Persian Flat Bread Pizza

Source: Kuty's Kreations!

This was inspired by both a Sunday night pizza craving and a fantastic pizza crust find.  I was doing my weekly grocery run at my favorite Persian market and my eyes popped out when I saw a shelf full of large long pieces of Persian bread!  Why hadn't I thought of this before?  It is the PERFECT crust to use to make an insanely large amount of flat bread pizza.  So much so that I was able to make 4 different types of pizza.

 

Ingredients

• Pizza toppings of your choice. (I grilled red peppers, zucchini, eggplant, red onions, and jalapenos.  I also used peas and corn.)
• Tomato Sauce (I used 1 can of tomato sauce and simmered it with some red chili powder.)
• Cheese (I used asiago, mozzarella, pepper jack, and cheddar)
• 1 Large Persian Bread
• Pesto (I had some leftover spinach and arugula pesto I had made last week)

Assembly

1. Pesto, zucchini, peas, corn, mozzarella and asiago cheese.  This was inspired by a pizza I've had at Bella Vista.  I know it sounds wacky, but it is such a great combo of ingredients.
2. Tomato sauce, grilled jalapenos and red peppers, pepper jack and mozzarella cheese.
3. Tomato sauce, grilled eggplant and red onions, mozzarella cheese.
4. Tomato sauce, grilled onions, mozzarella and cheddar cheese.

 Bake

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Place the pizzas directly on the rack (this will make your thin crust pizza crispy).  Be careful not to put too much cheese on the sides of the pizzas.  The cheese on my pizzas melted over and dripped into my oven causing a mess =\.
• Wait until the cheese starts to bubble and brown a little bit

Kuty's Twist

This can obviously become any type of pizza you want.  Have fun, be creative, and let me know what you end up making!  :-)

Breaded Eggplant and Spaghetti w/ Tomato Cream Sauce

Source: Kuty's Kreations!

This is another recipe inspired by a long day at work and a craving for some rich hearty Italian food!  I didn't want to just make pasta and sauce out of a bottle, so I decided to make a semi-homemade sauce.

 Ingredients

• 8oz Spaghetti
• 28 oz dice tomatoes (I used Hunt's Fire Roasted w/ garlic)
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 6-7 Mushrooms, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic (if you don't use diced tomatoes w/ garlic in it)
• 1/4 cup - 1/2 cup cream
• 5-6 Baby Eggplants
• 1 Box Planko Breadcrumbs
• 2 Eggs (You can use buttermilk too)
• 1-2 Teaspoons Red Chili Powder 

Directions 

Breaded Eggplant

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Prepare a baking pan with oil/ cooking spray/ or foil with a little bit of oil
3. Wash and cut each baby eggplant into 4-5 thin round slices
4. Beat the eggs with a little bit of milk and keep aside in a bowl
5. Mix ~1 cup of breadcrumbs with salt, pepper, basil, and 1 Teaspoon of Red Chili Pepper
6. Dip each eggplant piece into the egg mixture, then the breadcrumbs mixture.  Make sure you press down firmly to nicely coat each side. Then place the breaded eggplant on the baking pan.
7. Bake each side of the eggplant slices for 10-15 mins.  You may need to drizzle a little more oil on each side in order for them to brown. 
8. If they don't brown, set the oven to the broil setting and cook for a few minutes on each side to get the eggplants slices crispy.

Sauce

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil
2. Saute the chopped onions until golden brown.  (You can add the garlic at this time.) Then add the mushrooms and remaining red chili powder.  Cook for a few minutes.
3. Add the diced tomatoes and salt. Cook to a boil.  Then cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Smash the tomatoes until you get the desired sauce consistency.  I wanted mine to be a little chunky.  If you want a smooth sauce, you'll have to use a food processor.
4. Slowly add the cream and simmer a few more minutes. You can add some parmesan cheese at this point if you want.
5. Add salt, pepper, basil for taste.

Pasta

1. Boil water and cook spaghetti al dente.

Kuty's Twist

If you want to save on some calories, you can grill the eggplant instead of bread it and skip the cream.  I feel that a simple sauce made from canned tomatoes tastes much better than the bottled tomato sauce.

I ended up making way too many breaded eggplants.  I'm just going to freeze them and maybe make some eggplant pizza or sandwiches next week!

Bagara Baingan

Source: Edible Garden

Really, Edible Garden has just NAILED this recipe and even provides step by step pictures. I'll keep this short. This dish came out perfect! I'll try and provide instructions which will help you multi-task and make the dish faster.

Ingredients

• 7-10 purple baby brinjals/ eggplants (depends on the size. My store sells very small ones)
• 2 Tablespoons white sesame seeds (I don't use these often, but was able to buy a small packet for $1 at my local Latin market)
• 2 Tablespoons peanuts
• 2 Tablespoons grated coconut
• 1 Red Onion, chopped fine
• 1 Tablespoon ginger paste
• 1 Tablespoon garlic paste
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon jeera/cumin seeds
• 1 Tablespoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder (I used 2 Tablespoons)
• A small lemon sized ball of tamarind
• Salt to taste
• Fresh coriander leaves for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to the broil setting

2. Dry roast the peanuts and sesame seeds until golden brown

3. While this is roasting clean your brinjals, trim the stems, and make deep perpendicular slits at the bottom of each. Place on a pan coated with a little oil and broil. Broil on each side for about 7-8 mins until it's soft and slightly charred.

4. Place the roasted mixture along with a little bit of cold water and shredded coconut in the blender. Allow to cool for a little bit.

5. Place the tamarind in 1.5 - 2 cups water. Microwave on high for 1.5 mins. Break up the tamarind and let it soak.

6. While your roasted mixture is cooling, chop up the onions

7. Fry the onions and ginger garlic paste until golden

8. While frying, grind the roasted mixture with coconut to form a smooth paste. You can add as much water as you need to grind it.

9. Add the ground paste to the onion/ginger/garlic and fry for 1 minute. Add water if it starts to stick.

10. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, jeera, coriander powder and salt. Mix well and fry for another minute.

11. Add the tamarind water, mix and cook for 5 mins. Taste the gravy and add more spices/ salt if necessary. If it is too watery, boil it for some more time. (If it is too thick, add more water and boil.)

12. Add the brinjals and cook closed for 5-10 mins

13. Garnish with coriander leaves

Kuty's Twist

As I said before, the recipe from Edible Garden will come out great if you just follow the recipe. The only change I made was how I cooked the brinjals. I like to leave the stems on so it is easy (and more fun :P) to pick them up and take a good chomp out of them. I also broiled them rather than frying them. I am sure frying them (with a lot of oil) will make the dish taste better!