Greek Ground Beef, by Diane

I recently saw an IG post by @birdee.lili on how to cook Mexican ground beef, and her method involved a few different approaches to cooking ground beef that I had not heard of in the name of flavor including not draining the beef to hold moisture (I previously thought this was all fat but it's mostly water) and letting beef get a brown crust for flavor when the water reabsorbs. I decided to try it this week but with Greek seasonings for some Greek hummus bowls, and this was so flavorful and moist! The only complaint is that it was pretty salty so I reduced the amount of salt as shown below.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp EVOO

1lb ground beef

1 tsp kosher salt

2 tbsp tomato sauce

1/4 cup or less beer or water (I used water)

Greek seasonings (cinnamon, clove, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder)

Directions:

1. Add EVOO to a heated pan, add in ground beef and crumble, cook until just browned.

2. Spread the beef into an even layer and let the water come out, continue cooking until water completely reabsorbs without draining, and then continue cooking further until the beef browns on a dry pan about 1-2 minutes. 

3. Make a circle in the middle of the beef and add the tomato paste, spreading around, and toast for one minute until flavor and smell deepen. 

4. Mix in tomato sauce and spices, cook one minute, and add in beer/water to deglaze the pan. Cook until glossy, another minute or so, then remove.

Marinated Eggs, by Diane

I decided to make a new version of marinated eggs because I love ramen eggs so much but have not yet stumbled upon a recipe I love (there are two others on here already!). I made this up at random with pantry ingredients, and this was the BEST combo! I loved these so much and will absolutely make them again. Yum.

Ingredients:

12 jammy eggs, cooked 9 minutes (drop in boiling water for 9 minutes then transfer to ice bath and peel)

1 cup water

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup ume plum vinegar

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp sugar

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp gochugaru

2 tsp black sesame seeds

Directions:

Cover eggs with marinade and refrigerate overnight.

Turkish Shepherd Salad, by Diane

This was AMAZING and I cannot believe how simple it was to make! I found this recipe from Zestful Kitchen and although I could not find the urfa pepper it was awesome without it. I made it for some Greek hummus bowls, but wound up eating it on it's own because it was that good! I also think this would be good with chicken. YUM!

1 medium shallot, thinly sliced

1 english cucumber, diced

red and yellow grape tomatoes, halved

1 anaheim pepper, diced (I omitted this)

1/2 cup chopped parsley

3 tbsp chopped mint

2 tbsp chopped dill

1.5 tsp sumac

1 tsp urfa pepper (can sub aleppo pepper)

1/2 cup cubed feta cheese

3 tbsp EVOO

1 lemon, juiced

kosher salt

Directions:

Mix all and combine, adjust to taste.