Homemade Salsa

I've made salsa in the past but nothing like this!

This was really easy to make, you just open some cans, do a little bit of chopping, and then pulse the food processor a couple of times. This is the only kind I'm going to make from now on. 

I served this with nachos for the Super Bowl. Since then I've put it on my eggs, quesadillas, and just with tortilla chips to dunk in it.

Salsa
Source: Pioneer Woman
Yield: A lot.

1 can (28 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes With Juice

2 cans (10 Ounce) Rotel (diced Tomatoes And Green Chilies)

1/4 cup Chopped Onion

1 clove Garlic, Minced

1 whole Jalapeno, Quartered And Sliced Thin

1/4 teaspoon Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/4 teaspoon Ground Cumin

1/2 cup Cilantro (more To Taste!)

1/2 whole Lime Juice

Note: this is a very large batch. Recommend using a 12-cup food processor, or you can process the ingredients in batches and then mix everything together in a large mixing bowl.

Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel, onion, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you'd like---I do about 10 to 15 pulses. Test seasonings with a tortilla chip and adjust as needed.

Refrigerate salsa for at least an hour. Serve with tortilla chips or cheese nachos.

Chex Lemon Buddies

Hi. Are you mad at me? I mean, for not blogging for a really long time? I have a good excuse. I swear. His name is Abe. He's 14 months old. He keeps me extremely busy. But don't worry. I've been cooking and baking a lot and I've been taking pictures of most of it.

I'll try to do better. I vow to make time to blog about food. I mean, I think about it enough I might as well put it on the Internet.

While making traditional Chex Mix for the holidays I noticed a new recipe on the back of the cereal box, "Lemon Buddies." Um. Yes. Please. In my head I was imaging lemon cooler cookies from the 80s. Remember those??

These weren't as good as a lemon cooler cookie (it is cereal after all) but they were very good, easy to make, and so addicting. I brought them into work today to get them out of my house.

And Abe approved of them.

Lemon Buddies
Source: Chex Cereal
Yield: 9 cups (be ready to share or get a tummy ache)

9 cups Rice Chex cereal

1 1/4 cups white vanilla baking chips

1/4 cup butter

4 teaspoons grated lemon peel

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 cups powdered sugar

Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.

In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chips, butter, lemon peel and juice uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.

Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; gently shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool. Store in airtight container.

Garlic Scape and White Bean Dip

I served this at a party and it was a huge hit. It was so simple to put together, it made enough to serve about 12 people and you could dip just about anything into it! Pretzels, carrots and other veggies, smear it on bread, or it would be great in a sandwich too.

Garlic Scape and White Bean Dip
Source: New York Times
Yield: 1 1/2 cups

1/3 cup sliced garlic scapes (3 to 4)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, more to taste
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt, more to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling.

In a food processor, process garlic scapes with lemon juice, salt and pepper until finely chopped. Add cannellini beans and process to a rough purée.

With motor running, slowly drizzle olive oil through feed tube and process until fairly smooth. Pulse in 2 or 3 tablespoons water, or more, until mixture is the consistency of a dip. Add more salt, pepper and/or lemon juice, if desired.

Spread out dip on a plate, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with more salt.

Roasted Gahlic.

Garlic. How I love you so. Let me count the ways.

1. Some how...you are good for me.

2. I love that slight burn of you when you're fresh.

3. I adore the mellow, almost sweet flavor of you roasted.

4. You're beautiful.

It is so easy to make roasted garlic. And it is like getting an extra gift...garlic flavored olive oil!!

I like to keep a dish of roasted garlic in the fridge so I can smear it on whatever my heart desires. In the mornings I will put it on my English muffin before adding a fried egg and thick slices of tomato. When I make potatoes I will add a big spoonful for a little kick. For a snack I like to spread it on fresh bread with a big slice of mozzarella.

Divine. I feel so fancy.

Roasted Garlic

Source: ME!

Yield: I dunno. Enough for a few different things?

1 head garlic

Olive oil

Cut a little less than a quarter of the top off the garlic, just enough to expose all the cloves. Put that in some sort of dish, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt. Cover with foil and roast at 350 degrees for a little under an hour. Cloves will become golden and soft. Let it cool and then the cloves pop right out of their shell.

Save the olive oil for bread dipping or anything you would normally use olive oil for.

Drunk Mussels

These pictures make me drool!

I first had "drunken mussels" at one of our favorite spots, The Liberal Cup. They are known for their home brews and of course they cook their mussels in the ale with some tomatoes, onions, and herbs. SO good. I do think that the mussels at Slates have them slightly beat. I think Slates cooks theirs in white wine. It's a tough life when you have to compare mussels cooked in beer vs white wine. I'm a lucky gal!!

Mussels are dirt cheap right now so I bought two pounds, scrounged around in the fridge to find an old IPA, and made a great meal.

I thought these turned out great. My favorite part is sopping up the juices with a nice crusty bread. Enjoy my friends!

**Lily Allen, Smile** (of course sung with a thick British accent at the top of my lungs) "At first when I see you cry, it makes me smile."

Drunk Mussels
Source: Hannaford Fresh Magazine
Yield: 4 servings

1 Tbs Olive oil
2 ea Shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
4 ea Garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1/4 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes
2 lb Mussels, rinsed, debearded and scrubbed
1 pint Grape tomatoes, cut in half
8 oz Beer
1 tsp Minced fresh thyme
1/4 cup Chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tbs Fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp Black pepper, freshly ground
1 Tbs Unsalted butter

Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium high heat. Add shallots, garlic, and red pepper flakes and cook until shallots just begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add mussels, tomatoes, beer, and thyme and stir to combine. Cover and simmer until mussels have opened, about 5 minutes. Discard any mussels that don't open.

Divide mussels among 4 bowls. Return sauce to heat and stir in cilantro, lime juice, black pepper, and butter. Pour sauce over mussels in each bowl and serve with bread.

Football Night at 179

My husband is a sport fanatic. Well...maybe not "sports" but a football and basketball fanatic. He could tell you who the NFL MVP was in 1987, the style jersey the team was wearing that year, and a whole list of other facts. In 1987 I was more concerned with brushing the tail of my favorite My Little Pony.

For the most part I don't mind hanging out and watching football. (We root for the Giants and Notre Dame in our house) Mostly I sit and play with recipe binders or read a magazine. Last night I completely passed out. One of my favorite parts is when they do the intro of the teams and their faces pop up and they say their name and what school they are from. I go through and say yes or no if I think they are cute. Seth likes that game too.

Of course on occasion we have special food for football night. Like grilled vegetable muffuletta and spicy pretzels. The muffuletta was tasty but really hard to eat. That thing was probably 4-5 inches tall! Delicious and healthy so it was worth the mess I made eating mine. I make the pretzels often and don't really have a recipe. I just drizzle them with a bit of oil and then shake seasoning on them. I normally do a mixture of garlic salt, cumin, cayenne, garlic powder, mustard, and pepper then bake them for a while.

Go Giants. Go Robby Parris! :)

Grilled Vegetable Muffuletta

Source: Rachael Ray

Yield: 4 servings

1 eggplant, sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 zucchini, sliced 1/2 inch thick on an angle
1 red bell pepper, quartered lengthwise
1 large portobello mushroom cap
1 red onion, sliced 3/4 inch thick
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Salt and pepper
6 ounces baby spinach
1/3 cup pine nuts (a generous handful)
2/3 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (a couple generous handfuls)
1 cup store-bought giardiniera (pickled vegetable salad)
1/2 cup pitted green olives
One 8- to 9-inch round loaf crusty bread
1/4 pound deli-sliced provolone cheese

Pre-heat a grill or grill pan to medium-high. Lightly brush the eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, portobello and red onion with 1/4 cup EVOO; season with salt and pepper. Cover and grill, turning once, until charred, about 6 minutes.

Using a food processor, puree the spinach, pine nuts and Parmigiano Reggiano; season with salt and pepper. With the machine on, drizzle in the remaining 1/4 cup EVOO. Transfer the pesto to a bowl; rinse the food processor.

Using the food processor, pulse the giardiniera and olives into a coarse relish.

Slice the top quarter off the bread and scoop out the insides. Spread half the pesto on the inside of the bread, layer with half of the grilled vegetables, then spoon the remaining pesto on top. Fill the bread with the remaining vegetables and top with the provolone. Spread the inside of the bread top with the vegetable relish and set into place. Press down firmly, then cut into wedges.

Into the Pink Pretzels

I'm sorry for being away my foodie friends. You see...I've been busy. Not really with cooking or baking but with being an activist. You know I hate breast cancer; we've been over this before. Here. And here. A few other spots too.

For my most recent event I collaborated with the very talented Bruce Mayo, a local artist. He wanted to throw a bash for his 40th birthday and instead of gifts wanted to create a new batch of work and have them sold for breast cancer awareness. He knows of my passion and allowed me to pick the charity. I chose Keep A Breast because of the audience they target and their unconventional way of awareness. They are very unique. Just like me. Just like my mum.

By the end of the night Bruce had sold 21 of his 29 pieces and we had raised nearly $3000 to send to KAB. In the end I believe we will be around the $4000 mark. What a great event and a fun night!


Honestly these pretzels have nothing to do with the event or even breast cancer. What I can say is that these are perfect. I am throwing out my old recipe for soft pretzels and using this one. Absolutely delightful!

Soft Pretzels

Source: Alton Brown

Yield: 8 big fat pretzels

1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Flaky Flat Bread

Did you know that Portland, Maine was named Bon Appetit's "Foodiest Small Town"? How exciting is that?! I was absolutely star struck when the BA Foodiest (Andrew Knowlton) was on the local news. It showed him talking about some of the local great places that I love; Novare Res, Two Fat Cats Bakery, Standard Baking Co., and Fore Street (OK...I haven't been yet but I know I will love it. We are going on Friday). There are so many places that I am dying to try but we live an hour away and just don't get down there as much as we (I) would like. Ask me anything about the restaurants in Hallowell!

Another place that I enjoy that wasn't mentioned by BA was the Green Elephant. I brought Seth there for his birthday last year and we had this Indian flat bread with a dip that was so good. Nearly a year later I found a recipe that sounded similar. This is Kerala Parotha described by Foodess as a flaky south Indian flat bread.

I thoroughly enjoyed this bread. It is meant for dunking into the juices of hot curry and getting the last bits of curry goodness at the bottom of the bowl. I chose to serve this as an appetizer and made a curry bean dip as an accompaniment. Another great piece to this flat bread, it freezes well! It made about 8 rounds and I froze 5 of them. I just heated a bit of oil to a pan and added the frozen bread, flip once and you're done!


Kerala Parotha
Source: Foodess
Yield: 8 rounds

2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp oil
3/4 cup water
4 tbsp butter, melted
oil, for frying

1. With a fork, mix the flour and salt in a medium bowl. Add beaten egg, oil, and water, and mix with fork till dough starts to come together. Turn out on floured surface and knead into a smooth, elastic ball, about 10 minutes. You may need to add more flour or water to make the dough a workable consistency.

2. Return dough to ball and cover with a damp towel. Leave it to rest for 1 hour or more.

3. Pinch off lime-sized balls of dough, and roll them out into thin circles on a floured surface. Brush a thin coat of ghee over entire surface. Starting at one end, roll dough into a thin roll (like rolling up a jelly roll, or cinnamon buns). Holding one end of the roll between fingers, twist the dough in on itself in a spiral, pinching loose end into the circle to secure. Allow dough to rest for 15 minutes.

4. Heat 2 tsp oil in a cast iron pan over moderate heat. Flatten the spirals of dough with the palm of your hand, then thoroughly flatten them into thin circles using a rolling pin. Transfer to hot pan, and cook until air bubbles form in dough, about 2 minutes. Brush with butter, and flip. Continue cooking till golden brown, about 1 minute longer. Transfer to a serving plate and tent with foil to keep warm. Add another 2 tsp oil to pan and fry next parotha, continuing the same procedure for all the dough.

Versatile Flatbread

Brianne, you are a bad bad blogger. Tisk, tisk.

I've set a new rule for myself to do new postings twice a week. I've been a food blog slacker lately!

How pathetic that I made these back in May and am now just blogging them. I haven't forgotten how much I enjoyed them though! These flatbreads came together very easily and kept, wrapped up, for a few days. I actually made them to use as hot dog rolls and found that there is no good way to photograph a hot dog. No matter what angle you use, it always looks...well...just wrong.

Some other options for using these are for pizzas, sandwiches, "pita" chips, or I liked them just plain as a snack!

Flatbread
Source: Rachel Ray Magazine
Yield: 8 pieces

1T sugar
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water (105-115 degrees)
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon salt, plus more for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
2T butter, melted
1 1/2 heads roasted garlic (I don't think I did this)

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon sugar and the yeast into the lukewarm water and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Using a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flour, salt and baking powder at low speed.

In a medium bowl, stir together the buttermilk and 2 tablespoons melted butter. Add to the dry ingredients along with the yeast mixture and 3 tablespoons roasted garlic and mix at low speed until just combined. Switch to the dough hook and knead at medium speed until smooth, elastic and slightly sticky, about 5 minutes.

Grease a large bowl with 1 tablespoon melted butter and roll the dough in the butter to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat a griddle or large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Place the dough on a work surface and cut into 8 pieces. Lightly flour the work surface and roll out 1 piece of dough into a 6-inch-long oval. Add to the hot skillet and cook, turning once, until puffed and golden, about 3 minutes total. Repeat with the remaining dough. Brush the flatbreads with the remaining melted butter and sprinkle with salt.

Snacktime (Taralli)

Don't be jealous of my snack.


OK. Go ahead and be jealous because if the tables were reversed I would be so very jealous.

Bing cherries, Italian fennel and pepper biscuits (taralli recipe below), and sun tea.

I sat in one of our Adirondack chairs enjoying the sunshine (with my SPF 45 on) and watched Boyd try to catch the chipmunk. I swear this will be the year he catches it. Boy does it wear him out though.

Have you ever made sun tea before? My mother used to make it ALL the time in huge pitchers. I make mine in a mason jar and it serves me about twice. I just stick a couple tea bags in some water...set it in the sun...wait a few hours...sweetened or unsweetened it is so good and reminds me of my childhood.


Taralli
Source: Pepsakoy Blog
Yield: about 20

2 teaspoons dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees)
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 cups flour
1 tsp sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seed
1/4 tsp coarse black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

1.Dissolve yeast and sugar in water. Mix the flour, salt, fennel seed and pepper in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and add yeast, wine and oil. Blend together and gradually incorporate into flour then knead for 10 minutes.

2.Place the dough in oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover with towel and let rise until doubled in bulk.Preheat oven to 375º.

3.Break off small pieces of dough and roll into ropes about 6 inches long.Form a ring and pinch edges together.Place on baking sheet and let rise 20 minutes.

4.Fill a large saucepan half full of water; bring to a boil. Drop taralli into water and boil for 1 minute. Remove from water, letting both sides dry on a sheet of waxed paper. Brush with oil and bake 25-30 minutes on a lightly greased cookie sheet, turning a few times during baking until medium brown and crisp.

Soft Pretzels!

I have been wanting to make these for quite some time. When I go to visit my sister in RI for "girl's weekend" we always end up getting Aunt Annie's pretzels and a lemonade for our afternoon snack. On girl's weekend calorie don't count, of course. I vividly remember when we started girl's weekend years and years ago Mummy and I would meet Caroline in NH, half way between our house and Caroline's. I remember sitting in the hotel room with a dozen donuts. **sigh**

I figured Sunday night was the right time make these. It was a cloudy day so I couldn't be outside all day. Game 7 of the Celtics playoffs were on. This means that there is a whole lot of yelling, clapping and screaming going on in the living room. My husband would need the extra carbs to energize him for the intensity.

This recipe makes 6 large pretzels. I made 4 salted and 2 cinnamon sugar for myself. We both enjoyed the two different kinds. I prefer the cinnamon sugar only because I prefer sweet over savory foods. Hubby liked the salty. These came together very easily and are best served warm out of the oven. While they aren't just like the pretzels at the mall they do the trick to satisfy the taste buds.

Enjoy!

Almost Famous Soft Pretzels

Source: Food Network Magazine

Yield: 6 large pretzels

1 cup milk
1 package active dry yeast
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
1 teaspoon fine salt
1/3 cup baking soda
2 tablespoons coarse salt

Warm the milk in a saucepan until it's about 110 degrees; pour into a medium bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Let the yeast soften, about 2 minutes; stir in the brown sugar and 1 cup flour with a wooden spoon. Dice 2 tablespoons butter and soften; stir into the mix. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups flour and the fine salt to make a sticky dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding more flour if needed, until smooth but still slightly tacky, about 5 minutes. Shape into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and grease a large baking sheet. Punch the dough to deflate it, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface. (If the dough seems tight, cover and let rest until it relaxes.) Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll and stretch each piece with the palms of your hands into a 30-inch rope, holding the ends and slapping the middle of the rope on the counter as you stretch. Form each rope into a pretzel shape.

Dissolve the baking soda in 3 cups warm water in a shallow baking dish. Gently dip each pretzel in the soda solution, then arrange on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes.

Melt the remaining 8 tablespoons butter in a shallow dish. Dip the hot pretzels in the butter, turning to coat; place on a wire rack to let excess butter drip off. **I forgot to do this step. I did it for the cinnamon sugar variety only to get the sugar to stick but I didn't do it for the salted pretzels. Next time I will. A little extra butter makes everything OK.

Charred Corn Guac

I started making this recipe for gatherings a few years ago. I'm not a fan of Bobby Flay but I happened to be watching his show and saw this. Every time I make it people rave. Most recently I made it for a small group of friends at my home. People would take a bite and try to dissect it to figure out what was in there. I love that!!

In the winter time I use canned corn but it is best made with charred corn on the grill. I cook it in the husk to retain the moisture and then char the outside quickly for some color. This is definitely one of my favorite summertime salads.

Charred Corn Guacamole
Source: Food Network
Yield: 4 servings

2 ears corn
4 tablespoons canola oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
1 serrano chile, finely diced
1 small red onion finely diced
1 lime, juiced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
corn chips, as accompaniment

Heat the grill to high.
Remove the husks from the grilled corn and discard. Brush the ears of corn with 2 tablespoons of the canola oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the ears until the kernels are lightly golden brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Remove the kernels from the ears.

Place the avocado in a medium bowl. Add the corn, serrano, onion, lime juice, remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, cilantro and salt and pepper and gently stir to combine. Serve with fried corn chips or warm flour tortillas.

A Middle Eastern FEAST

We have made a Valentine's Day tradition of having a exquisite meal in celebration of one another. Last year we had a Divine Italian meal. This year we decided on a Middle Eastern menu. Falafel with tzatziki in homemade pitas, hummus with crostini and store bought chili olives, baklava, and of course chocolate covered strawberries.

This was my second run at hummus and find that homemade is much better and more healthy than store bought. Cheaper too! As I've mentioned a few times in this blog I am a big fan of garlic. I added ALOT of garlic to my hummus and my husband commented that it may have been overload. I don't even know how one can use garlic and overload in a sentence. Doesn't make sense to me.

I wasn't sure how the pitas would come out. The dough is very simple and was trying to figure out how they would split themselves. I never figured it out. They just do. The puff right up in the 450 degree oven. These were ridiculously good. When possible I'd prefer to make them from scratch rather than buy them. They are so much better than the store bought kind.

The falafel was also crazy good. Very easy to mix together in the food processor. We topped ours with tzatziki (Greek yogurt, garlic, shredded cucumber, and a bit of S&P), onions, and tomatoes all stuffed into a pita. I honestly think this was one of the best main dishes to ever be created in my kitchen. I melted just a bit on my floor.

The baklava came out pretty good. Working with phyllo dough isn't my favorite thing to do. The recipe asks you to butter every two layers and of course they tear and split. The part I found the best of the finished product is the buttery bottom layers so I guess it was worth it. I probably won't make this too often but if in need of baklava I'd stick with this recipe. I threw in a few cloves to add flavor to the sauce.

Garlic Hummus

Yield: 2 cups

Source: Myself!

1 can chickpeas, drained

2-6 cloves of garlic

2 T parsley

2 T cilantro

1 T tahini

S&P

2 T EVOO

Juice of one lemon

I blend all of this in a food processor. For this meal I served this with crostini.

Pitas

Yield: 8 pitas

Source: Sugar and Spice

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 packet yeast

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups warm water

2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix the yeast in with the flour, salt, and sugar with mixer. Add the olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water and mix all of the ingredients to form a ball.

Once all of the ingredients form a ball, place the ball on a work surface and knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes.

When you are done kneading the dough, place it in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Form a ball out of the dough and place it into the bowl, rolling the ball of dough around in the bowl so that it has a light coat of oil on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.

When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes. This step allows the dough to relax so that it’ll be easier to shape.
While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well. If you do not have a baking stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it on the middle rack of the oven while you are preheating the oven. This will be the surface on which you bake your pitas.

After the dough has relaxed for 20 minutes, spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick - 6 inches in diameter. If the dough does not stretch sufficiently you can cover it with the damp towel and let it rest 5 to 10 minutes before trying again.
Place discs on a lightly greased baking sheet and let rise, uncovered, until barely doubled in thickness, about 30-45 minutes.

Place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes.

Falafel

Yield: 12 good size balls

Source: Epicurious

1 cup dried chickpeas
1/2 large onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
1/2-1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon baking powder
4-6 tablespoons flour
Soybean or vegetable oil for frying

1. Put the chickpeas in a large bowl and add enough cold water to cover them by at least 2 inches. Let soak overnight, then drain. Or use canned chickpeas, drained.
2. Place the drained, uncooked chickpeas and the onions in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the parsley, cilantro, salt, hot pepper, garlic, and cumin. Process until blended but not pureed.
3. Sprinkle in the baking powder and 4 tablespoons of the flour, and pulse. You want to add enough flour so that the dough forms a small ball and no longer sticks to your hands. Turn into a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for several hours.
4. Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts, or use a falafel scoop.

5. Heat 3 inches of oil to 375 degrees in a deep pot or wok and fry 1 ball to test. If it falls apart, add a little flour. Then fry about 6 balls at once for a few minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Baklava

Yield: 18 pieces

Source: Allrecipes

1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
1 pound chopped nuts
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan. Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep.
Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool.