Greek Style Gyro Burgers

Now that I have Jackaroo for all my grilling needs it has given me the opportunity to expand our food preparation options to exclusively grilling.

A couple days ago we went to the “Yeero Shop” for donair/yeero/gyro/kebab and had an amazing beef something in a pita; the only downside was the price. At 25 bucks for a couple Yeero and lemonades I was full but my wallet was empty.

Today we were deciding our daily grilled meal and decided on burgers. The only issue eating burgers here is that they do not have the sharp yellow American cheddar that I have been craving so we settled on a Mediterranean flavoured burger. We lucked out with some of the food we had in the pantry and after a quick trip to the corner store we were soon munching on the most delicious juicy fresh pita burgers. There is no replacement for a standard burger but this was the next best thing.

Burgers:

I have never really understood people that buy premade burgers. They are pretty much the easiest thing to put together and always taste better. I made 8 “normal” sized burger patties.

Ingredients:

-          800g fresh ground beef

-          ¼ cup chopped fresh oregano

-          Juice from ½ a lemon

-          Couple spoons of tzatziki

-          1 egg

-          Bread crumbs (I just crumbled up the butt of an olive loaf that I had made a few days ago)

 

Directions:

Mix everything together and form into burgers. I saw on a TV show that said if you wet your hands before you start mixing beef for burgers or meatballs the meat won’t stick to you - making the clean-up a little easier.

 

 

Strozzapreti – Priest Stranglers

Disclaimer: No Priests were strangled in the making of this recipe... I also still hate the Celtics despite the head to toe green outfit.

I have been spending most of my free daytime hours at the Marrickville library using the free Wi-Fi and applying for jobs. The library is great but the job hunt has been fruitless at this point. After I finish my self imposed quota of 10 – 20 job applications I reward myself with scouring the library’s collection of cookbooks. It is rare that I actually follow a recipe but one jumped out at me from David Rocco’s “Made in Italy”. David is a fellow Canadian that has split his time between Toronto and Italyshowcasing rustic Italian dishes.

The recipe is a twist on the standard pasta recipe that yields pasta with a little extra kick and an even better story. The story behind the name Strozzapreti – Priest Stranglers is that these poor Italian housewives were diligently running their households when the local priest would drop by looking to spread the word and fill their bellies at the same time. The housewives would whip up some pasta putting a kink in the noodles hoping the unwitting Priest would choke on it. It seems a little complicated to try to off a Priest with pasta but I guess I’ve never really considered it. I’ve only included the pasta part of the recipe and made changes from my experience. The recipe is for 6 servings and is accurate, we fed five but Jess tossed a plate of finished pasta on the floor before we started cooking.

 

White Bread

 

As someone who came into cooking as an adult I have been practising making simple things that can compliment more complicated dishes. Bread is something that generally scares me when I think about making it. It is something that can be devoured in seconds or pushed off to the side in favour of something tastier. I lean towards savoury herb breads that you can slather with butter and sop up sauces with. I have been working with a different bread recipe than before and I think this one is actually better for adding some sweeter ingredients and using with jams, jellies, or French toast.

 

Steak with Flavoured Butter

I bought a $15 charcoal grill named “Jackaroo” from K-mart and decided I would try my hand at grilling some steak for dinner. We have not had a BBQ for nearly a year so I was eager to get something on the grill.

I have never really grilled on charcoal so I purchased a fairly inexpensive cut of meat (just in case I ruined it) and decided I’d spice it up a bit with some flavoured butter.

Making flavoured butter is about the easiest thing you can possibly do. I made Parsley Garlic butter.

Almond Filo Dessert

We moved out of our apartment yesterday and I wanted to use our kitchen to make something good before we start our travels and are using the luxurious accommodations of New Zealand hostels…

I was watching a TV show here called “World Kitchen”, and was inspired to create this unique treat from Morocco: Almond-filled Filo Snake. I made many adjustments to this recipe because I was trying to use up extra cupboard ingredients. Below is the actual recipe but I have noted my changes too.

Toasted Asian Subs

If you have ever been out for a night with me in Calgary you will know I love Toasted Asian Subs. My Dad can be credited with getting me to try one years ago when he would bring random “scary” foods home for the family. He convinced me once that a jalapeno was a type of pickle with disastrous results… me running around the house screaming my head off foaming at the mouth like a rabid banshee. As I get older it turns out that I really enjoy “scary” foods.

My lunch opportunities are pretty limited at work so I decided to make a bunch of subs on Sunday, and then eat them over the week. It was a good plan at first, but the subs ended up being too good to resist and my rations immediately depleted.

Homemade "Subway" Bread

I am a huge Subway fan but since we sold the car and moved in to the parents basement there is no longer a Subway within walking distance. The only way to feed my addiction was to try to make it on my own. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet I found the basics of a Subway bun recipe that I modified to work for me.

Fettuccine with Mushroom, Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce

After a three week trip to Italy we were dying to make some authentic Italian food. Armed with cheese smuggled past Canadian Customs (they took my meat) we settled on a homemade Fettuccine with mushroom, Gorgonzola cheese sauce.  We're familiar with making our own pasta so it wasn't a trip out of our comfort zone. It's amazing how good some eggs, flour and a little moldy cheese can be. The prep time varies but the entire meal can be completed in a couple hours.