Tzatziki, Raita, Maast-o Khiar, Jajik: Cucumber & Yogurt is a Good Idea

Cucumber in yogurt is a salad staple in many cuisines, from Greece, across the Middle East and on to India. Each country has its own favorite way to make this creamy, cooling side dish.

The basics:

1. Pare a cucumber
2. Add flavorings
3. Dress with plain yogurt
4. Chill to let flavors meld

The flavorings:

Every culture and seemingly every family has favorite flavorings for cucumber yogurt salad.

• Garlic and salt are almost ubiquitous additions.
• Green ingredients include chopped dill weed, cilantro, parsley, mint, or scallions.
• Very thinly sliced onions add bite.
• Spices such as pepper, cumin, turmeric or other spice may be added.

Simple or complicated?

The choice is yours.

• Peel the cucumber. (Or not.)
  
• To assure the yogurt does not get watery, remove the seeds from the cucumber, salt and let drain for 30 minutes before preparing the salad. (Or not.)
• Use good quality Greek yogurt that has been drained. (Or not.)
• Stir some flavorful olive oil into the yogurt. (Or not.)

For a quick, weeknight sauce to serve with rice and chicken, I like to

1. slice a peeled and seeded cucumber,
2. add store-brand plain low fat yogurt, chopped fresh dill weed, finely chopped garlic, salt and white pepper
3. Stir.

I tend to make this first so that by the time the rest of supper is ready it has sat long enough for the flavors to meld a bit. No, this doesn't result in the most scrumptuous tzatziki/raita/maast-o khiar/jajik you ever had, but it's a great quick side dish!

Ceci con Tonno -- Chick Peas and Tuna

Before summer comes to an end, there are more opportunities for salad-centered suppers. Ceci (garbanzos) con tonno is my favorite variation on fagioli (cannellini beans) con tonno. Both are very simple and flexible dishes.

A purist would start with dried beans but it's much faster to start with a can of beans. Try different brands of canned beans until you find your favorite. Each brand is quite different. For this recipe, I prefer Bush's Garbanzos because they are crunchier and drier than other brands but you might prefer another brand.

Ingredients:

• 1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
• 1 can tuna, drained
• Chopped celery, onions, bell pepper, sweet pepper or other vegetable to taste
• Italian dressing

Procedure:

1. Toss the ingredients and and serve or let sit for the beans to soak up a bit of the dressing.

Easy peasy. Use whatever kind of tuna you prefer. Use any beans you like. Vary the veggies. Vary the dressing. This is an extremely easy main dish salad.

Honey Lemon Chicken with Yogurt and Cucumber Salad

This is a vaguely Eastern Mediterranean meal and a fine way to use some pre-cooked chicken. It has three parts: lemon zest rice, lemon-honey chicken, and yogurt-cucumber salad. The rice is aromatic, the chicken is sweet, and the salad has a kick from raw garlic.

Ingredients for two servings:

• 8 oz. pre-cooked chicken
• 1/2-2/3 cup rice
  
• Juice and zest a lemon
• 2-3 Tbl. honey
• 1-2 tsp. cumin
• 1 cucumber, seeds removed and sliced
  
• 1 small container plain yogurt (fat free okay)
• 1 Tbl. fresh dill, chopped fine
• 2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  
• salt & white pepper
• water or chicken broth to cook the rice
  

Procedure:

1. Rinse the rice in a colander with running water and set aside, covered with water to soak for 10 minutes
   
2. Zest the lemon and set aside
3. Squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl big enough to hold the chicken.
   
4. Add honey and cumin to the lemon juice and stir.
   
5. Adjust the lemon juice : honey : cumin proportions to balance the flavors.
6. Toss the chicken in the mixture and set aside
7. Pare, seed and slice the cucumber
8. Toss the cucumber with the yogurt, minced garlic, dill, salt and white pepper. Set aside to meld the flavors.
9. Rinse the rice one more time, drain and cover with water or chicken broth so that the liquid is about 1/4 inch above the rice.
10. Cover and bring the rice to a boil and then reduce to low and let simmer about 10 minutes, until the liquid disappears.
11. Turn off the heat but keep covered and let steam until the rice is done, about 10 minutes.
12. Warm the sauced chicken in the microwave.
13. To serve, pile rice in center of plate, spread chicken over the rice, and spoon the cucumber salad around it.

Enjoy!

Caesar salad with Crisp Shredded Pork

This is something different to do with shredded pork, something that doesn't involve any barbecue sauce. Imagine that!

This has three basic ingredients:

1. Shredded pork
2. Romaine lettuce
3. Caesar salad dressing

Procedure:

• Fry the shredded pork in a dry fry pan. Add a little olive oil if you must but the object is to make the pork a bit crispy. Watch it carefully so it doesn't burn and stop before it is all crisp; leave some soft and juicy.
• Cut the romaine leaves into crosswise strips
• Toss the hot pork, romaine, and dressing.

That's it. Now, if you, like me, don't happen to have Caesar dressing in your fridge, you can create a reasonable substitute by cutting mayonnaise with bottled Italian dressing and adding some good grated cheese. Tonight's salad dressing included:

• Mayonnaise
• Bottled red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing
• Some jarred basil pesto
• Freshly grated Asiago cheese

Easy & yummy!

Dilly Chicken & Potato Salad the Easy Way

What cooking method will keep boneless chicken breast from getting too dry and "boiled" potato from getting too mushy? Steaming!

We don't steam things much anymore and often use the microwave instead but microwaving boneless chicken breast often results in something raw in the middle and leathery on the ends. Microwaving a potato removes a good deal of its structural integrity.

For this meal, I steamed both chicken and potato in the same pot for the same amount of time, let them cool, and made a dill-laced main dish salad with moist, not chewy, chicken and potatoes that held together when I stirred in the dressing. Bill said, "You should do this one again!"

Ingredients for two meal-sized servings:

• 1 boneless chicken breast fillet
• 1 large new potato
• 1 cucumber
• 2 Tbl. chopped fresh dill (or one tsp. dry dill)
• 3 Tbl. honey mustard dressing
  
• 3 Tbl. plain yogurt
• salt & pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Cube the potato.
2. Optionally, cut the chicken fillet in half or thirds to fit better in the steamer.
   
3. Place the chicken and potato pieces in a steamer over water.
   
4. Bring the water to a boil and then simmer until the chicken has lost all signs of pink or has reached an internal temperature of 165°F and the potatoes yield to a fork but are not yet mushy.
5. Remove the potatoes & chicken from the pan and cool in the refrigerator.
6. Peel, scoop out the seeds, and cut the cucumber into bite sized pieces.
7. Finely chop the fresh dill.
8. Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl and chill.
   

How long it takes to steam the chicken and potatoes will vary with the size of the pieces. I used fairly large chicken breasts cut in thirds and largish pieces of potato and cooked them for 20 minutes. After the first ten minutes I checked the temperature of the chicken and made sure there was enough water not to worry. You don't want your steamer to boil dry. You may ruin your pot as well as your meal!

Scooping the seeds out of the cucumber serves two purposes. It prevents the cuke from watering down the dressing and it lessens the after dinner eructations (although the latter may just be wishful thinking). Alternatively, use a "burpless" cucumber.

I threw an extra chicken fillet in the steamer so I now have the chicken pre-cooked for another meal. I sense chicken pasta salad in our not-so-distant future!