Fake it Till You Make It
I made pita bread for the first time. As I mentioned before, bread is easy. The thing that distinguishes pita from other breads is that it is a tad flatter (you still use yeast) and after it cools, each pita should have a wonderful pocket in the middle for you to stuff full of wonderful things. The recipe I used came from, you guessed it, “How to Bake” by Paul Hollywood.
All of the pitas had a small pocket, but this one lone pita was really overachieving. I do nothing consistently, so I really have no idea what got into this little guy. Maybe it’s the one I rolled flatter? Thicker? I’ll pay closer attention next time. I promise.
I think the trick to getting a nice pocket in your pita, if it doesn’t happen in the oven, is to cool them on a flat surface, covered with a dish towel. This holds the steam in and allows it to magically expand the inside of your bread, giving you pockets!
I think I just came up with a great idea for women’s clothes…
What to stuff it with?
We are having our kitchen remodeled in about a month, so I am trying to use up as much as I can, especially from the fridge. Here is what I found…
Cucumber
Cherry tomatoes
Mini sweet peppers
Cilantro
Lettuce
Onion
Feta cheese
Pomegranate
I’m thinking tabbouleh, but I have no bulgur wheat. But I do have quinoa. Decision made!
I found a tabbouleh recipe in this beautiful cookbook, “Jerusalem” by Yotam Ottolenghi. I am pretty good at improvising when I don’t have all of the ingredients, but this recipe called for baharat seasoning. I KNOW I don’t have any of that lying around. But alas, this cookbook also provides a recipe for making your own. Well, I still did not have the exact ingredients, so I improvised. Here’s what I came up with.
Baharat Spice Mix (improvised)
Equipment
- 1 Coffee grinder
Ingredients
- 1 tsp Black peppercorns
- 1 tsp Dried cilantro use coriander (aka cilantro seeds) if you have them
- 1 tsb Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp Allspice
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 1 tsp Ground cardamom
- 1 tsp Nutmeg
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a coffee grinder and grind until peppercorns are completely ground and the mixture is, well, mixed.
- Place mixture in a sealed container.
Notes
The results were amazing. I also made a quick cucumber dip with greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. I am so glad there are leftovers!
What about the hummus?
I know! I have been raving about this hummus all over social media. I had to get myself some tahini before I could attempt the wonderful hummus recipe in this cookbook. It was well worth the wait, and here is what I have learned about making hummus…
- Cook the chickpeas, even if they are canned. If using canned chickpeas, drain and rinse them. Then add them to a pan with 1 t baking soda (for two cans). Cook them, stirring for about a minute and then cover with water and bring to a boil. You can skim the skins that rise to the top off, but don’t worry, you don’t have to discard the skins. Boil canned chickpeas for about 5 minutes or until they smash easily.
- Don’t skimp on the tahini. I used to think I didn’t like hummus with too much tahini, but I was wrong. I considered cutting back the tahini but decided to follow the rules, for once.
- Add ice cold water at the end. After you have your chickpeas, tahini, garlic and lemon juice going in the food processor for a good while (almost 5 minutes), slowly add a few tablespoons of ice cold water. MAGIC! This hummus is so good I can eat it with a spoon.
HAPPY COOKING!
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