Inspired

Today's blog post is inspired by my sister. She really loves taking pictures of mushrooms in the wild, and Tom found some wild mushrooms in our neighbor's yard, right along our driveway. So, I stopped and clicked a few photos. Enjoy!!

Gyros

I have been super obsessed with gyros lately, so I decided to try my hand at making my own. In all of my research, I decided to use a recipe from Alton Brown.

Gyro Meat with Tzatziki Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped or shredded
• 2 pounds ground lamb
• 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon dried marjoram
• 1 tablespoon dried ground rosemary
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Tzatziki Sauce, recipe follows

Tzatziki Sauce:

• 16 ounces plain yogurt
• 1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
• Pinch kosher salt
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 5 to 6 mint leaves, finely minced

Directions

1. Process the onion in a food processor for 10 to 15 seconds and turn out into the center of a tea towel. Gather up the ends of the towel and squeeze until almost all of the juice is removed. Discard juice.
2. Return the onion to the food processor and add the lamb, garlic, marjoram, rosemary, salt, and pepper and process until it is a fine paste, approximately 1 minute. Stop the processor as needed to scrape down sides of bowl.

To cook in the oven as a meatloaf, proceed as follows:

3. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
4. Place the mixture into a loaf pan, making sure to press into the sides of the pan. Place the loaf pan into a water bath and bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until the mixture reaches 165 to 170 degrees F. Remove from the oven and drain off any fat. Place the loaf pan on a cooling rack and place a brick wrapped in aluminum foil directly on the surface of the meat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees F. Slice and serve on pita bread with tzatziki sauce, chopped onion, tomatoes and feta cheese.

To cook on a rotisserie, proceed as follows:

3. Form the meat mixture into a loaf shape and place on top of 2 overlapping pieces of plastic wrap that are at least 18 inches long. Roll the mixture in the plastic wrap tightly, making sure to remove any air pockets. Once the meat is completely rolled in the wrap, twist the ends of the plastic wrap until the surface of the wrap is tight. Store in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to overnight, to allow the mixture to firm up.
4. Preheat the grill to high.
5. Place the meat onto the rotisserie skewer. Place a double-thick piece of aluminum foil folded into a tray directly under the meat to catch any drippings. Cook on high for 15 minutes. Decrease the heat to medium and continue to cook for another 20 to 30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 165 degrees F. Turn off the heat and allow to continue to spin for another 10 to 15 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees. Slice and serve on pita bread with tzatziki sauce, chopped onion, tomatoes, and feta cheese.

Tzatziki Sauce:

1. Place the yogurt in a tea towel, gather up the edges, suspend over a bowl, and drain for 2 hours in the refrigerator.
2. Place the chopped cucumber in a tea towel and squeeze to remove the liquid; discard liquid. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the drained yogurt, cucumber, salt, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and mint. Serve as a sauce for gyros. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups

I thought it turned out pretty good. The only problem I had was the texture of the meat. I bought the desired weight of a leg of lamb, and using my never-before-used KitchenAid meat grinder, I ground it myself. I think the texture problems come from not processing it in the food processor for long enough. Part of that is because I have a really small food processor, and had over five batches to mix up. The flavor was good, though. I'll have to wait a while before trying it out again, I think I'm all gyro-ed out for the time being.

Pep Band Payback

Okay, my post title sounds a little intimidating, but it isn't. We had a Pep Band gig today that was payback to Owings Mills High School for allowing the band to practice there during Raven's training camp (the Raven's practice facility, where we usually practice, was being used by the team). We played a little before the game, then performed the Star Spangled Banner, and watched the game until halftime, where we performed after their cheerleaders did a routine. They were really appreciative, but I think I'm spoiled - games at the Ravens' stadium are so normal for me now, it made the relative quiet of the high school game really awkward. Rooting for the home team was odd, too, since there wasn't a stadium full of energy to back it up.
There's talk about next year bringing the entire band and doing a halftime show.

MDIFT 2014

Tonight, I attended the Supplier's Night for the Maryland section of the Institute of Food Technologies.

I've been trying to attend every year, just for the exposure to things going on in the industry that I'm not aware of, and I actually learned about the newest dietary "fad," non-genetically modified food products. I'm not sure if that excludes items that may have been cross-pollinated naturally, or if it's just scientifically modified, but I'm glad I'm aware of it.

Pake - Epic Fail

After hearing about the Cherpumple, and the fabulous sounding Sir Plumple, JoAnne and I agreed that we just had to try the Pake - a pie baked in a cake. I decided to make a Black Forest Pake (cherry pie baked in a chocolate cake), but Tom thought that a better idea would be an apple pie baked in a spice cake. My experiments did not turn out as expected.

Black Forest Pake

Apple Spice Pake

Here's where my plan fell apart. The website I went to for advice said to follow the directions on the box for bake time. So, after putting the pie in the springform pan and pouring all of my cake batter over it, I baked my pakes for 30 minutes. I didn't check the center of the cake for doneness, because I was afraid I'd go too far with the pick, and mistake the pie filling for un-doneness, so I checked the side. The side was fine, but the center wasn't. In the end, if you don't mind licking the batter off of the spoon, my pakes weren't bad. Translation - the center of the cake part was not fully cooked. Lesson learned - I used enough cake batter for two cakes, so the bake time for one cake was not enough. Advice - bake cake for twice the amount of time (45-60 minutes). The pakes were still tasty, though.

German Potato Salad and Schnitzel

Tonight, I made a dinner inspired by some boards on Pinterest. It started with a Classic Schnitzel, and I decided to make a Hot German Potato Salad as a side.

Classic Schnitzel

Ingredients

• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 slightly beaten egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2-3 tablespoons cooking oil
• 6 4-ounces pork sirloin cutlets (about 1/2-inch thick)
• Lemon wedges (optional)
• 1 recipe Sour Cream-Dill Sauce (see recipe below) (optional)

Directions

1. In a shallow dish, stir together flour, garlic salt, celery salt, seasoned salt, paprika, and pepper. In another shallow dish, stir together egg and milk.
2. In a large skillet, heat cooking oil. Coat each cutlet with flour mixture, then dip in egg mixture and again in flour mixture. Cook in hot oil over medium heat for 12 to 15 minutes or until browned and meat is thoroughly cooked, turning once. (Remove meat from skillet and keep warm while preparing Sour Cream-Dill Sauce, if using.) Serve with lemon wedges or sauce, if you like. Makes 6 servings.

Sour-Cream Dill Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup dairy sour cream
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon dried dillweed

Directions

1. Pour chicken broth into skillet used for cooking cutlets. Over medium heat, scrape up brown bits in skillet. Bring mixture to boiling. In a small bowl, stir together sour cream, flour, and dillweed. Stir into hot broth in skillet. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 1 minute more. Makes about 2 cups.

Hot German Potato Salad

Ingredients

• 4 medium round red or white potatoes (1 1/3 lb)
• 3 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
• 1 tablespoon Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• Dash pepper
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup white or cider vinegar

Directions

1. Place potatoes in 3-quart saucepan; add enough water just to cover potatoes. Cover; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cook covered 30 to 35 minutes or until potatoes are tender; drain. Let stand until cool enough to handle. Cut potatoes into 1/4-inch slices.
2. In 10-inch skillet, cook bacon over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet with slotted spoon; drain on paper towels.
3. Cook onion in bacon fat in skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until tender. Stir in flour, sugar, salt, celery seed and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly; remove from heat.
4. Stir water and vinegar into onion mixture. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute; remove from heat.
5. Stir in potatoes and bacon. Heat over medium heat, stirring gently to coat potato slices, until hot and bubbly. Serve warm.

I enjoyed the dinner, and Tom was very complimentary, as well. He liked the flavor of the potato salad, but would like to see a little less vinegar. He also recommended that the pork be thinner, and the breading "bigger." I agree about the thickness of the pork, it's what I bought, but I'm not sure what to do about a "bigger" crust. So, if we make this dinner again, and I believe I just might, I'll make twice as many potatoes, with half as much vinegar, and pound the pork cutlets a while.

Innocence Undone

I finished reading "Innocence Undone," by Kat Martin.

There was a pretty decent storyline, and there was even a side story! The book wasn't as risqué as I like my romance novels to be, but it was good enough.