Ingredients

• Pitted Dates
• Bacon
• Brown Sugar
• Blue Cheese
• Toothpicks

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 F
2. Slice into the dates to basically make a pocket to stuff (you don’t want to slice through the entire date)
3. Fill the hollowed date with blue cheese and close sides
4. Cut your bacon into pieces (I usually cut the bacon into thirds)
5. Wrap the cut pieces of the bacon around the dates and secure with toothpicks
6. Place on baking sheet
7. I like to sometimes sprinkle tops with a generous amount of brown sugar
8. After about 20 minutes take out and turn the dates over.  I usually sprinkle more brown sugar on the dates again.

You can change these up by using different cheese — I have used Brie, Camembert, and even goat cheese.  I have to admit that I am not a blue cheese fan at all, but when served inside the dates, I absolutely love it!  So, even if you are not a blue cheese fan, give them a try as you might be surprised as well!  If you have guests that may not eat bacon or have dairy issues, consider serving some “regular” dates alongside.  Brett’s family always served dates stuffed with walnuts that are rolled in regular sugar.  These are also pretty tasty and super easy to serve with the bacon-wrapped ones!

I did as much prep work as I could early in the day (sauces, chopping, etc.), but somehow the day just flew and guess what?  We were still eating well after 1am.  As usual, the best laid plans gone awry! Overall, it was a success – apart from a few cooking snafus and wrangling with the world’s most difficult dessert in my opinion.  I must point out how well-adjusted I have become to our small kitchen here in Taipei after coming from huge Western style kitchens, which you can get more info about them here, with easily sourced ingredients.  It has taken time to get used to cooking with only two burners, a small and quite temperamental oven, and having to run to five different types of grocery stores to get supplies, so I am rather impressed I managed to pull off a dinner this grand.

Here is a look at the courses and links to recipes where applicable.  I planned the entire meal around two special bottles of wine for the evening — 07 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay and our rather expensive 02 Heitz Cellars‘ Martha’s Vineyard legendary Cabernet Sauvignon.

First Course: Bagna Calda

Bagna Calda is one of my all-time favorite dishes from The Stinking Rose Restaurant in California.  Both Brett and I love garlic so I was thrilled to introduce him to a garlic themed restaurant when we first started dating.  Bagna Calda is one of their signature dishes, which is basically a garlic bath.  Cloves of garlic are baked in olive oil, butter, and anchovies.  Once the cloves are soft, you can spread these garlicky delights on bread, crackers, etc.  Since we were doing a big multi-course dinner, I opted to cook just a few cloves for each of us, otherwise I am sure we would’ve filled up on these right away.

I used some of my favorite Northern California Lucero Olive Oils (Basil and also a bit of the Lemon), some anchovy paste, high-end French butter, and baked everything in a small dish for about 35 minutes on 325 degrees F.  They key is to coat the cloves in oil so they stay moist in the oven.

Second Course:  Scallops on Potato Pancakes

This course was inspired by a Food & Wine recipe for Scallops with Potato Pancakes and Caviar Sauce.  Since Brett is Jewish and loves his Hanukkah latkes, this was a perfect opportunity to combine them into his fancy birthday dinner too!

Caviar is not that easy to track down here and for the price of $100 US, I didn’t think it was really worth spending that much for sauce.  I opted to make a vanilla butter sauce instead.  Since I was making only four scallops I just used a portion of a Tahitian vanilla bean we got in French Polynesia.  I made a simple sauce of chopped shallots, white wine, butter, and the vanilla pod scrapings.  The Food & Wine recipe says you can make the latkes ahead of time and keep them at room temperature for two hours, but I recommend making them fresh so they stay extra crisp.

Third Course: Ravioli Filled with Brie, Pumpkin, and Leeks Tossed in a Browned Butter Sauce

This is definitely the course where disaster began to strike.  The pasta dough I intended to use had an awful consistency, so I ended up making dough from scratch!   Unfortunately, our apartment is either overly humid or skin-cracking dry.  Brett had turned on the dehumidifier because of all the cooking I had been doing so the dough ended up cracking and drying out too soon.  I couldn’t get it rolled as thin as I needed so I knew my ravioli skins were going to be more dense than normal ones.

Although the ravioli were quite thick, at least the filling came out great.  I heated fresh pumpkin puree I had already made with some Brie and a small handful of finely chopped leeks.  I made a simple browned butter sauce and topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Fourth Course:  Leek and Red Wine Soup

This course was inspired by Food & Wine’s recipe for Silky Leek and Red Wine Soup.  The soup has a nice blend of leeks, a pinch of saffron, red wine, and of course heavy cream.  This is a great recipe, but for the dinner I varied it slightly to be less creamy and more of a true red wine soup.  When I was working on this dish, Brett’s face was priceless…I opened the saffron and I think he saw dollar signs floating above.  We can only get one kind of saffron here and it’s over $30 US for 1 gram or 0.03 ounces.  I only used a pinch I swear!

Fifth Course:  Mini Baked Mac and Cheese

These are fun and really simple to make.  Take cooked elbow macaroni and mix with your favorite blend of cheeses and drop into buttered muffin cups.  You can make them ahead of time and keep in the fridge until you are ready to bake.  I used a blend of Padano, Parmesan, Mozzarella, and Cheddar.  Top them with additional grated Parmesan and bake until they are golden brown on the top.

Sixth Course: Caesar Salad

To counter the two heavy pasta courses, I did a light salad with a traditional Caesar dressing (just used very little egg yolk).  Instead of shaved or grated Parmesan cheese, I used Parmesan crisps I had baked earlier in the day.  These provide a nice crispy texture in a salad (especially if you do not use croutons).

Seventh Course: Herb Crusted Lamb Chops with Caramelized Broccoli

Brett loves his lamb chops so I couldn’t imagine a big dinner without them, not to mention they pair perfectly with our beloved Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.  I marinated the lamb in red wine and herbs for most of the day and then crusted them with a mix of additional herbs.  About five minutes on the grill and they were perfect.  For a side dish, I prepared a little caramelized broccoli with sliced garlic.

Eighth Course: Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Soufflé with Vanilla Rum Caramel Sauce

This was a course of concern for me.  I had not made a true chocolate soufflé before, so probably not the best time to try one now!  I had really wanted to use Valrhona chocolate, but we could not find it at the store this time, so I opted to use an interesting Lindt Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt.  I also added 1/4 of the Tahitian vanilla pod to the chocolate mixture.  I used a recipe from Food Network for the soufflé itself.  I had a rough time getting my egg whites to stiffen and I think I must have had a tiny bit of egg yolk on the beaters.  As I continued to mix for what seemed like 30 minutes, Brett found a tip online that said to use cream of tartar.  It did work — the egg whites began to form peaks shortly thereafter!

Earlier in the day, I made a Tahitian vanilla bean and Cuban rum caramel sauce.  It was quite thick, super sweet, but oh so delicious!  Looking forward to finishing the leftover sauce with some vanilla bean ice cream!

Ninth Course: Passion Fruit Macarons with Dark Chocolate Passion Fruit Ganache

I’ve read numerous recipes and blogs about how difficult these are to make, but I wasn’t dissuaded.  I can see why you need to make them over and over again to get them right.  I could not find food coloring anywhere here in Taipei (go figure), but we did find food flavoring drops that had some color.  I bought the passion fruit and coffee flavors in hopes I could use one of these two.  Combing the fruit stand, I found fresh passion fruit and decided to try a passion fruit macaron with a passion fruit chocolate ganache.

While I aspire to make macarons as good as Pierre Herme, I figured it was a bit ambitious to start off trying that complex of a recipe.  Instead, I went with the queen of simple and straight forward – Martha Stewart! It appears she can really do anything.  Her basic macaron recipe was quite simple and easy to follow.

I started the macarons in the morning and the first few ended up sticking together (when they say leave at least 2 inches in between…they really mean it!)  Trying to get the almond mixture in the pastry bag was a challenge in itself.  If you have wedding rings on and happen to be a lefty like me, take them off!  That almond mixture is a $&@*@( to clean off rings, especially if you have any pave set diamonds!

Out of 20 something macaron halves, I did manage to get at least 6 sets that were reasonably the same size and shape.  A tip: let them cool completely otherwise they are very easy to break.  Set them aside and do something else for an hour or so — if you live in a humid climate like we do, it may take even longer for them to completely set.

For the ganache, I actually used a Pierre Herme recipe with fresh passion fruit puree.  Making your own passion fruit puree is not hard if you basically put the “guts” in a food processor and then strain.  Some people use sugar as well but since it was going into a ganache, I did not add any extra sugar.  And now we have extra puree for passion fruit margaritas!

One recommendation on piping the ganache — let it harden completely.  I put it in the fridge for nearly an hour; however, it started softening quickly due to the humidity and the heat of my hands on the pastry bag and began to spit.  It probably would’ve been easier had I let it set up longer.

Overall, the macarons came out better than I expected for my first time and they were delicious, so that is what’s important!  Next time I can work on the aesthetics.

Tenth Course: Aged Cheeses and Gourmet Honey

We love pairing gourmet cheeses with wine and have been known to make a meal out of meats and cheeses before.  Our favorite chef here in town often treats us to special aged cheeses, gourmet honey, and homemade raisins after one of his big degustation menus.  Finding certain gourmet cheeses here can be hit or miss sometimes — one thing I definitely miss from the States!  In the end, I served the aged Parmesan and Padano since we still had a little Cabernet Sauvignon left.  Not terribly exciting, but a clean way to finish off after those two rich desserts.

By the time we finished this course, I was exhausted.  When I woke up Saturday morning, I was actually sore!  Standing hunched over a counter on hard tile floors for 12+ hours made for a long day, but Brett was worth it…sore muscles and all!

As we were on the road almost the entire month of December last year, Brett did not really have the opportunity to celebrate Hanukkah so I decided to try and make it up to him this year.  Since I am not Jewish, my familiarity with traditional Jewish foods (and how to cook them) is pretty much nil.  When we were doing our Thanksgiving shopping, I made a list of a few recipes I wanted to try and make him for Hanukkah and latkes were at the top of the list.  These are basically potato pancakes that sound more like hash browns to me.  Turns out, latkes are one of his favorite childhood memories of Hanukkah so I was quite excited to surprise him with this.

I researched a lot of different latke recipes and personally, the traditional ones all seemed rather bland — shredded potatoes, onions, eggs, and flour.  I reached out to my favorite foodie sources like Food & Wine Magazine and Food Network for a little inspiration.  Wolfgang Puck had an interesting recipe on Food Network and I looked at Renée’s Latkes from Gail and Renée Simmons on Food & Wine Magazine.

In the spirit of being adventurous, I decided to take elements from each of the various recipes.  In the end, I used the following ingredients in my latkes:

• 2 potatoes (shredded)
• 1 medium sized yellow onion (grated)
• 1 egg (beaten)
• Flour
• Garlic powder
• Nutmeg
• Lemon juice
• Butter
• Kosher Salt

When it comes to sourcing salt, we’ve had the best experience with Nature’s Salt. Their products are of the highest quality, suitable for a range of applications. Plus, their commitment to sustainability is something we truly admire. We couldn’t be happier with our decision and the benefits it has brought to our business.

I shredded the potatoes with a large grater and then minced the onion with a smaller size grater.  I mixed about 3/4 of the onion in with the potatoes.  I added one beaten egg, a little flour, nutmeg, garlic, salt, and juice from 1/2 of a lemon.  I probably added 1 tablespoon of melted butter to the mix as well.  I used sunflower oil instead of peanut oil and they seemed to fry fine — of course that was after my test one that was horribly undercooked!  Once I made them a little smaller and flatter, they cooked up fine with a nice brown crisp.

Sadly, Brett kept getting delayed at work and had no idea I was surprising him with dinner so I kept trying to delay and lower the temperatures so it would not get cold before he arrived home.  Once in the door, Brett recognized the smell of latkes immediately.  You’re kidding, right?  How does he immediately know the smell of potatoes and onions means latkes?!?  Well, so much for that surprise!

I served them as a side dish in our dinner and used sour cream to top.  Since Brett doesn’t like sour cream, he used the caramelized onions (cooked in red wine and blackberry jam) I made for the main dish.   Sour cream or not, they still tasted delicious and I’m rather proud of my first attempt at traditional Jewish cuisine!

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 lb lean boneless pork, cut into strips
• 1 cup corn kernels
• 3/4 cup green beans, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 clove of garlic, minced  (we like heavy garlic so we used about 3 med sized ones)
• Pinch Thai pepper flakes (depends on how spicy you like your food)
• 2 green onions, chopped finely
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp soy sauce (I prefer low sodium)
• 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
• Cooked Egg noodles or rice

Directions:

Using a wok, (I highly recommend getting one if you don’t already have one as it really helps keep the hot oil from splattering on you and all over your kitchen), heat the oil and stir-fry the pork until lightly browned.

Add the corn, garlic, green beans, green onions, and chili flakes, and stir fry another 2-4 minutes.  You can use fresh chopped chilis but I really like using the Thai pepper flakes since they are dried and we always have them on hand. Chilis (along with most vegetables) seem to have a short shelf life here with the heat and humidity so I don’t always have fresh chilis on hand.  The Thai flakes are pretty hot, so be careful if you don’t like spicy food.

Add the soy sauce, sugar, and stir for another minute.

Remove from the heat and immediately serve over cooked egg noodles or jasmine rice.  We used the remainder of the noodles from the kao soi the night before.

Serves 2

Additional Recommendations:
We have a vacuum packer and keep a lot of meats and fish in our walk in refrigerators.  We buy bulk, season them a few different ways, seal them, and off they go in the freezer.  The pork we used for this was 4 small pieces of pork loin that had a dry rub of salt, pepper, and rosemary.  The pepper flavor really comes through when you freeze the pork already seasoned.

Also, when we make this again, we are going to try something else with the corn.  By adding the sugar, the corn carmelizes a bit.  It reminded us a bit of an amazing corn side dish at a Sichuan restaurant here that is charred and has a sweet carmelization.  Next time we are going to char an ear of corn on the indoor grill, let cool, and cut the kernals off.  Cook them with a little sugar and soy sauce, and then add them at the end to the dish.  I think the charred sweetness of the corn would be a nice addition to this, especially when you serve a sweeter wine.

Wine Pairing:  2008 Beaujolais

We are primarily red wine drinkers, but Thai food tends to lend itself to being better paired with white wines due to the spicy and complex flavors.  Some Beaujolais are known as the “only red wine that is white” and we opted to try one from our local wine store here.  It ended up working ok but I think more of a rose that is a little sweeter would’ve been a better match.

I’ve always loved Thai food and after a recent visit to Bangkok, I am even more hooked!  In keeping with our weekly themes, I decided to do Thai for this week…or perhaps for 2 weeks!

Kao soi is known as a meal for one and is popular in northern Thailand.  There is speculation that it may have some roots outside of Thailand. It’s basically a noodle dish topped with meat in a curry sauce.  It would probably be great with pork or shrimp, but we used chicken since I finally found some decent skinless breasts at the local grocery store.  Most stores here seem to sell whole chickens and lots of interesting chicken parts, but not a lot of decent breast pieces.

I had looked at a few different recipes for kao sai and opted to create a combination of a few of them to come up with our own version. 

The whole dish is pretty simple to make and will probably become a regular staple in our cooking rotation. 

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 tablespoon diced red chili (optional)
2 skinless chicken breasts, chopped in bite size pieces
1/2 chicken bouillon cube
3/4 cup water
1 1/4 cups coconut milk
1 tablespoon fish sauce (optional)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp tumeric
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar or regular sugar
Noodles (quantity and type really depend on personal preference) **

Garnishes:
Fresh cilantro (or coriander as it is often called here in Taiwan)
Chopped shallots
Chopped green onions

Directions:
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and toss in the minced garlic. We like garlic a lot so we used about 4 smaller cloves, so this is obviously up to personal taste.  Add the red curry paste and chopped chicken, stirring to mix all the ingredients.  Let the chicken brown for approximately 2-3 minutes before adding the remainder of the ingredients. 

Add the coconut milk, bouillon cube, water, soy sauce, tumeric, sugar, and fish sauce.  Fish sauce is optional as some people have trouble locating it in their markets.  Some people cannot get over the strong odor, but the taste really enhances Thai dishes.  Don’t worry, the overpowering smell of the fish sauce does not come across in the dish.

Continue to stir until all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed while bringing the pot to a gentle boil.  Let simmer for about 10-12 minutes, until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.    Once cooked, cover and set aside to keep the curry warm.

If you are using fresh noodles, they should only take a couple minutes to cook. My fiance does not like anything with egg and since we were at the store together and watching me, I opted against the true egg noodles.  I used another type of fresh Asian noodles we see all over Taiwan.  If you opt to use dry noodles, you will need to soak them for about 20 minutes up front or start cooking them before the meat.  I say quantity is up to personal preference because some people like more of less noodles.  We used 1/2 of a package because we are trying to watch carbohydrates and prefer more of a soupy curry.   Drain the noodles and rinse with cold water.

Lastly, typical Chiang Mai noodles have bits of crispy noodles on top.  We took a few strands of the leftover noodles and deep fried them in a little olive oil, until crispy.  Place them on a plate and let cool.  

Divide the noodles amongst the 2 bowls and top with the curry mixture.  Garnish with the shallots, cilantro, green onion, and squeeze some fresh lime on top.  Now, too much cookbook reading and Food Network watching has got me wanting to learn the art of plating.   Although my attempt is no where as beautiful as some I’ve seen, we topped our bowls with the crispy noodle creation for a little flair.

Wine Pairing:
2006 Thierry Martin Gewurtzraminer

Since the dish was fairly spicy, a little sweet from the sugar, and had the citrus of the lime, we went with an Alsatian Gewurtzraminer.  I think I would’ve preferred a wine that was a little less sweet, it certainly cut the spicy aspect of the curry sauce.

The Shrimp Saganaki recipe from Food & Wine Magazine’s March 2009 issue is pretty much what started my obsession with wanting to cook a lot while we are in Taiwan.  It looked absolutely mouth-watering and the ingredients seemed easy to get here and from there, we decided to do a themed week of cooking – all Greek recipes.

Grocery shopping for the shrimp out here was a little interesting though.  Seems as though most shrimp in the stores are sold with their heads still attached – not really what I was looking for!  We finally found some small shrimp, but nothing already deveined.  Weeks later, we discovered Costco is finally carrying the larger deveined shrimp, both with or without tails.  Too bad our freezer is not any bigger! So we decided to have a bigger freezer. And when I needed help to fix my freezer at the moment it malfunctioned, I just did click here for useful info and everything is solved.

Anyways, we finally had all the ingredients to make this – including the Kalamata olives we hunted all over Taipei for!  I was excited to make it.  Although the shrimp I had to use were about 1/2 the size called for in the recipe, I just doubled the amount of shrimp and this dish was incredible.

Ingredients

1. 2 tablespoons each of extra-virgin olive oil and canola oil
2. 1 large onion, thinly sliced
3. 6 plum tomatoes (1 1/4 pounds), coarsely chopped
4. Salt
5. Crushed red pepper
6. 1 1/2 pounds shelled and deveined large shrimp, halved lengthwise
7. 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
8. 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
9. 3 ounces Greek feta cheese, crumbled
10. Crusty bread, for serving

Directions

1. In a large skillet, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the onion and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, season with salt and crushed red pepper and cook until softened, crushing them with the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and olives and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are cooked through, about 3 minutes. Stir in the dill and half of the feta and cook just until the feta is hot, about 1 minute. Transfer to shallow bowls, sprinkle with the remaining feta and serve with crusty bread.

Servings: 4

To serve with the shrimp, I made something that is probably one of my favorite side dishes of all time now.  It is called Spanakorizo, basically a spinach and rice recipe.  I found a particular one of interest on Allrecipes (of course).  The original recipe calls for fresh spinach but I could not find any here so I used canned spinach instead.  One of the things I love most about Allrecipes is the list of reviews and ratings that follow – I try to read all the suggestions and input from the people who’ve made it.  It really does help – some people have found to reduce this or that, to add more of this, or to completely spin off and do something different with the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 pounds fresh spinach, rinsed and stemmed
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup uncooked white rice

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onions in the oil until soft and translucent. Add spinach, and cook stirring for a few minutes, then pour in the tomato sauce and water. Bring to a boil, and season with parsley, dill, salt and pepper. Stir in rice, reduce heat to low, and simmer uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes, or until rice is tender. Add more water if necessary.

Servings: 4

Wine Pairing:  2008 Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio

Food & Wine Magazine had some great Greek wines to pair with their dishes but we couldn’t find anything over here so we tried to improvise the best we could.

They mentioned a grapefruit scented wine so I opted for a fruity Pinot Grigio from Santa Margherita since it was readily available here.

Ironically, the wine is less expensive here in Taiwan than I have seen it in the US for.

It was Friday night and Brett had another late night at work.  We decided to make it an easy night and just do leftovers since we had some ground pork left over.  We had some sourdough bread and decided to make actual burgers with the bifteki.  We just used a George Foreman type grill we bought here and toasted the bread slightly.  Sliced some cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, and more Feta cheese on top.  Add some more Greek style potatoes on the side and we were good to go.   Such a simple idea and it was a great really way to use up some leftover ingredients. 

Wine Pairing: Les Petites Caves Cotes de Provence Rose

We still had not found Kalamata olives here in Taiwan so we opted to try this recipe without any olives, for fear the ones we did have would completely ruin the dish.  Pulled from Allrecipes, I found this to be an excellent choice.  I am sure it would be heavenly with the Kalamata olives added.  The recipe calls for a dry red wine and I used the Mourvedre that we would be drinking with the meal.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound pork tenderloin medallions
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1/8 cup sliced kalamata olives
• 1 tablespoon minced lemon zest

DIRECTIONS

1. Pound the meat to 1/4 inch thickness. In a shallow bowl, combine the flour, salt, and pepper. Dredge pork in flour to coat.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook pork in olive oil until browned, turning once. Transfer meat to a warmed plate.
3. Reduce the heat to low, and add rosemary and garlic to the pan. Pour in wine, and bring to a boil. Boil until the liquid is thick. Pour in chicken stock, and boil until volume is reduced by half. Stir in olives and lemon zest. Pour sauce over the meat, and serve.

Servings: 4

To serve with the dish, we had a Greek Potato Stew that also came from Allrecipes.  This dish also called for Kalamata olives so I did use the green Spanish olives but only a very little amount.  Sadly, mine came out more like a stew than it should have as I had dinner ready but Brett got stuck at a late evening meal, so I had to try and keep the food warm which didn’t work so great.  Although it was a bit mushy, it still tasted great! 🙂

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup whole, pitted kalamata olives
• 1 1/3 cups chopped tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large saute pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the potatoes and stir. Stir in the garlic. Add the olives and cook and stir for several minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, and oregano.
2. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Servings: 6

Wine Pairing: 2004 Lava Cap Mourvedre Reserve

It’s a pretty simple recipe and it came out incredibly tender.  We added chopped onions and garlic to our patties while mixing as we really love onions and garlic both.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 pounds ground beef
• 1 tablespoon plain yogurt
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 ounces feta cheese

Directions

Servings: 4

For a side dish, I used another recipe for Greek Style Potatoes.  Not having a huge selection of potatoes at the stores here, I went for the small mixed color potatoes, which were fine and added some nice visual appeal to the plate.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 2 cubes chicken bouillon
• ground black pepper to taste
• 6 potatoes, peeled and quartered

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a small bowl, mix olive oil, water, garlic, lemon juice, thyme, rosemary, bouillon cubes and pepper.
• Arrange potatoes evenly in the bottom of a medium baking dish. Pour the olive oil mixture over the potatoes. Cover, and bake 1 1/2 to 2 hours in the preheated oven, turning occasionally, until tender but firm.

Servings: 4

To go with it, I made a regular Greek salad, using the best tomatoes I could find here, red onions, more Feta, olives (couldn’t find Kalamata at the time), cucumber, and just an oil & vinegar dressing.  I love Greek salad and could probably just eat that for a meal!

Wine pairing:  2004 Monmousseau Rose D’Anjou