Tools I Love, Installment the First

Tonight's dinner was graced by a lovely tzatziki made from garlic, grated cucumber, and Greek yogurt. I adore Greek yogurt -- so gorgeous and creamy! It's thrilling to have it so readily available there are actually multiple brands from which to choose, even at my local downscale DeMoula's Market Basket. The cost, however, is less thrill-inducing and more coronary-threatening. That's where my Tool I Love number 1 comes in. Witness the Donvier Wave yogurt strainer. It's a marvel of simple design with its square plastic container, w-shaped mesh sieve, and handy plastic lid. Truth be told, it's one of those devices that can wind up chewing up a corner of the back of one of your cupboards, causing you to curse as you attempt to stuff your latest whiz-bang gizmo into the already crowded storage space before your spouse arrives home to mutter at you, "What did you buy now?" I have no idea what I paid for this thing back in the day. I think it arrived in a box full of other gotta-have-it-nows from King Arthur Flour's lovely baker's catalog and I probably got free shipping which meant I spent in the neighborhood of seventy bucks (not all of it on the yogurt strainer -- I'm crazy about it but not that crazy).

Look at the gorgeous, cream cheese texture you get after straining low fat yogurt!

Here's the way it works. First you find a recipe which calls for Greek yogurt. Add it to your shopping list. Next, stand in front of the yogurt display at your local emporium gasping and wheezing at the difference between the price of 20 ounces of Major National Brand Greek style Yogurt and 32 ounces of Organic Regional Brand low fat plain Yogurt (hint: when a greater quantity of organic stuff is cheaper you know you're being price-gouged for the sake of au courant marketing caché so flip the fickle finger of fate at the trend and buy the yogurt from Vermont instead). Step 3 entails you remembering the night before you need the Greek yogurt to get your lovely Donvier Wave out of the deepest recess of your Cupboard of Shame, drop the wavy sieve into the box designed to hold it, spoon the entire carton of Vermont yogurt into the sieve, pop the cover on, and shove it in the fridge. Lastly, at the moment your recipe calls for stirring Greek yogurt into your fabulous concoction, spoon the gorgeous dense, creamy, ricotta-textured strained yogurt into your dish and feel smug about all the money you saved while enjoying a vastly superior dairy product.

Here's a recipe for the Tzatziki adapted from one printed in Dinnertime! A Special Edition of Disney FamilyFun magazine:

1 English cucumber, peeled, grated, drained, and squeezed to remove excess liquid
2 cups Donvier Wave-strained or Greek-style yogurt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice plus zest of lemon removed with soon to be published Tools I Love II, the Microplane Grater
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Smoosh it all together and spoon it atop your favorite gyros or falafel sandwich. Also good shoveled straight from mixing bowl into mouth with home made cumin-and-kosher-salted pita chips. Stin iyia mas!!! (What, that's Greek to you? It means "to our health!")