Autumn Give Away!!

Most of you know that The Best Husband In The World and I spent a long weekend visiting Shelburne Falls and Ashfield Massachusetts a few weeks back.

We spent our time admiring the sites, enjoying the local bistro fare, browsing an art gallery (or two) and for me, the highlight of the weekend was spending a day at New England Cheesemaking, taking a workshop in, well, cheesemaking.

While there I also took advantage of stocking up on some cheesemaking supplies. I bought a cheddar form, a new dairy thermometer and a Yogotherm or, as New England Cheesemaking calls it in their catalog, the Gourmet Home Dairy Kit. I happily carted all my supplies home with me, thereby saving shipping fees.

In case you don't know what a Yogotherm is, it is a thermos that requires no outside power, that you use to make a variety of different cheeses as well as yogurt.

Now if you've been following my blog for any time you know I like to substitute yogurt, especially Greek Style yogurt, in many of my recipes that call for sour cream or buttermilk. Using store bought milk and the Yogotherm, I can now make my own.

As well as:

Fromage Blank

Sour Cream

Buttermilk

Kefir

Creme Fraiche

Queso Blanco

Cream Cheese

Herb Cheeses

Mascarpone

and other varieties.. the kit includes enough enzymes (and instructions) for making over 70 pounds of cheeses!

Imagine my surprise when I opened my door to find this in the mail:

Seems New England Cheesemaking had shipped me another Gourmet Home Dairy Kit. Being a good, honest Good Cook I immediately rang up Customer Service and explained their mistake. Being the good New England Cheesemaking company that they are, they acknowledged their mistake and told me to keep it - with their best regards.

To celebrate Autumn and my good luck, I am passing this extra Gourmet Home Dairy Kit (yogotherm) on to you, one of my lucky readers.

TBHITW wanted me to run a contest and have you answer two questions.

Did I mention that TBHITW bears an uncanny resemblance to this guy from The Big Bang Theory television sitcom?

Sheldon Cooper, PhD. The Big Bang Theory

The Best Husband In The World, P.G., REA - My house.

TBHITW: I know, make it a contest - to win someone has to answer these two questions correctly, 1. What is the origin of yogurt AND what is the composition and outstanding features of that country's primary Geologic Terrain?

Me: Uh. No.

To win the Yogotherm and enough goodies to make 70 pounds of various soft cheeses:

1. You must be a follower (shameless plug to get more followers and feed my need for attention)

2. Write a comment in this post's comment field telling me why you like yogurt or why you'd like to make yogurt or really, why anything...

Each comment will be placed in a pumpkin head and the winner will be drawn by my nephew, Shane, on the morning of November 1st. (midnight 10/31 is too late to stay up until)

So, hurry up. You have until Midnight, October 31st, 2009 to comment and be entered to win. Forward this post on to your friends, have them sign up as a follower and leave a comment for their chance to win.

RECAP:

One Prize - Yogotherm as pictured

Deadline: Midnight, October 31, 2009

Eligible: All current and new followers of www.thegoodcooknj.blogspot.com

Entry: comment left on this post

Winner: Randomly drawn from Pumpkin Head on November 1st.

Notification of Winner: Will be notified by a post on November 1st. Shipping costs for mailing the Yogotherm will be paid for by The Good Cook.

I hope that covers it. Thank you to New England Cheesemaking for a great day of cheesemaking AND for supplying The Gourmet Home Dairy Kit!

Sound like fun? Comment below.

My Big Fat Greek Taco

I have blogged before about the best husband in the world and I being from different parts of the country and how this has affected our pronunciation of certain words. Tamayto - Toemahtoe, here we go again. 

I'm making lamb tonight for dinner. I'm going to marinade it, then skewer it and TBHITW will grill it. Then we'll fill pita breads with lettuce, tomatoe, yogurt cucumber sauce and the grilled lamb. I call this a Gyro (year-ooh). TBHITW calls it a hear-ooh. The kidadults and middles call it a gi-row. 

In the interest of world peace at the local level we have agreed to call it: My Big Fat Greek Taco. 

My apologies to taco (tah-ko) lovers, any ethnic group I may have slighted, and slim Greeks everywhere. 

My Big Fat Greek Taco: (makes 5 or more)

1 1/2 pounds boneless leg of lamb cut into cubes

1 Lemon, juiced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher Salt & Freshly Ground black pepper

Note Added 2 hours after original post:

Just got back from the grocery store and the only lamb they had was a full leg of lamb, on the bone. At $43.00 too rich for my blood and more lamb than I need. But they did have very nice lean ground lamb for $4.49 per pound. No need to rethink dinner and put all my other ingredients back, I'm going to punt. 

2 pounds ground lamb

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium shallot (or small onion) minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small roll ground into fresh bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten with a fork

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced

Zest of one lemon

Salt and pepper

Heat oil in small saute pan. Add onions and sweat until translucent. Add garlic and saute for 1 more minute until garlic is soft and fragrant. Cool.

Place ground lamb in large mixing bowl. Add cooled onion/garlic mixture, bread crumbs, egg, rosemary, lemon zest and salt and pepper. Mix gently to combine. Form around wooden skewers so the lamb looks like a 5 inch hot dog (slightly fatter). Squeeze meat around skewer. Grill about 8 minutes. Voila! Gyro Punting! 

Sauce:

1/2 cup greek style yogurt (if you can't get it in your area, use plain, non-fat)

1/2 medium cucumber, chopped small

1 small bunch (about 1/4 cup chopped) fresh mint

Squeeze of lemon juice

Filling:

2 cups Shredded lettuce

1 medium tomatoe, seeded and chopped

1 medium onion, chopped fine (optional)

5 or 6 loaves pita bread (or Nan, yum!) warmed in microwave or grilled lightly.

The Meat:

Mix the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a sealable ziplock bag. Add lamb and toss around to coat. Marinade in the fridge at least 45 minutes and up to 4 hours.*

When ready, heat grill to medium high. Take lamb out of fridge about 30 minutes before skewering. Skewer lamb on metal skewers (if using wood skewers, soak for 30 minutes in hot water**)

Grill about 8 to 10 minutes for medium, turning often. Let rest 10 minutes on skewers, tented.

The Sauce:

Mix the yogurt, cucumbers, mint and lemon. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Plating:

Give everyone a warm pita. Have them fill it with meat, then lettuce, tomatoe (onion optional) then top with sauce. 

Serve with some fresh fruit on side. Watermelon chunks tossed with Feta cheese is lovely. 

A Cook's Notes:

*Studies have shown that the largest flavor transfer when marinading occurs within the first 45 minutes. Less time with light foods like shrimp and fish fillets. Also, people use WAY too much marinade, you only need 1/4 cup per 1 pound of meat. Don't waste your expensive ingredients with using more. 

**Using HOT water when soaking your wooden skewers opens up the pores in the wood and will insure that more water is absorbed into the wood meaning your skewers are less likely to burn up. 

If you're reading this and there is no picture come back later - I'll have a photograph at dinner time EST! Enjoy