I admire your energy and expertise in making this stuff from scratch. I must say I really, really enjoyed the pre-made chicken souvlaki I’ve had a few times from one of our better supermarkets that does a lot of great prepared foods. And tzatziki is really nice stuff – not just for dipping souvlaki, but just generally a nice dip for corn tortillas and veggies.
In fact I think I’m due for an expedition tomorrow to get more of both. The chicken souvlaki comes with a little container of tzatziki and needs no more, but I always buy a big container anyway because it’s such good stuff! I hope I can get some more spaccatelli buns – oh, man, those make great sandwiches!
Well, I’m not making the yogurt myself, though several other posters do, and tzatziki is absolutely one of the easiest things to make, especially if you’re using dried spices.
Though I’ll take this time to thank my parents again - I was a picky eater as a child, so I started learning to cook around 8-9 because I wanted something -my- way (which was unusual but not strange for a boy in the 80s). Even more so, that my parents insisted my brother and I cook for the family once a week once we were teens, so that we’d have the basic skills once we were on our own. Take that and 30+ years of learning and experimenting, and I’m absolutely not a fancy cook, but I’m darn specialized in how to learn from my mistakes and how to customize something I find online to my tastes!
You’re kind to say so – but yes, I do hope they remember it! I was mucking around till after 10:00 p.m. making components last night, then up again at 4:30 a.m to keep going.
Between outdoor tasks (mowing, trimming, weeding, etc.), indoor tasks (housecleaning) and cooking, it’s a lot of work to create a pleasant experience for those who come spend time here. It doesn’t help that when it’s just me, I let the rough end drag. (“When was the last time I dusted, anyway?”)
Your souvlaki sounds splendid, too – I haven’t made Greek food in quite awhile. May have to revisit that cuisine soon!
We have house guests coming next friday, and the week after that, we’re replacing most of the “main” level of our home’s flooring (old tile and carpet) with new heavy-wear (and quite attractive) vinyl tile. I’m trying to avoid doing more cleaning as we speak.
As I mentioned in another thread, tonight is air-fryer “deep fried” king oyster mushrooms:
Which should be crunchy and delicious, and since it’s meat-free, the wife and I will cook and consume together. One change though for us, is we’ll use plain yogurt instead of mayo as the dipping sauce base - because homemade mayo is too much work (and too expensive at current egg prices) for how little we use it, and yogurt works fine with plenty of nutritional advantages!
The fried King Oyster Mushrooms was a qualified success - I give it a solid B, with potential for being at least an A- going forward.
If anyone uses the option I linked above, I agree 100% that slicing them into disks on the bias is a great approach. On previous King Oyster options, I had gone with strips for stir fry, and that left it a bit chewier than ideal, the 1/3" rounds worked pretty well.
My “complaint” was that the batter was way to heavy for the dish, when I think it would have been much better served with a lighter option, most likely a tempura. And that going with batter, into a dry flour dredge, ended up with some extra dry flour when done in the air fryer (though it wouldn’t have been an issue deep fried, it would have been more greasy).
This, despite my letting the dredge absorb moisture from the batter by resting on a rig for about 5-10 minutes before going in the air fryer.
Still tasty, especially with the chile oil - lemon - yogurt and honey mustard dipping sauces I made!
Next time will be with a lighter tempura batter, and maaaaaybe a final dredge with panko if I want it extra crispy, which is a help when doing “deep fried” food in the air-fryer instead.
Tonight, the last of the marinated pour souvlaki with some (from frozen) diced butternut squash, which is going to be pan cooked with some browned butter, dried sage, and a heavy pinch of salt or two. Going for simple on this one, but I’ve had my eyes on an Asian-inspired variant from this page:
I’ml delighted that the local supermarket deli, in addition to their excellent subs, is now making a wide variety of “bowls”. A few days ago I had the chicken teriyaki rice bowl and it was excellent. Today despite it being a Sunday they had an even bigger variety, so I picked up three. Dinner tonight will be one of either chicken bulgogi on garlic rice, Shanghai noodles with chicken, or a Mexican beef bowl.
Speaking of weekends, once again an upcoming holiday took me by surprise, which can easily happen when one is retired. I didn’t realize tomorrow was Victoria Day, and most stores including grocery stores are closed, so it’s a happy coincidence that I stocked up on those three meals I just mentioned earlier. Plus I also got a roast beef sub and an Italian assorted sub.
I should also mention that I was going to treat myself to McDonald’s for lunch, which I do every once in a long while, but that seemed silly after all the stuff I picked up at the grocery store. Those “bowl” things are generously loaded and seem to contain mostly healthy ingredients, and at $8 are quite a good deal. Around here a quarter-pounder meal, after tax and in Canadian dollars, would be nearly twice as much and just about as unhealthy as can be.
So, tonight I made a fusion mint chutney inspired by various Indian options: Red onion, cilantro, garlic, fresh mint, serrano peppers (hot), lemon, salt, and just a bit of olive oil to help it all come together. Veeeerrrry nice. I had it on some chicken thighs marinated in white wine and green onions, along with some whole wheat couscous. The wife (who had a LOUSY day) used it on a whole order of cheesy bread from a local pizzeria.
I’m sure there will be digestive consequences for future me, but current me declares it worth it!
Not all the prepared “bowls” I’ve mentioned have been great – some, like the Shanghai noodle bowl were similar to my fave pork lo mein from the local Chinese takeout but far inferior. But the chicken teriyaki bowl and Mexican beef bowl were great. They seem to do Mexican especially well, and the chicken fajita was very tasty. Lots of cheese, onion, and tomato on tomato rice with grilled chicken and already dolloped with salsa. I just added chopped green onions and scarfed the whole thing!
We just finished our “dunch”, a mid-afternoon meal which serves as dinner for us old folks.
I made flautas or taquitos, filled with pot-roasted, shredded pork shoulder. I made two salsas to serve with them: guacamole, and fiery tomatillo/serrano chile salsa. Plain pinto beans were the side. Everything was terrific, and Mr. brown especially liked it, as flautas are his favorite Mexican dish.
Watching youtube cooking channels hosted by real home cooks has really improved my Mexican kitchen skills. I’ve learned some terrific recipes and tips. Next one to tackle: empanadas.
A friend and I were debating a term for a late-day equivalent of “brunch”. I think it was prompted by our propensity, when I visited him, to tour the wineries in his area and inevitably have a nice big late lunch at one of them, which precluded any need for dinner. I think we agreed that “dunch” was an acceptable term.
In an inexplicable moment of mental incompetence, I let the wife talk me into ordering a pizza from Papa John’s. They were fast, I’ll give them that. The Door Dash guy arrived on time and handed me the pie. I came upstairs, and opened the box to find. . .this:
Apparently much too fast! I hope you called them and demanded a refund or replacement. (It’s hard to tell if those are the entire remains of a pizza that was in a terrible accident, or one that had been ravaged by raccoons!)
(“When was the last time I dusted, anyway?”)
