Greek Potato Wedges & Dortmunder

Greek Potato Wedges

Servings – 2

·         1 large potato or two smaller ones

·         1 clove (1 t) garlic

·         1 t greek seasoning or oregano

·         1 T olive oil

·         1 t lemon juice

·         Dash salt

·         Dash pepper

1.       Preheat oven to 425

2.       Cut potato into wedges leaving skin on

3.       Mix other 6 ingredients in bowl

4.       Toss potatoes in mixture

5.       Cook 10 minutes and slip potatoes

6.       Cook 10 more minutes

I served these with the Greek style burgers and Greek seasoned steamed veggies. 

Another dortmunder that would go well with this meal would be Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold.  Great Lakes Brewing company as the name implies is in the great lakes region and is in Cleveland, Ohio.  This beer is considered world-class and one of the best dormunders on the market.  This is a clean crisp beer with some bitterness similar to a pilsner.  It’s a balanced beer of grainy, hoppy and lemony.

Greek Burgers & Dortmunder

Greek Burgers

Servings – 2

·         8 ounces ground beef

·         1 T olive oil

·         4 ounces spinach (either frozen defrosted or fresh sautéed)

·         1 clove (1 t) garlic

·         1 t greek seasoning (or oregano)

·         ¼ cup of feta crumbled

·         Dash Salt

·         Dash Pepper

·         2 hamburger buns

·         3 T feta

1.       Mix first 8 ingredients together in bowl

2.       Form two patties, and put dimple in the middle of each

3.       Cook about 5 minutes and flip

4.       Put buns on grill to toast

5.       Add additional feta on top and cook about 3 minutes

I served these burgers with Greek style potato wedges (recipe to come tomorrow) and steamed stir fry vegetable medley with a little Greek seasoning, olive oil and lemon juice. 

This meal was paired with Shiner Dortmunder brewed by Spoetzl Brewery located in Shiner, TX.  This is very drinkable with a light sweetness.  It’s a very well rounded beer with nothing being over powering.  It’s has some graininess and floral notes, but also has malty sweetness and hoppy herbal notes.

Greek Lemon Artichoke Chicken - Summer Ale

Greek Lemon Artichoke Chicken

Weight watchers points - 5/serving

Servings - 4

2 chicken breasts

1 T Greek seasoning

1 can drained and chopped artichoke hearts

4T lemon juice

4 T reduced fat feta

Olive oil cooking spray

1.       Preheat oven to 450

2.       Cut Chicken breast in half

3.       Sprinkle each side of chicken & artichoke hearts with Greek seasoning

4.       Place chicken into baking dish

5.       Pour artichoke hearts over chicken

6.       Spray with olive oil cooking spray

7.       Pour lemon juice over chicken and artichokes

8.       Bake 20 minutes

9.       Add feta over top of dish

10.   Bake another 5-10 minutes until chicken juice run clear

I made this for dinner and served with orzo.  If you are going to serve this as an appetizer or bar food serve as kabobs or in pitas.  This was simple to make and very delicious.  I will definitely be adding this to my quick week night meal list.  I considered making my own Greek spice blend, but was simply to lazy.  I decided it was good to have it on hand because we do like Greek.  The premade blends – it usually contains salt, pepper, garlic, oregano (a key component), onion powder, parsley, paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg, thyme.  There are recipes online if you decide to make your own.

I am pairing this with Brooklyn Summer Ale.  I actually got the idea from another website talking about as a good pair for Greek food and they were right.  http://www.examiner.com/beer-pairing-in-new-york/beer-pairing-101-what-beer-goes-with-greek-food

Brooklyn brewery as you may have guessed is located in Brooklyn, NY.  To date Mike and I have had a lot beer from Midwest and Texas, being our home states as well as Colorado and the west coast due to vacations.  But the east has been minimal exposure.  Brooklyn Brewery is definitely one we have tried many times though.  Mike loves Brookyln Local 1, their strong pale ale which I am sure I will pair in the future.  We gave Brooklyn Local 2, their Belgian strong dark ale to a friend for his birthday and it was a big hit. 

For the Brooklyn Summer Ale, I am definitely still inspired to stink with summer beers.  It is 100+ everyday in Dallas these days and anything less isn’t refreshing enough or is simply too heavy.    This is an easy drinking beer.  It is malty with slight hops.  It definitely has a strong lemony and citrusy flavor.  This allows it to pair well with Greek food that often as that lemon flavor through it, this dish definitely does.