F.E.A.S.T.: Chicken Gyros

The last time I posted a meal like this, I called it a Q.E.C.T., which while technically an acronym, has absolutely no panache whatsoever. So, this time I have a shiny new acronym: F.E.A.S.T.! It stands for Fast, Easy, Affordable, and Super Tasty!

I love it.

It explains exactly what I was going for, and it actually spells out a culinarily-related word. It's also got a touch of irony, which appeals to my literary side. And yes, I know "culinarily" isn't really a word, but if an English Major can't make up words, well, who can? I mean, if Shakespeare could do it, why not me? Right?

But I digress.

So I love gyros. They're great sandwiches, loaded with lots of savory, meaty flavor. They remind me of the week I spent in Greece back in college. Unfortunately, since I don't have a vertical rotisserie (aka the rotating meat rack of goodness) like the kind found in Greek restaurants, it's kind of hard to replicate the experience. AB has a method using a normal rotisserie, but alas, I am lacking in one of those too. So, what did I do? I improvised.

Basically, I substituted chicken for the lamb traditionally used. I also sauteed up the accompaniments, just to help meld the flavors. I think it turned out really well too.

THE INGREDIENTS!!! (and prices, rounded to the nearest $0.25 for convenience)
1 17.6oz tub plain Greek yogurt ($3.25)
1 cucumber, peeled and seeded ($0.75)
4tsp (or cloves) chopped garlic (stock item)
1 good pinch kosher salt (stock item)
4tsp olive oil (stock item)
3tsp red wine vinegar (stock item)
A few good shakes of dried mint (or 5-6 fresh leaves if you have it)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (from a $6.50 frozen package)
3 roma tomatoes, seeded ($0.75)
1 medium white onion ($0.75)
1 6oz can pitted black olives ($1.00)
1 5oz package crumbled feta cheese ($2.00)
lemon juice (from a $0.50 lemon or a bottle)
Pita bread ($2.75)

FINAL PRICE: $17.75 to serve 4 people

THE METHOD!!!
First, make the tzatziki sauce. I'm basing this off the AB method, found here.

Drop your peeled and seeded cucumber into a food processor and pulse a few times to finely chop. Then, drop the cucumber into a tea towel and squeeze the heck out of it to remove any excess liquid.

Combine the Greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic, salt, olive oil, vinegar and mint together in a bowl. Chill and serve. This whole process took about 15 minutes, so I'd say it qualifies as fast, no?

Next, the chicken. Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces. Saute the chicken with a little olive oil, salt and pepper over medium to med-high heat until done.

Meanwhile, slice your onion to your desired size and shape. I prefer half-moons for this, but whatever works for you is fine. Make like with the chicken, and saute with a little olive oil and salt over medium to med-high heat for about 5 to 10 minutes, or until the onions begin to take on a light golden color.

Drop your seeded tomatoes and olives into your food processor and pulse a few times to chop. When the onions are ready, add the tomatoes and olives and heat for a minute or two or until the tomaotes begin to release their juices. Add your lemon juice and the feta cheese, and heat through until the cheese begins to melt. It won't take but another minute.

Serve on pita bread, hot-dog style.

Like I said, it took about 15 minutes to whip up the tzatziki, and then it took another 30-35 minutes for everything else. And as with last time, I started the timer when I first started pulling out ingredients, so that includes chopping and mixing and what-not. So, under an hour for a good hot meal made with fresh ingredients.

The results? Delicious. The cooked onions, tomatoes, and olives worked quite nicely with the chicken, and the salty sweet feta cheese complimented the whole thing perfectly inside the pita bread. Moreover, the fresh tzatziki really brings the whole thing together to make for a great flavor. Is it a real gyro? No, not really. But it still make for a damn good sandwich in my humble opinion.

So. Let's do our acronym check.

Fast: the whole process from start to finish took less than an hour, so I'd say that qualifies. If you want to get any faster, you'd have to turn to your microwave.

Easy: nothing fancy here. All you need are some basic cooking skills and the ability to properly squeeze a cucumber into oblivion.

Affordable: ok, I'm willing to concede a little bit here, since I have so many "stock" items on the list, and some people may not keep those things on hand as a matter of course. But! Once those things have been acquired, it's a simple and wallet-friendly matter to purchase the last few items.

Super Tasty: Yes. Enough said.

But don't take my word for it. Make up a batch to try for yourself!

As always, thanks for reading!

Beer and Bacon Pancakes

Y'know what I've always thought was a great idea? Breakfast for dinner. I tend to make it on a fairly regular basis, but I don't always experiment. Well, that's changing.

So. Pancakes. Made with beer. And bacon. Crazy huh? My roommate suggested the idea of pancakes made with beer, and a quick Google search led me here of all places. Rather than following this method exactly, I decided to simply use it as a guide and improvise a little. I adapted a basic pancake recipe to my needs, and these are the results:

Not bad, huh? Truth to tell though, the results weren't quite what I hoped they would be. Don't get me wrong, they were tasty enough, but I think the idea needs some tweaking. For one thing, the "beer" flavor overwhelmed the others, so we lost the delicious savory bacon taste except in small bursts. And although I used a seasonal beer (Shock Top pumpkin wheat), a lot of the warm autumn flavors fell to the background too.

Next time, I think I'll use a lighter flavored beer, like maybe a blond or a hefeweizen. The other option, if I want to stick with the pumpkin ale, would be to add more spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. I love the praline bacon (yes, you heard me), and I think it works well in the recipe. But next time I plan to use think-cut bacon instead of the thin stuff; I think it'll hold up better in the batter.

Well, I suppose I should actually get to the method now, shouldn't I? As always, if anyone has an suggestions or comments, I'm always glad to hear them.

THE INGREDIENTS!!!
2 cups AP flour
5 tsp baking powder
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 12oz beer (something of quality, please)
1 12oz package bacon
2.5 oz brown sugar
1.5 oz pecans

THE METHOD!!!
 The first step is to make Praline Bacon. It's pretty easy to do, actually. First, heat your oven to 400 degrees. Grab a cookie sheet with a lip and line it with a big piece of aluminum foil. Set a cooling rack on top and lay out the bacon in a nice neat row. Bake until almost, but not quite, done. The thin stuff took less than 10 minutes, but the AB method calls for a full 30 on the thick-cut strips.

While the bacon bakes, drop the pecans and brown sugar into a food processor and chop to a fine bread crumb consistency. When the bacon is almost done, pull it out. Working carefully, sprinkle the bacon with the brown sugar/pecan mixture and gently pat down to set it.

Place the bacon back into the oven for another 10 minutes or until done. And make sure to watch it; I didn't keep a close enough eye on it and ended up burning it a little.

Oh, don't look at me like that. I know it's a culinary sin and I'll go to confession later.

Anyway. When the bacon is (properly) done, let it cool for a few minutes before removing from the rack and chopping into bite-sized pieces. Again, work carefully so as not to burn yourself.

Meanwhile, combine the flour and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs, beer, and bacon, and stir to combine.

Heat your electric griddle to medium, about 300 to 325. Drop the batter in 1/4 cup increments onto the hot griddle, and cook for 2-3 minutes per side, or until done. Serve with (real!) maple syrup.

See, it's a pretty straightforward method. It just needs some fine-tuning.

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading!

Food in Canada

Hi again!

After my brief trek to Indy for the gaming convention, I went to visit some family that lives all the way up in Canada. Again, I didn't really have an opportunity to do much cooking, but we did eat at a few cool places, and I felt like sharing them with you. So, without further ado:

Big Rig Brewery
The place: Your basic bar and grill, except for the fact that they do serve only the beer they brew themselves. The place has a kind of dark and modern brewery sort of look, which is totally a thing, I promise. As you might expect from a restaurant like this, you can purchase overpriced merchandise of all sorts in addition to your meal.
What I ate: I chose the Parmesan Crusted Chicken & Gouda Sandwich. It's exactly what it sounds like: a piece of grilled chicken encrusted in Parmesan cheese, with avocado, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and Sriracha mayo served on Swiss panini bread. It also came with hand-cut fries and a vinegary coleslaw, both of which were quite tasty. I also tried their Big Rig Rideau Red beer, which I also enjoyed.

My thoughts: I'm having a hard time coalescing my thoughts on Big Rig, truth to tell. The food was good, and the beer was delicious, but nothing about the place really stands out for me. I guess I was distracted by all the family I was with. It just means I need to go back and try it again next year to get another gauge of the place. For now, I'll give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Lanark Pizzeria
The place: Unfortunately, this was delivery, so I can't really say anything about the location itself. I can say, however, that it's a local pizzeria, named for the county in which it resides.
What I ate: We ordered a basic pepperoni pizza and the Lanark Special, consisting of ham, pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms and green peppers. The cool thing is that up there, the pizzerias put all the cheese on top, so it gets extra brown and crispy in the oven. It also seals in all the flavors from the other toppings, steaming them after a fashion. The flavor of it is great.

My thoughts: A local pizzeria as good as any you could hope to find. 4 out of 5 stars.

Harvey's
The place: Ok, so this is basically a fast-food Canadian burger chain, kinda like Burger King. As such, there isn't much to describe here. I mean, it's a burger joint, right? But it's a pretty nifty place nonetheless. They make your burger to order, and then they have a station laid out to add what toppings you want right in front of you. That way, you can customize your burger to your exact taste. Unfortunately, what they have is pretty basic, except for the salad peppers, so the option for a bacon-mushroom-swiss is out of the picture.
What I ate: I opted for the number 2 combo, a Harvey's burger with cheese, topped with lettuce and tomatoes, mayo and ketchup. I also had poutine. What's poutine, you ask? That's when they take your french fries and top them with brown gravy (poutine sauce) and white cheese curds. Yes, it sounds like some crazy Canadian concoction, I know, but trust me, it's actually pretty good. Seriously, don't knock it if you've never had it.

My thoughts: Like I said, it's good ol' fast-food burgers and fries. But, we make sure to eat there every time we go to visit the relatives, so that should tell you something. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars on the (fast) food scale.

Wheeler's Pancake House
The place: Wheeler's is set back in an actual sugar camp, where they drain the sap from maple trees and distill it down into the magical amber brew known as maple syrup. Can you tell I'm a fan of the stuff? In addition to that, the premises hosts a small museum showcasing paraphernalia from the history of the maple industry. The restaurant itself is a big log cabin style hall, decorated with tools of the maple trade and family photos on the walls and fireplace mantle. It is a family business, after all, and the focus is definitely on the food.
What I ate: I ordered the Sugar Bush Special, consisting of two pancakes and three homemade maple sausages, and a side of maple baked beans. Like I said, the focus is on the food, especially the maple syrup, which comes in plentiful amounts. The food is simple, delicious, and thoroughly infused with Canadian maple goodness.

My thoughts: I love this place. Like Harvey's, we're sure to go there every year, but I always look forward to Wheeler's the most. I'm also sure to stock up on maple syrup and maple candy (as in addiction-inducing solid maple sugar) whenever I visit. 4.5/5, easy.

I'm still trying to get a handle on this whole food review thing. I think the pictures definitely help, but I need to take better notes so that I can describe things in better detail. I mean, I have a pretty easy time talking about food that I've made myself, but this is a bit more of a challenge somehow. I promise though that when I start reviewing restaurants in earnest, I'll be able to provide a much more thorough analysis.

As always, thoughts and opinions are appreciated! Thanks for reading!