This has been such a week. I’m so glad to welcome you to a little respite by way of food p0rn. I think we all could use it! Making pizza or a variation of it has become a welcome staple menu item for me and my sweetie. It’s so easy to make the basic components in large amounts which can then be used at a moments notice! Making a simple tomato sauce and pizza dough doesn’t take long and can be stored in the fridge or the freezer awaiting whatever toppings you may desire. I love finding ways to make homemade components for various dishes and this Mediterranean spin was borne of pantry inspiration in the form of lentils!
I had picked up a bag of green lentils with the intent on making a nice meatless meal some night that wasn’t pasta or rice. So on the day I made this pizza I had a craving for hummus and flatbread and as I perused ideas online I ran across this:
Ingredients
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1.5 cups cooked green lentils*
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1 clove of garlic
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1 tbsp tahini (substitute peanut butter is ok)
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1 tbsp lemon juice
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pinch of salt and pepper
I used the last bit of almond butter I had instead of tahini and then added a bit of smoked paprika and za’atar to taste.
Instructions
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Place all ingredients into a food processor with a standard blade.
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Process until smooth consistency, scraping the sides as needed to blend up every last lentil.
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Serve with drizzled with olive oil (optional) and with veggies, on sandwiches, with pita, or however your heart desires.
Notes
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*Cook 1 cup green lentils in 2.5-3 cups water for about 20 minutes. They are cooked when they are tender - not hard and not mushy!
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This recipe will safely keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week (if it lasts that long!).
In my fridge I knew I had leftover zucchini and eggplant (this is why I added a bonus recipe!) and crumbled feta. I had picked up a red onion the day before with the idea of making some pickled red onions to have on hand and there was some crumbled feta too! The plan started to form in my mind:
Sauce?
Lentil hummus
Toppings?
Ok, saute the veggies with some Mediterranean spices like za’atar, cumin, etc.
Top with feta and pickled red onions.
Yes! It was coming together nicely. So then I had to figure out what kind of crust to make. I had plenty of time to make pizza dough but we also had these Rhodes frozen dinner rolls leftover from making some empanada-style meat pies and I started investigating what else the little rolls of frozen dough could be used for. You could use homemade or store-bought pizza dough too.
According to the information on their website six frozen rolls is equal to one loaf of frozen bread dough and the pizza recipes often used a loaf for a full size pizza. I thought about making mini-pizzas but decided I would have more than enough toppings to do a full pizza. So I took out 6 of the frozen rolls and set them out to thaw while I made the lentil hummus. Once that was done I put it in the fridge to wait until time to assemble the pizza.
Next I knew I wanted to make the pickled red onions. I just went with a really simple recipe:
Quick-pickled red onions:
INGREDIENTS
- 1.5 cups sliced red onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 3 Tbsp white sugar
- 1.5 Tbsp salt
- 1/2 tsp peppercorns
- 1 cup white vinegar
INSTRUCTIONS
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Thinly slice the red onion and peel the garlic. Place the onion and garlic in a large glass or ceramic bowl.
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Add the sugar, salt, and peppercorns to a small sauce pot. Add the vinegar and stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Place a lid on the pot and bring the mixture up to a boil over medium-high heat.
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Once boiling, pour the vinegar over the sliced onion and garlic. Press the onion down so all the pieces are submerged, then let the mixture cool to room temperature.
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Once cool, use the onions immediately or transfer the onions and all the brine to a lidded non-reactive container (glass, ceramic, or plastic) for storage in the refrigerator. The onions can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks.
Once the rolls were thawed (these took about 3 hours) I started on the veggies.
1 small zucchini, sliced into 1/4” thick rounds.
½ large eggplant, diced into cubes.
1 clove of garlic, minced.
Heat ~2 Tbsp of olive oil in a large saute pan. Once shimmering add the minced garlic and the veggies. Toss to coat veggies and season with salt & pepper. Maintain a medium-low heat. Toss and stir occasionally until veggies start to soften. Season with oregano, cumin, and smoked paprika to taste. Once veggies start to caramelize and get lightly browned remove from heat.
For the dough I combined the 6 balls of thawed dough and rolled it out into a rectangular size similar to my baking sheet. I laid that out on the sheet and gently pressed it out to the edges as much as possible while keeping it about ½” thick. Then I pricked the surface all over with the tines of a fork (referred to sometimes as docking) according to the Rhodes recipes I had read.
I brushed the dough liberally with olive oil and scattered za’atar all over the top then popped it into the oven to bake for about 10 minutes. You want the top to turn lightly golden but make sure the bottom is not getting burnt!
Remove the flatbread from the oven and top with the lentil hummus, veggies, and the crumbled feta. Pop this back into the oven for about 5 minutes to let it all heat through and depending on your feta the cheese may soften and melt a bit, and then remove from the oven. Top with pickled red onions and then slice and serve!
Now, just in case you were wondering where the leftover eggplant and zucchini came from:
Ratatouille Risotto
Ratatouille Risotto
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion peeled and chopped
- 1 small aubergine (eggplant) cut into small dice
- 1 bell pepper (I used yellow) de-seeded and diced
- 1 courgette (zucchini) sliced
- 150 g (5.3 oz) mushrooms sliced
- 4 cloves garlic peeled and crushed
- 300 g (10.5 oz) risotto rice
- 3 Tbsp tomato puree
- 1.2 litres (5 cups) vegetable stock
- 5 sundried tomatos finely chopped (I used a couple of chopped roasted red bell peppers)
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 40 g (1.5 oz) parmesan grated
- 5 tbsp creme fraiche (I used sour cream as I did not have creme fraiche)
- large handful fresh basil chopped
- salt and pepper
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Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil in a pan and add the onion, aubergine, pepper, courgette, mushrooms, garlic and a pinch of salt. Cook over a low heat, stirring regularly, for about half an hour until all of the vegetables are soft.
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Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a separate pan and add the risotto rice. Stir for a minute then add the tomato puree and some of the stock, give it a stir and bring it up to a gentle simmer.
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Add the sundried tomatoes and oregano and gradually add the rest of the stock as needed, waiting until each addition has almost been absorbed before adding more and stirring the pan regularly until you have added all of the stock and the rice is tender.
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Stir in the parmesan, creme fraiche, basil, cooked vegetables and some salt and pepper. Check the seasoning and serve.
So what’s for dinner at your place tonight? We are relaxing with an easy stovetop mac-n-cheese tonight as we start the 5-day holiday weekend my sweetie gets from work!
If you would like to share your recipes, food travels, memories, tips, etc. please consider writing a future WFD post! We publish our posts every Saturday at 4:30pm Pacific Time. Here’s our upcoming schedule:
What's For Dinner Schedule
date |
post # |
Diarist |
07/07 |
12.49 |
esquimaux |
07/14 |
12.50 |
TX Scotia |
07/21 |
12.51 |
OPEN |
07/28 |
12.52 |
esquimaux |
08/04 |
13.01 |
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08/11 |
13.02 |
OPEN |
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13.03 |
OPEN |
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