On 28 Nov 2004 17:01:36 -0800, Zspider > wrote:

> Thanks for the recommendations on the galaktabouriko. I couldn't
> find any recipes at recipesource.com, but I found several elsewhere.
> I've eaten calamari several times but never cared for it. It wasn't
> the flavor, but the texture. It was always tough and chewy.

That's a shame, sounds like you got overcooked calimari. Done
well, it shouldn't have that rubbery texture that gives ones jaws such
a workout! ;D

> We did the Greek dinner this evening and it came out OK, but not
> great. Probably the most interesting part wasn't the actual dinner,
> but our first visit to the Sahara Mart in Bloomington. They had a
> wonderful selection of unusual items. They had Key Lime juice! I
> bought some. I'm going to try out a Key Lime pie some time soon.
>
> We ended up buying already prepared tzatziki sauce, falafels, and
> dolmas. We wanted to put up the tree this evening so we cut back
> to just making the gyros, hummus, saganaki, and Artemis cake, all
> for the first time.

Sahara Mart _is_ cool, isn't it! They have a great
selection of olives to go with your meal... and they don't mind if you
sample. ~

It's not quite as good as it used to be, but for gyros in
Bloomington, we used to go to King Gyros on S. Walnut. It's further
down the road from Sahara Mart, and it's a rather unassuming place.
But the food's good, and IMO, the gyros are better than the ones at
the Trojan Horse on Kirkwood.

> I have a question about the saganaki. I always thought the idea
> of frying cheese to be impossible. What would keep it from just
> melting? That's the problem we ran into. We sliced feta into
> one-third inch pieces about the size of a playing card. The
> recipe suggested frying them with a full stick of butter. I
> thought that was way too much and cut it down to a quarter-stick,
> but the cheese melted instead of nicely browning. What is the
> best way to fry it so that it browns instead of melting? We
> still managed to salvage it and flamed it with brandy and doused
> the flames with squeezed lemons.

Hmmmm. I'm not particularly experienced with cooking Greek
food, but is it possible that this is done with a different kind of
cheese? Maybe that makes the difference between fried vs. melted.
The saganaki recipes I've seen called for kasseri or kefalotiri more
often than feta. Some called for dipping the cheese in an egg wash
and flour before frying, some recipes called for broiling rather than
pan-frying. Food for thought, anyhow! Good luck...

Ariane