Opaa!

So I have been reading through my Greek cookbook.  Our newspaper has one of those columns where readers write in asking for their favorite recipe handed down from their great grandmother which they lost when they moved - you know the type - and someone wrote in asking for an "authentic" recipe for Tzatziki sauce.  I copied the recipe from my book and sent it in.  It should be authentic and it comes from one of our local Greek restaurants.  I like to send recipes in to the newspaper.

The Tzatziki is easy - peel and shred some cucumbers into yogurt with a dribble of vinegar, some minced spearmint & green onion, a bit of sugar, salt & pepper.  Chill and serve.

But then I found a "recipe" that was even easier!  Anyone who has eaten lamb chops or other meats in a Greek restaurant knows you need bread to sop up the pan drippings.  Here's how to replicate that delicious "sauce" at home.

Once you have removed your cooked lamb chops, pork chops, chicken or what have you from the skillet, squeeze the juice of a whole lemon into the pan.  Add about a half cup of boiling water.  Stir vigorously to scrape up all the browned on bits from the pan, simmer to let the sauce reduce a bit and season with salt and pepper to taste.  That's it!  Easy, delicious, authentic, what more could you ask for? 

Quotable quotes; in the category So That's Where That Comes From!

"But darlin', when a woman has a husband and you've got none, why should she take advice from you, even if you can quote Balzac and Shakespeare and all them other hi-falutin' Greeks?"

Mrs. Paroo, Marion's mother.  Piano Lesson/If You Don't Mind My Sayin' So from The Music Man by Meredith Willson