Mediterranean Nachos

One night a month or two ago, my husband and I got some take out with one of our friends. We got it from this great El Salvadorean restaurant that’s close to our old apartment, and it’s good enough that every once in awhile we actually drive over there to pick up the food, since we’re now out of their delivery range. And for people who don’t like leaving their house, this says a lot about the quality of food. The main reason we go to this place is the amazing plate of nachos they make. It’s full of perfectly cooked beef, crema, tomatoes, lettuce, guac and salsa, on top of warm and crispy chips. It’s basically perfect. We started talking about other nachos we like and we were lamenting the lack of Mediterranean nachos in most establishments. Clearly, we had to rectify that.

A few weekends ago I got all of the ingredients ready and we started the process of making our nachos. For the sake of this recipe and my pride, I made my own pita chips. You are more than welcome to skip this step as I don’t think it’s 100% necessary. They were good, but I feel like store bought would’ve been just as good and possibly a bit of a time saver, since we were in the kitchen for quite awhile.

Mediterranean Nachos
8 small pita pockets, cut into quarters
1 medium-large cucumber, chopped
2 tomatoes, seeds removed, diced
1lb ground lamb
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon better than bouillon
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup tabouleh
1/2 cup feta
1/2 cup shredded cheese of choice
1/2 cup tzatziki
1 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Take the pita bread quarters, toss them with the olive oil and make sure they’re all coated. You can add salt and pepper to them, but don’t make the same mistake I did in forgetting that other components to this are salty as well. Bake the pita quarters for about 12 – 15 minutes until golden brown and crisp. Remove from the oven and store in air-tight container until ready to use.

Preheat a skillet over medium-high heat. Once ready, add the lamb and cook until nicely browned. Drain off the fat from the pan, add in the Better Than Bouillon, water, paprika and cinnamon. Let that cook together for a few minutes until all of the flavors are absorbed by the lamb and the lamb is still moist – you don’t want all of the water to evaporate. Take off the heat and set aside.

Take out a baking pan and layer your nachos however you’d like: we went with a structure of chips, meat, cheese, repeat. While originally I was going to just use crumbled feta, we decided we needed to have a cheese that would melt well, so we added in some chedder-jack but any cheese will work well. Bake that in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes, until the cheese is golden brown and everything is heated through.

While the nachos are baking, mix together the tabouleh, tomatoes and cucumbers. Once the nachos are out of the oven, plate them and use the tabouleh mixture as a salsa and sprinkle it over the top. Top this with a healthy dollop (or three) of tzatziki and you’re done.

I’m not gonna lie: these were amazing. All the flavors we were wanted were in there and the meat was seasoned perfectly. Our chips ended up being more chewy than crispy, but even with that they were still great.

Broccoli and Cheddar-Gruyere Gratin

For Thanksgiving dinner this year, I brought a side dish and dessert to my in-law’s house. For dessert I made a sweet potato pie [which I shall not be blogging about as it cracked in the center, the bastard] and then for the side dish I made this really delicious gratin from Real Simple magazine. Every time I bring something for a holiday dinner, I try to make sure it can simply be reheated in the oven, since stove top space is at a premium, so this was perfect.

Broccoli and Gruyere Gratin, adapted from Real Simple magazine
2 large bunches broccoli, roughly chopped (about 12 cups)
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk [the recipe called for whole milk, but I used skim with no issues]
2 cups grated cheddar-gruyere
kosher salt and black pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 shallot, diced

Preheat oven to 375. Fill a large pot with 1 inch of water and steaming basket, bring to a boil. Once water is boiling, bring it down to a simmer and add the broccoli to the pan. Cover and steam for about 4 minutes, until the broccoli is vibrant green and tender.

Melt the butter in a medium pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and cook until translucent and fragrant. Add in the flour and stir briskly to combine. Once combined, slowly add in the milk, and keep stirring until the mixture starts to thicken. Once the sauce thickens, add in one cup of the cheese and continue stirring until melted. Once fully incorporated, turn off the heat. Add in the salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Put the broccoli in a large bowl and add the cheese mixture. Make sure the broccoli is evenly coated, then pour the mixture into a 7 x 11 baking pan. Top with the remaining cheese. Bake in the oven for 30 – 35 minutes, or until the mixture is bubbling and the top is nicely browned.

While this was cooking, it smelled amazing. Gruyere is such a great cheese for baking, it melts so beautifully. I actually used a cheddar-gruyere block of cheese that I got at Trader Joe’s because while I like gruyere, I also like having the sharpness of cheddar in there. This reheated really well the next day and tasted great; everything about this was satisfying, from the creamy cheese sauce to the perfectly cooked broccoli. A great addition to any holiday table!

Thanksgiving Tacos!

Now, some of you may think I’m a freak, but: I don’t really like turkey. Dark meat is okay, but white meat does absolutely nothing for me. And it’s not even like I’m being served dry, over-cooked turkey; my mother-in-law does a great job at cooking turkey and keeping it moist, but even so I’m still not a fan. So a year or two ago, when faced with a mountain of leftovers and no bread to make a delicious sandwich filled with sides and minimal turkey, I came up with the perfect solution — THANKSGIVING TACOS.

I know we’re a little over the top with our love of tacos at Casa Shenanigans but this is seriously good/genius. It’s also not really a recipe per se, but it’s something we enjoy and I think everyone else should too. There’s no wrong or right way to do this, but basic idea is layering different sides with turkey on a tortilla, then cheese, then heating it up. Like so:

Butternut squash is spread over half of the tortilla, with shredded turkey on top of it. You can really do whatever you’d like on this taco, as long as it is somewhat spreadable. My husband prefers to have turnips and carrots with his, but I prefer the sweeter base to mine. Then, add stuffing (or mashed potatoes) and top with cheese.

You can either heat it up in the microwave or oven/toaster oven until the cheese is nice and melty and everything is heated through. It doesn’t look particularly pretty when it’s done, but it’s good. The only thing that would’ve made mine better was having leftover cranberry sauce in there between the squash and turkey.

Fried Mashed Potato Cakes

Our power just went out! How exciting. I’m glad I was sitting safely here on the couch when it happened instead of wielding a knife somewhere. That could’ve ended in disaster, and we’ve had enough of those today; I almost baked cupcakes without eggs, I somehow managed to get cookies stuck to the baking sheet, and I may or may not have sliced my thumb with my chef’s knife.

I’ve seriously spent so much time in the kitchen today, it’s like I’m cooking for 30 people all the time instead of just the two of us. I use SO MANY dishes, there’s an endless amount to wash. Plus today I had to bake for work tomorrow [the almost-eggless cupcakes] and I wanted to use up some of the leftover mashed potatoes that I had from Franksgiving. Franksgiving, you say? Why yes! One of my lovely friends hosts a friends Thanksgiving every year before we all do the family thing. Friends + Thanksgiving = Franksgiving. I know, it’s cutesy enough to make you want to puke, but it’s a good time with friends and delicious food.

This year and last year, I’ve made mashed potatoes, and will likely continue to do so for the rest of our lives. My husband says it’s because everyone praises my mashed potatoes and I enjoy praise. Which… fair enough. So anyway, I made 15lbs of potatoes and have a bunch in my fridge that I’d like to use up. The obvious answer to this is fried mashed potato cakes with dill sour cream.

Fried Mashed Potato Cakes

2 cups mashed potatoes, cold
1/3 cup flour
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup olive oil

Place a cookie sheet lined with paper towels in the oven and preheat to 200. Heat the oil in a small pan. Take 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes and form into a hamburger size patty. Dredge the patty in the flour and place in the hot oil. Let fry for 3 – 4 minutes until golden brown on the bottom and flip over, cooking an additional 3 – 4 minutes. Remove the mashed potato patty from the oil and place on the cookie sheet in the oven, to keep warm and absorb some of the oil while the other patties are cooking. Repeat with the rest of the mashed potatoes, making a total of four patties.

Dill Sour Cream

1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped dill
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients together. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.

Serve each potato patty warm with a dollop of the dill sour cream.

These are really simple and really good. The outside of the potato is nice and crispy and the inside is warm and slightly oozy. This works best with mashed potatoes that aren’t made with a ton of cream; I make mine with sour cream, cream cheese and butter so they hold their shape really well when cold. If your potatoes are too loose, add an egg to the mixture as a binder and follow the rest of the instructions. There’s so much you can do with these – I served them as a side, but you could easily make this the main component of your meal by adding a protein or some veg in there. Just chop it up pretty well and add it to the cold potatoes before making the patties.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

I know, I’m an asshole. Not only have I not posted in nearly two months, but now that I am, it’s the easiest recipe known to man. I have no excuse [well, I could probably think of a lot, but what's the point, really?]. But I felt like I should post something now so that I’m warmed up for the epic post I’ll have after Halloween with all the stuff I’m making for our party.

I made these cookies awhile ago and really liked them a lot, but somehow I forgot about them until I was organizing the pictures on my computer not too long ago. Oops! Even though they are so simple, they’re still really delicious. As we were eating far too many of them, my friend said that they tasted “like childhood”, which I feel is a pretty apt description.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies
2 cups peanut butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 – 3/4 cup jelly, any flavor

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all of the ingredients together until they are well combined. Take about two tablespoons of dough at a time and roll it in a ball, then place on a cookie sheet. Press your thumb down in the center of the cookie, about halfway down. Fill the indent with the jelly of your choice. Repeat with the rest of the dough, this should make about 24 – 30 cookies. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes or until golden brown. Let cookies cool completely before eating, or otherwise they may break.

I know, I know; it’s barely a recipe! But totally worth making it. You can also omit the jelly in the recipe, but then you’d just have a plain peanut butter cookie, and why would you want that?