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...

  Here is another homage recipe to the gone-but-not-forgotten favourite restaurant of my youth, Latinos of Guelph, Ontario (see Recipe #6 for more back story on this beloved El Salvadoran restaurant). One of their appetizers was a dish called Nachos Deliciosos , but it was nothing like any nacho dish I’d had before or have had since. Rather than the common nacho dish of chips slathered in various toppings and melted cheese (not that there’s anything wrong with that! See a future post for my version), Latinos served their version in a shallow oval ramekin. The ramekin contained their beautiful black beans covered in homemade red salsa and a layer of melted cheese, served with a few homemade tortilla chips poking out of the hot beans-salsa-cheese ramekin like shark fins, and many more crispy chips around the ramekin for dipping. Sour cream was optional. And that was it. So simple, and yet so… deliciosos!  Ingredients: Note the leftover basic black beans from Recipe #4.  Not...