to remove the seeds)

1/2 Tablespoon kosher salt

1/2 Tablespoon pepper

Now a few words of warning here before we get started: 32 ounces of yogurt yields A LOT of tzatziki. I wasn't thinking about it when I made the recipe, but now I have a giant bowl of tzatziki that I'm sure I'll end up not eating all of. So maybe cut the recipe down. Secondly, be cautious when adding the lemon juice. Again, I wasn't really thinking as I was doing this, but I zested my lemon, cut it in half, and then squeezed both halves straight into the bowl of yogurt. The end result was just a little bit too sour when eaten alone, or with cucumber slices. However, it ended up being perfect with dinner. So just add a little and taste along the way. You can't take something back out after you mix it in! And lastly, after grating the cucumber, place it in a strainer and let it drain off a little bit. Too much liquid in your tzatziki will thin it out and it won't be quite as good.

Ok, so really, you just mix everything together and eat the delicious goodness. I would recommend letting it sit in the fridge for a little while to give the flavors some time to develop though.

So now that I have 2 pounds of tzatziki on my hands, I really needed to figure out what to eat it with. I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner when a friend of mine said he was going to make meatloaf for dinner. I thought well, that's a good idea, but not exactly Greek. I found a recipe for keftedes which are Greek meatballs - maybe I can turn the meatballs into meatloaf and slice it down to put into a pita. Genius! It turned out to be really simple:

1 pound ground beef, or whatever you have on hand would probably work fine - lamb would be authentic

1/2 medium onion finely chopped

1 Tablespoon dried oregano (fresh is probably better)

2 teaspoons cumin

1 egg

Kosher salt and pepper, to taste

(I didn't feel that breadcrumbs were necessary to keep meat held together since I already had the egg, but if you prefer to add some, go right ahead! I didn't have any problems with the loaf falling apart.)

Combine all ingredients and mix well. I like to whisk the egg first so that it mixes evenly with everything else. Spray a loaf pan with some nonstick spray and press meat mixture into pan. Bake at 350 until internal temp reaches 160, about 45 minutes. Let meat cool in pan for 5-10 minutes before removing from dish, or draining excess liquid.

Now this is the best part - bringing it all together! Cut pita round in half and open to make a pocket. I like to steam mine in the microwave to give it that soft, chewy, just-out-of-the-oven deliciousness you can only get in restaurants (because I'll be honest, I don't think I'd enjoy making my own pita bread); wrap pieces in a wet paper towel and microwave for 20-30 seconds. In the meantime, cut thin slices of your remaining cucumber and onion, and tomato if you like. Cut three thin slices of meat. Spread some tzatziki sauce inside your pita pocket, add meat and veggies. I would bring along a small dish of extra tzatziki sauce to dip your pita in - it's that good! And it helps cut the richness of the meat. It's a great balance of tastes and textures. I'd say the Greek have the right idea when it comes to eating good food!

**This made enough for my husband and I to eat dinner, leaving one serving left over.**