102 Days Later

So it's been 51 days since my last entry, and 102 days since I last cooked for this blog.  Shame on me.  Then again, the Midwest has been above freezing only a handful of those days, and with several inches of snow and ice to boot.  This week the weather finally began to break, so I took advantage of it.  I was also motivated by the fact that I was contacted again to run another giveaway contest!  More on that later....

I started this year with the goal of covering at least 100 recipes this year.  To begin, I ran down to Findlay Market to pick up what I needed for Greek Hoagies With Creamy Feta Dressing on page 202.

The first step was to begin roasting the red bell pepper, as this would take the longest to accomplish.  I've roasted many a pepper in the last couple of years, and I followed the same basic procedure.  After grilling for a few minutes on each side, I placed the pepper with its now-charred skin in a bowl.

To help alleviate the pepper of its skin (which can be tough, chewy, and stringy if not removed), I covered the bowl with plastic wrap.  As the pepper releases steam, the plastic wrap will trap the steam and help separate the flesh and skin.

From there I began making the dressing.  Remembering to double the ingredients, I readied them for the immersion blender.

After a brief whir, I was concerned that this was less of a dressing, and more of a paste. 

 This was nothing that a little olive oil couldn't fix.  Finally, the dressing began to loosen up and resemble something more like what I had in mind.

With the dressing in place and the bell pepper doing its thing, it was time to bring the rest of the ingredients to the grill.

While these were on the grill, I cut my bread in half and dug out a "canoe" for later.

 Finally, it was time to finish prepping the pepper.  Notice the condensation on the plastic wrap from the steam?  This was a good sign.

The skin came off quite easily, and from there I cut it into little strips.

These strips were put into a bowl with the dressing.

The onions, eggplant, and lamb looked lovely.

The vegetables were sliced up and put in the mixing bowl with the bell pepper.  I then sliced up the lamb and added that in as well.

With a little gentle tossing, everything came together.  The residual heat from the grilled items loosed up the dressing further so that it easily coated all of the hoagy ingredients.  I also quickly toasted the bread for further texture contrast.

Okay, so it looks a little funky (meat covered in green dressing), but I swear it's good.

This was delightful.  To be honest, this made me think of sitting in an outdoor European cafe on a mild summer day, and not so much of an overcast chilly afternoon in Cincinnati.  I would have enjoyed it more as a lunch than a dinner, but it was still quite nice.  The best adjective I could come up with to describe this hoagy is refreshing.  The mint and dill with the lamb is a classic combination, and the feta's creaminess added a nice layer of flavor.  This recipe will be reserved for late springtime weekend lunch.

Back to the contest!  The marketing team that sponsored the last giveaway I ran was pleased with the turnout I received, and offered me another opportunity.  I talked with the last giveaway's winner, and she stated that she was very happy with her purchase.  I know that this is short notice, but tomorrow I will be cooking Weber's chili recipe for my school's Annual Chili Contest.  I figure that it would be interesting to have a contest for a contest.  Look for details tomorrow!