Get Her to the Greek

During the past few years, I’ve really tried to create my own recipes or adapt the ones I’ve found to better suit my palate and budget.  This recipe, Get Her to the Greek Burger, is an adaption of a Rachael Ray recipe I first made about seven years ago.  It was her original idea, but I perfected it (ha!).  These burgers are great for dinner, or could be made as sliders for that big football game that comes around once a year, which I really only watch for the commercials.  You could also make mini meatballs and put them in pita bread.  Yum!

The Get Her to the Greek is made with ground lamb or 93/7 ground turkey burger, spinach, feta cheese, onions, garlic, and salt and pepper.  It’s topped with my version of a tzatziki sauce and served on a whole grain hamburger roll.  For the side, I made roasted sweet potato wedges.  However, a couscous salad would also go well with this.

Get Her to the Greek w/ Feta Tzatziki Sauce 

Serves 6

1 lb. of ground lamb or 93/7 ground turkey

1 -10 oz. box of frozen chopped spinach, cooked and drained*

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 medium onion, diced

1/2 c. feta cheese crumbles, divided

2 tsp. of extra virgin olive oil

1- 6 oz. container of plain Greek yogurt

1 tsp. lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

1.  In a small bowl, combine Greek yogurt, 1/4 c. of feta cheese, lemon juice, 1 tsp. of extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.  Stir, cover and refrigerate.  I recommend making this a few hours ahead so the flavors can marry.

– You can add some diced cucumbers to the tzatziki as well, just remember to strain them for a bit before adding them.  Otherwise they will water down your sauce.-

2. Cook spinach in microwave according to package directions.  Strain out liquids using a strainer and the back side of a spoon.  You can squeeze it using a kitchen rag, but you’ll probably sustain 3rd degree burns (trust me, I tried it- ouch!)

3.  Heat a small sautee pan over medium-low heat with 1 tsp. of olive oil.  Add garlic and onions and cook until translucent – about three to five minutes.  Transfer to large bowl to cool.

4.  In the same bowl as the garlic and onions, add your ground meat, spinach, remainder of feta cheese, and salt and pepper.  Combine with your hands, and form into about 6 patties.  Make sure your patties are about the same size and height, so they cook evenly.

5.  Heat a large non-stick skillet pan over medium-high heat.  Add burgers to the pan, turning after about 5-6 minutes on each side.  Turkey burgers should be cooked through, or to 165 degrees.  Remove the burgers from the pan and let them sit for another 3-5 minutes (they will continue to cook and reach a temp of about 170).

Add burgers to your favorite rolls or pita bread, top with tzatziki sauce, and enjoy!

Pink Piñata Onions

Like many people, I’m trying to eat healthier and lose weight.  For me, the hardest part about cutting back is finding food that is healthier, but still tastes great.  I’m not a big fan of eating plates of raw vegetables, frozen diet dinners, or eating bland ‘nutritious’ food.  I don’t know about you, but the idea of eating boneless, skinless chicken breasts four days a week makes me want to cry.  As a way to keep on track, I’ve been trying to make some of my favorite meals and flavor combinations, but prepare them more responsibly.

Tonight I’m making fish tacos with fresh slaw and pickled red onions.  The pickled onions are an idea I stole from a taco truck in Buffalo called Lloyd’s.  Once I had them on nachos with tomatillo pork, I was sold.  They are easy, quick, and cheap to make and add instant flavor to anything you add them to.

After consulting the great Google gods, as well as perusing through a half-dozen cookbooks, I decided just to make my own recipe for pickled onions.  The name of Pink Piñata Onions came from a Rick Bayless recipe, where he says that the pickled onions should be about the color of a pink piñata when they are done.

The onions are getting all festive for their date with tilapia tonight

Pink Piñata Onions                                                                                                                  

1 medium red onion, sliced into thin half-moons

1-2 cloves of garlic, skin removed but left whole

1 tsp. dried red pepper flakes

1 c. red wine vinegar

 

 

 

 

Directions:

1.)  In a 2 qt. sauce pan, boil water and add sliced onions.  Make sure onions are separated and boil for one minute. 

 

2.)  Drain onions from the water using a colander or the pot lid.  Add to a medium glass bowl along with red wine vinegar, garlic, dried red pepper flakes and enough cold water to just cover the top of the onions.

3.)  Let onions sit on the counter uncovered for at least an hour, but the more time they sit, the better flavor they will have.

4.)  Eat and enjoy!  Store leftovers in a glass container with their pickling liquids for up to two days.  Please make sure the onions are cold before you put them in the fridge, though!

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program..

I apologize for the hiatus in updating this blog.  In the past few weeks, I worked my last days at my job, celebrated Christmas out of town with family, and moved to a new city.  Needless to say, there hasn’t been much time to try new recipes or update.  Now that I’m unpacked and the chaos is over for now (I hope!), I can focus on posting some recipes and give some restaurant reviews, and just talk about food.  I’m spending the next few weeks job hunting, which means I’ll have lots of free time on my hands and lots of time for posting!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, and best wishes for the New Year!

Ground Ginger

About A Ginger With Spice:

After many years of writing posts on Facebook and other social media sites, I decided it was time to add to the millions of other food blogs on the internet.  I am not a professional chef, nor do I claim to have a sophisticated palate, but I think I can make my way around a kitchen pretty well.  This blog is going to be a mix of my recipes, pictures of delicious food, and write-ups about my culinary adventures and misadventures.

When I post recipes, I’ll tag them ‘Spice Rack’ and try to label them as appetizers, entrees, desserts, or noms.  Noms are foods that don’t really fit in any meal category.  Culinary adventure posts will be tagged ‘Spice Road’, and food pictures will be ‘Spicy Pics’.  As more tags and such are created, I’ll try and update everyone.

The Ginger Behind A Ginger… :

Contrary to popular belief, gingers do have souls.  I have a caffeine addiction, an panache for crafting, and a music library that hasn’t left the mid-1990’s.  I also love trying regional specialty foods, especially if they’re smothered in hot sauce, cheese, or gravy.  If you want to learn more about me, you’ll have to keep reading my blog!