Cooking with Ladies & Gentlemen

Dylan and Jean from the fun vintage shop, Ladies and Gentelmen are offering up a couple recipes today which I was thrilled to see! Visiting their blog this past spring (they are the couple that came up with that cool hanger frame idea before we saw it in Oprah's magazine), I saw their outdoor camping cooking, and was hooked. When they offered something here, I couldn't wait. Look at the color of that tzatziki! Thanks you guys!

Every week, Dylan and I get CSA (community supported agriculture) produce from Oxbow Farm that's outside of Seattle, and it really motivates us to stay home and cook. The fun part is that we get to experiment and try making new dishes using organic ingredients.

This time Dylan & I got inspired by the New York Times Magazine recipe where every week they focus on creating dishes featuring one specific ingredient while providing a little story about it.

We went with the whole Greek-themed meal because we found recipes for beet tzatiziki and roasted feta with honey & thyme. The best part of making this meal was that most of the dishes were just roasted or broiled in the oven with light olive oil and seasoning! pretty much just chop, season it, and put it in the oven! well..there's just one more step to the tzatziki and pesto sauce, but you just blend it for 15-20 seconds or so, super easy.

So here's what's on the menu:

roasted rosemary garlic chicken
roasted carrots brown sugar
honey baked feta with thyme
homemade pesto
beet tzatziki
sauteed beet greens
toasted pita bread



Beet Tzatziki
The NYTimes recipe says to cook the beets as whole for 45min and then peel it after it's out of the oven, but I actually cut down the time to 20min or so by slicing it and just peel the beet before cooking it, so it's less of a hassle.

4 small yellow beets
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 ½ cups Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon chopped dill.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash the beets and trim their root ends and peel if skin is think. Slice them about 1/4" think and then lightly coat in oil and set in a roasting pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, add ½ cup water and cover the pan with two layers of foil. Roast in the oven until tender when pierced with a fork, and then take it out to let it cool. This should make about 1 cup.

2. Place the garlic, lemon juice and 1 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Stir in yogurt and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Fold in the grated beets and dill and season to taste with salt and pepper. You can use a blender to quickly mix it, leaving pieces of beets adding texture. Puree it if you don't like chunks of beets with it.

Serve with meats or pita. and TA-DA and you get this AMAZING vibrant fuschia-colored tzatziki! and it stays that color, too! This is also a really refreshing salad dressing!



Roasted Feta With Thyme Honey

1 8-ounce slab Greek feta, blotted dry
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Greek thyme honey, or other honey
Freshly ground black pepper
Greek-style pita bread, toasted and cut into wedges
Heirloom tomatoes, roasted beets, nuts or pickled vegetables (optional).

1.Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Select a small oven-to-table earthenware dish or a small ovenproof sauté pan lined with aluminum foil to help transfer the cheese to a plate after roasting. Bake until the cheese is soft and springy to the touch but not melted, about 8 minutes.

2. Preheat the broiler. Heat the honey in the microwave for 8 seconds or so pour the honey over the feta with it. Broil until the top of the cheese browns and just starts to bubble. Season to taste with black pepper or thyme. Serve immediately with pita wedges and, if desired, sliced heirloom tomatoes, roasted beets, nuts or pickled vegetables. Serves 4 to 6.