Rubbishy Cookery

  It’s all Greek to me—let’s make tzatziki! Ingredients: Note the ingredient labelled “Skyr”. This is a game changer for making homemade tzatziki. I used to use Balkan style plain yogurt, but had to first turn it into yogurt “cheese” by straining it for at least an hour, but the longer the better. My method, in case you’re interested, was to spoon a quantity of yogurt into a coffee filter lined plastic funnel positioned in a cup to collect the liquid that strains (“whey”) and let it rest in the fridge. If you use Skyr, a thick low fat, high protein Icelandic yogurt, you don’t need to do any of this rigamarole because it’s naturally so thick and unctuous. Time saver! Directions: Using a garlic press, crush a clove of garlic into a bowl and sprinkle with kosher salt to allow the garlic to mellow, soften, and, pardon the expression, sweat: Smash the salted crushed garlic after a few moments of rest into a paste: Add the Skyr (or strained yogurt cheese): Add a lot of finely chopped fre...

  Today I will show you how to make a versatile  quinoa salad. Ingredients: The list of ingredients is irrelevant because you can add almost anything to this salad and it will be fine. There’s quinoa, of course, but the remaining ingredients can be whatever you have on hand. Someone gifted me the package of Veggie Sticks Salad Topper, so in they go. We had cucumbers in the garden, so giddy up. I forgot to put feta cheese in this photo, but it makes an appearance because I thought of it later. And so on. Ignore the defrosting tofu burger sitting on top of the toaster oven. That’s not in the salad but will be eaten on the side. But who’s to say it couldn’t go in the salad too? Who’s to say?? Directions: First, we make the quinoa, and we make it pasta-style by boiling a big pot of water. We also start, simultaneously, by boiling a little pot of water for the frozen shelled edamame: Simultaneously, we roast up some frozen corn kernels in the toaster oven on fairly high heat for as...

  Today’s post is a 2-for-1, but rest assured, both recipes can be made independently and separately with good results! Recipe #8: cucumber salad  This is super quick salad recipe that you can whip up in a few minutes and impress the pants off of your dinner guest(s). I’m making a batch for two diners here. Ingredients: Directions: Slice the cucumber(s) in thin rounds with a sharp knife. A mandoline would work well, but ours is still in its original packaging and I’m afraid of it, so I just used a paring knife and sliced directly into the serving bowl (no cutting board = less clean up = less neatly sliced = I don’t care). Likewise with the red onion. I just used a small amount of the red onion you see pictured above. We want the onion to be a sidekick to the cucumber, not a leading lady. Next, squeeze a wedge of fresh lemon juice in the bowl, shake a few shakes of dried dill (or a good anmount of chopped fresh dill if you have it), add a glug of mayo and a spoonful of sou...