With every country sending the best of their best to the 2012 summer Olympics, it's darn hard to choose one country's cuisine to feature! As a salute to the originators of the Olympics, and because bread can compliment absolutely everything, let's focus on a Greek staple bread---pita!
Welcome to the JulyMeeting of Eden Cooks! Eden Cooks is a cooking club for any interested members of the Eden community. We will meet on the forum to discuss everything from tips and pointers for less well-equipped kitchens, explanations of cooking terms, and important techniques. There will be a featured recipe each meeting, with pictures taken as I prepare it for you. I will cover some ingredient substitutions to make each recipe more friendly to people with dietary restrictions.
Pita bread is the easiest yeast bread I know how to make, and whenever someone approaches me wanting to learn to start baking, Pita is the first recipe I roll out. I have never seen anyone fail to get puffy pockets on the first try, so even if you don't think of yourself as a "baker," I am sure you can get this. On top of that, pita bread is delicious fresh out of the oven, and can be paired with traditional Mediterranean food (hummus, olives, feta), or stuffed with any modern trappings you desire. My younger sister makes mini pizzas when I leave leftover pita lying around, for example. So no matter which country you want to salute with your meals, pita will make a great background.
Because of the multinational nature of the Olympics, and because of how much I learned from you all in our last meeting with the recipe-building activities, let's look forward to all sharing a bit of cultural knowledge and favorite dishes typical of countries we love.
During the meeting, five $10 gift cards to EF will be awarded to the winners of a trivia contest from information that I will provide during the meeting, and to those who share their own nationally-influenced recipes and stories.
The meeting will take place on the EdenFantasys forum in this very thread at 8 pm EST on Monday, July 23rd. I'm want you all to feel as refreshed as I do, so I can't wait to see you there!
