Avgolemono (Greek Egg-Lemon Soup)

It really disturbs me that the place mat isn't centered, but this was the only pic I took of the soup.

Nikos asked me to make this for him when he was sick. I didn't actually get around to making it until he was better though. He got the onion soup when he was sick. That kicked some germ ass.

1 2.5-3 lb chicken
2 quarts water
1 head of garlic, peeled and smashed
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar or white balsamic vinegar
1 tsp salt
4 eggs separated
4 lemons, juiced
more salt
pepper

Clean chicken and remove bag of inner bits. (Save them for another recipe.) Put chicken in crock pot with 2 quarts of water and cook on high for 2-4 hours. When chicken is cooked, remove it from pot and separate the meat from the bones and skin. Put chicken meat in the fridge for later; put bones and cartilage back in the crock pot. Add vinegar, 1 tsp salt, and garlic and cook for 12 or more hours on low.

When broth is done, strain out bones and garlic. If you're not making the soup right away, refrigerate the broth until you're ready to cook it. If you are making the soup right away,chop up the chicken very fine, almost shredded and put the chicken back in the crock pot and heat on low or warm.

Separate the eggs. in a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks are formed, add in yolks and continue to beat. Slowly add lemon juice. Add lemon-egg mixture to soup and mix it all together. the creamy egg mixture will float on top. add more salt and pepper, serve warm.

Anteloaf

Oh look it's a meatloaf recipe. How can I make this meatloaf recipe standout amongst the billions of recipes out there? Let me give it a clever name!

I buy game meat at Sprouts. I don't actually have the wherewithal to hunt for myself. I should change that. A rifle would be nice. Antelope, like other game meats, is very lean so it should be mixed with a nice fatty farm animal like beef, lamb or pork so it doesn't come out too dry. I used 85% lean beef and it came out nice and moist and it doesn't really need sauce. A little sauce wouldn't hurt though.

I had to make this into 5 mini meatloaves instead of one big one because I left my meatloaf pan at Nikos's house. It's probably better this way because they cook faster, they're more portable and I can give him one or two to take home.

2 lbs Ground antelope
1 lbs ground beef (85%)
2 eggs
1 red onion, finely chopped
16 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 can tomato paste
1 date, pitted
2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
2tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp crushed brown mustard seed
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp horseradish
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground fennel

In a large mixing bowl combine meat, eggs and garlic.

in a mini food processor combine vinegar, tomato paste, salt, pepper, spices and date. blend until date is completely blended. Put tomato-date mush in mixing bowl. Since the mini processor was already dirty, I threw the onion in there and chopped it finely in there. the same could be done with the garlic.

Bake at 350 Degrees. take out of the oven when the fork test comes out clean. Cooking times will vary.

Calf Liver Pate

I can't believe I actually made this. Who eats liver anymore? When I was a kid I really liked liverwurst. Then I realized what it was made of. How offal.

I adapted this recipe from the Simply Recipes recipe linked from Cave Girl Eats. I changed the recipe for several reasons. I only had 1/2 lb of liver, I only had ground beef dethawed and I wanted a greasy hamburger for dinner last night so I used 4 oz for my burger and threw the rest in the pate. I also added fennel and thyme because I like to add those to everything. I added mushrooms too.

3/4 lbs ground beef (I used 85%)
1/2 lbs calf liver
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1/2 small onion
5 oz brown mushrooms
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground fennel
1 pinch ground cloves
Enough bacon to line the baking dish

Preheat oven 350 degrees

In a food processor, puree vinegar, garlic, mushrooms, and onion together. Add spices and liver and puree all together. You can put the beef in the food processor if you have room, or combine it in a separate bowl using an egg beater.

Line a baking dish with bacon. (I didn't use parchment, but it might be a good idea.) pour liver-meat mixture into dish and then top with more bacon. Bake for about an hour. Then turn on broiler and crisp the bacon on top for a couple of minutes.

Shrimp Scampi with a Little Head (of Garlic)

I was searching for the perfect scampi recipe. They all sucked. Only 2 cloves of garlic per 1 lb of shrimp? Really Tyler Florence? Really Giada, and you call yourself Italian! Barefoot Contessa fared better with 4 cloves per pound, but it just wasn't enough. I didn't even bother with Rachel Ray because she's the Food Network's Village Idiot. I want to have shrimp with my garlic. I had a small head. It would have to do. When I think scampi, I think shrimp and garlic. Everything else is just extra.

2 lbs shrimp (pealed, deveined)
1 small head of garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp fat of choice (butter or olive oil)
5 sprigs fresh thyme
2 Tbsp fresh oregano, minced
2 Tbsp fresh basil, minced
salt and pepper

in a pan, heat fat. add garlic cook for about a minute or 2. Add herbs, salt pepper, cook for a minute then add shrimp. toss Shrimp in buttery garlicy goodness for about 3 minutes or until shrimp is no longer translucent. then add lemon juice and white wine vinegar. cook for another couple of minutes. With a slotted sppon ( i used a spatula) remove shrimp and reduce lemon juice to about half the volume.

Serve on top of spaghetti squash and/or zucchini linguini. I used both because like variety.

Pork Burgers with Beef Bacon

I bought beef bacon the other day and I am in love. I've been putting it in my omelets ever since. I was trying to think of other things I could eat it with. Bacon Cheeseburgers are an American Classic, but I don't eat cheese (well, rarely) because I'm a lactard. I thought putting beef bacon on a beef burger would be redundant, so this seemed like the only solution.

I went to Whole Foods and explained to Andy, the seafood guy that I wasn't buying any seafood because I had made crab cakes for lunch and I was making Pork Burgers with Beef Bacon for dinner. He was floored. He thought it was an awesome idea and he would be thinking about it all night. He didn't even know Whole Foods stocked beef bacon. So I brought him to the bacon section to show him. . . and they were out of beef bacon so he started to curse me.

The whole way home I was trying to decide what seasoning to use for the burgers. I thought Turkish Seasoning would be hilarious, but I went with Tsardust Memories instead. Whatever seasoning you choose is irrelevant because these burgers are transcendentally awesome by the mere juxtaposition of the beef and the pork.

I was only able to buy 3/4 of a lb of ground pork because that was all they had.

3/4 lb ground pork (do yourself a favor and double the recipe)
2 tsp seasoning of some sort
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or Red Apple Balsamic if you happen to have it)
beef bacon

combine first 3 ingredients in a bowl. Shape into patties. Grill baby, grill. Cook beef bacon and put on burgers.

I did mine with homemade ketchup, grilled onion, roasted red peppers and avocado.

Mushrooms and Goat Cheese

The 9am class at Crossfit Arizona is Combat Conditioning. Monday I got the t-shirt. That T-shirt is earned, not bought. Combat Conditioning is Coach Mike's baby. It's hard core and he plays all metal, all morning. We're talking Slayer and Suicidal Tendencies. It can't get anymore awesome than that. I roll out of bed, drive 2 minutes and I'm there and he always says, "you're going to hate this" when I show up. I'm almost becoming a morning person. Well, not really. I wake up when the sun rises but I'm not always happy about it. We have 4 shifts at work and right now I'm on noons. Come April I get to pick which shift I go to. When I say I get to pick, I really don't. I'm still pretty low on the totem pole so it's midnights or midnights. This will adversely effect my Crossfit schedule since I work on average 10 hours a day. Either Coach Mike has to change his work schedule just to train me or I have to find a way to just work 8 hour days M-F. Neither scenario seems realistic.

This isn't exactly a sauce and it isn't exactly a side dish. More like a topping. A topping for beef, or lamb, perhaps bison, maybe even chicken. Or if you're one of those non-meat eating types, you can eat this as your main course.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp fat (I used goat milk butter and I highly recommend)
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
10 oz baby bella shrooms
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 oz goat cheese (I used Trader Joe's Goat Gouda)
1 tsp balsamic (I used Dark Chocolate Balsamic) 
Salt and pepper

In a sauce pan, heat fat.  add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds then add shrooms, thyme, salt, pepper - in that order. cook for about 20 - 30 mins. Shrooms should be watery and simmering. Turn flame down to low and add goat cheese. try to mix it up evenly, then add balsamic. Serve on top of meat! Drink wine, preferably something earthy and red. I'm having Casillero del Diablo Malbec. If I still drank beer, I would be having a Dogfish Head Chicory Stout. But I don't and this saddens me.

Curry Fisherman's Pie

There's eggwhites in this. I must have used the yolks for Hollandaise. Sometimes I can't think of anything interesting to write about. So, on to the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 lb Mahi Mahi or really any fish will do
2 lemons, juiced
3 tsp madras curry powder separated
4 eggwhites
2 whole large eggs
2 cups frozen spinach
2 cups pumpkin fresh pumpkin puree, or 1 can
1 tsp salt, separated
1 sweet onion
4 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp coconut oil (or any fat)
1/2 tsp salt separated

Marinate Mahi in lemon juice and 1 tsp curry powder.

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat oil in sauce pan. Saute onion until translucent. add garlic cook for 30 seconds, then add 1 tsp curry.  cook 30 more seconds, add marinated Mahi and 1/4 tsp salt. cook for about 5 -10 minutes, then add spinach cook until spinach is thawed.

In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until fluffy. Pour Mahi mixture into baking dish, then fold in egg whites. In a mixing bowl beat 2 whole eggs, then add pumpkin puree and 1 tsp curry and 1/4 tsp salt. Blend thoroughly and top mahi egg mixture. bake for 45-1 hour.