Pita in your pocket

So recently I put together a nice light evening meal, but I'm not really sure what to call it. I was calling it "tapas" but it's not really what this was. It definitely had a theme going with it - Mediterranean flavors going on throughout - but other than that I'm not really sure what to call it. Other than delicious. I made some fresh hummus, which the boys LOVED by the way. I don't think I could have forced them to eat chickpeas by themselves, but grind them up into hummus and they were attacking their bowl with nothing but a spoon. Definite Dad dinner win on that one. Alongside the hummus we had some crudite (celery, peppers, carrots, apples) some homemade pickles, two kinds of olives, some jasmine rice, and a really nice cucumber salad that was a leftover from a dinner out. To hold all of this together I had decided to make some homemade pita bread. I searched around for a decent recipe and found one in the cooking section of New York Times' website, which can be found HERE.

I was expecting a slightly more complex dough, but it was simple enough. It reminded me of a pizza dough, though it was a little drier and had less salt and sugar than my pizza dough does. That being said, the procedure was way more complex, but definitely worth it. I ended up using my round baking stone to cook them in the oven - which worked out pretty well. The oven was hot and there was a lot of in and out, so if you're thinking of doing this on a hot summer afternoon I would suggest that you either plan to do it in the morning or the night before.

 As for creating perfectly round pitas with fantastic pockets I didn't do particularly well there either, but I really wasn't too upset about it. I kind of liked that they were a little misshapen - really gave them a homemade feeling, you know? And - let's face it - the taste and smell are the ultimate test of any food, and these passed with flying colors. Tender warm pita bread fresh from the oven and covered in hummus or carrying a bite of cucumber salad to my mouth was amazing. The only thing I will say is that I tried to follow the recipe as exactly as I was able to. It really was a lot of work to make the rounds, bake them off, and then make the next one, but if you are really wanting to get that fresh pita taste I would absolutely recommend this. My guess is that with this being the first time I did this it was a little difficult for me to get into any kind of rhythm since I was constantly looking at the directions and second-guessing myself. If I make these again, I will write another post to let you know how Pita 2 goes.

Peek-a-boo, I see you!

Speaking of hummus and all those other goodies, what is your favorite thing to eat with pita bread? Do you prefer a curry, or are you more of a falafel and salad kind of person? Let me know in the comments below or on Facebook!

Bagels and Bacon and Eggs..Oh My!

Yesterday I tried a new recipe for an egg strata from Rachael Ray. The recipe that I made was in the June 2016 issue of her Rachael Ray Every Day magazine that was given to me by a friend. This recipe caught my eye because of the way it was combining some fairly regular ingredients in a new and interesting way.

This strata recipe combined chunks of onion bagel, onions, eggs, swiss cheese, and pancetta into one single casserole. As I was putting the dish together it reminded me of some kind of combination between a egg bake and a french toast. By far my favorite part of prepping the dish was cooking down the onions. The onions were cooked down in butter and the pan drippings from the pancetta, and any time you get to cook in bacon/pancetta fat it's a fabulous thing. If it weren't so expensive and unhealthy I would eat bacon with every meal.

Onions cooking in butter and bacon fat

Once the dish was all put together, it sat for 10 minutes, and then baked for about 40 minutes. The directions say to bake for about 45 minutes, and since our oven tends to run hot I checked after 40 minutes and everything looked perfect. 

Finished onion bagel strata

I did make some changes to the recipe for my household: I didn't want to spend tons of money on pancetta, so I used some thick cut bacon instead, and everything turned out just fine. Similarly, I didn't want to spring for the expensive gruyere, so I used a nice swiss. It ended up being a little sweet, and really full of great onion flavor. Ultimately, the dish came out probably much similar to how it would without the substitutions, and I doubt that unless you were trying to make a REALLY good impression you wouldn't care on a day-to-day basis.

If you would like to try your hand at making Rachael Ray's Onion bagel strata, you can find the recipe on her website HERE. Happy cooking!