Condiments « (y)our food choices™

While shopping at Trader Joe’s, Jason tasted a new product that they were sampling, a Kale Tzatziki dip. We rarely pick up tubs of prepared anything, since we know we can make it better at a fraction of the cost. Tzatziki is one of our favorite dips; yogurt, cucumber, garlic, and lemon. It’s so versatile and easy to make, that altering the dip with the addition of dehydrated kale would be a snap. The tzatziki is not only great as a traditional dip with pita bread, or a topping for fallefal, but with some slices of avocado and whole wheat toast, the tzatziki makes a great breakfast spread too. We just finished the last of the batch and now we’re starting to have withdrawals. We can still taste the garlic on our breath from breakfast and we’re wishing we had more in the fridge for a snack after work.

: Dehydrating the kale and adding it to the thicken yogurt will keep the tzatziki even more thick.

: A pinch of salt to the diced cucumbers will draw out the water and keep the tzatziki thick and creamy.

: Adding fresh green garlic and cucumbers are perfect for a true tzatziki.

: Straining the yogurt using cheesecloth removes the water and thickens the yogurt.

: Forget adding berries to your morning yogurt. For a savory alternative try having a savory tzatziki with whole wheat toast instead.

: Whole wheat toast, kale tzatziki, and avocado slice, make a healthy breakfast, or snack.

Kale Tzatziki Dip

1 32 oz container whole milk yogurt
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced (peel can be left on if organic and unwaxed)
3-4 kale leaves, ribs removed and cut into small pieces
1 small garlic clove
lemon
salt & pepper

In a small holed colander line with cheesecloth, place over a bowl and pour the container of yogurt in the cheesecloth. Place in the fridge and allow to sit for several hours or overnight for a creamier, richer texture.

In a preheated 225 degree oven, place the kale pieces on a small baking sheet and place in the oven for 30-40 minutes until crispy. Check every 15 minutes and toss to prevent from burning. Once dried, set aside.

In another colander lined with cheesecloth, place the diced cucumber and sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt over the cucumber pieces. Allow to sit for at least 30 minutes and up to one hour. At that time, twist the top of the cheesecloth and extract as much water from the cucumbers as possible. Set aside until the yogurt is ready.

Once the yogurt is at the proper consistency, place in a medium bowl with the diced cucumber and dehydrated kale pieces. Using a microplane, grate the garlic clove over the yogurt, then grate the lemon, yellos zest only. Add a small pinch of salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper to the bowl. Whisk together until all ingredients are incorporated; taste and season accordingly. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

You’re eyes aren’t deceiving you; we’re finally updating our blog. While we work out the kinks we’re also going to try to keep our blog posts more consistent too. If something is missing from our blog that you like, please let us know. We’re hoping to have a more functional blog up very soon including links to all our recipes, guest contributors, and videos of our cooking skills. If you’d like to write for us or if you have any suggestions for our new site, shoot us a line. Cheers!

Ah, bounty. The bags of produce we buy from Mariquita Farm are filled with an awesome bounty of winter fruits and veggies. Our most recent purchase contained a big bag of what we are pretty sure was arugula and we knew the second we looked at it that there was no way we would eat it all before it yellowed. While we love arugula, we couldn’t stomach the idea of eating arugula salads twice a day. It seemed destined to the compost bin. Big bummer.

But then it came to us – the spicy salad green makes for a tasty substitute for the more traditional basil in pesto sauce. We had our solution. The washed and dried arugula went into the food processor where it was ground and blended with a fruity, high quality extra virgin olive oil, toasted walnuts, fresh ground Grana Padano, raw garlic, fresh lemon zest and some salt and pepper. Perfecto!

Pesto is a versatile sauce. It’s great on pasta, but it’s also tasty served with grilled chicken or fish. It’s nice slathered on toasted baguette and eaten as a condiment with soup. Make it in big batches and freeze the extra in ice cube trays for future use. Just pull what you need from the freezer and toss with hot pasta or thaw for other uses.

We used walnuts in this version, but pesto invites experimentation. Basil pesto is traditionally prepared with toasted pine nuts or almonds. You can use just about any hard, salty cheese to make the sauce and nut oils make for interesting alternatives to the olive oil. Play with it, find what you like and enjoy your pesto choices with just about everything.

: Freezing pesto in ice cubes gives you a quick burst of flavor for pasta, chicken, fish, or anything you like.

: Pesto is delicious with whole wheat pasta.

: A big beautiful green bowl of arugula pesto.

Arugula Pesto

4-6 cups fresh arugula
¼ cup Toasted Walnuts
4-6 garlic cloves, finely minced
Zest of one lemon
1 cup freshly ground Grana Padano (Parmesan Cheese)
½ cup Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Add the arugula, walnuts, garlic, lemon zest, and Grana Padano to a food processor. Pulse a few times until starting to form a paste. Then, with the motor running, add olive oil through the feed tube. Stop the processor and add salt and pepper to taste. Pulse a few more times. Pesto can be used that day or frozen in ice cube trays for future uses.