Karina's Falafel Pizza Pie

I love pizza, but rarely part take in it or its cherished convenience due to the fact that I avoid dairy, meat, and when I can- white bread. When I want pizza, it usually means I must find the time to start from scratch and do it myself...


I also love Mediterranean food. I love falafel, and hummus, and pomegranate seeds- I love it all. I am lucky enough to have a Israeli best friend who can cook as well as her genius and talented mother, and they have both shared with me incredible flavors and recipes I might not be so exposed to otherwise.

A few weeks back I decided to get creative, and combine these two loves by making my very own- Falafel Pizza.


My favorite pizza dough is made with cornmeal, so I looked up a few recipes and started with this one I found on Martha Stewart's website:

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Pinch of sugar

2/3 cups warm water

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface (I used organic whole wheat instead)

1/4 cup cornmeal, plus more for pizza peel or baking sheet

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for bowl

I added some extra spices- (cayenne, curry, cinnamon and thyme) for a little extra subtle flavor in the crust.

In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the warm water. Let stand until yeast is dissolved and mixture is foamy, about 10 minutes.

Combine flour, cornmeal, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center, and add the yeast mixture and oil. Slowly stir ingredients with a wooden spoon just until dough starts to come together. Turn out dough on a lightly floured work surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, 7 to 10 minutes.

Divide dough into four 4-ounce balls. Place balls in a shallow oiled bowl, turning to coat with oil; cover with plastic wrap, and let rise 1 hour at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.

The next steps of the borrowed recipe called for a pizza stone to bake on, but instead I just spread my dough out in a few baking pans once it had sat and risen for an hour. I used my finger tips and palms and worked the dough until it spread out fully in each dish bottom. I preheated the oven at 500* and set my ready crusts aside for the toppings.


I thought the most appropriate sauce for this blending of cuisines might be a nice garlicy pesto. In my food processor, I threw in a few cups of washed fresh basil, a handful of pine nuts, several garlic cloves, sea salt, lemon, and olive oil. As usual, I "guestimated" all of the proportions until I had the most desirable consistency and taste possible.


I could seriously eat this pesto with a spoon. Wait- I did....


I had a bunch of fresh zucchinis and carrots, so I had the idea to shred them in the food processor and spread them over the entire pizza almost as a cheese replacement...






I would love to try making falafel from scratch one day soon, but on this occasion I had just purchased an organic falafel mix that you add water to, and fry them in a pan in some light oil.


I followed the directions (plus added in some extra cayenne for more spice in the mix) and fried each one on each side until brown and almost crispy on the outside...



I coated each of my crusts with a nice thick spread of pesto, sprinkled on a generous layer shredded zucchini/carrot, tossed on some halved cherry tomatoes, and broke apart bits of falafel to top them off..


While they were baking for about 8-10 minutes at 500*, I prepared an Israeli-style salad by finely chopping up onion, cucumber, tomatoes, and pomegranate seeds and mixing it with olive oil, sea salt and lemon. When I was visiting in Israel last summer, we literally had a salad similar to this with every meal.


Once my steaming pizzas came out and cooled for a few minutes, I spooned out dollops of fresh hummus I had made on top, and lastly sprinkled the pies with fresh pomegranate seeds.



If the marrying of these two dishes couldn't bring about world peace, I know not what else could.

Karina and Alma "amuse" their "bouche"....

We've all been in the state where we are by no means hungry or even capable of eating a full meal, but crave something unique and delicious to satiate the taste buds. Some may call these mini-meals munchies (or simply snacks), but this particular evening Alma and I were in need of something extra special; so we used the french term "Amuse- Bouche".

Amuse Bouche actually translates to "mouth amuser" and it is often sent out to VIP tables from the chef in restaurant before their meal. Wikipedia told me that "it is distinguished from other kinds of hors d'œuvres by three characteristics. It is small, usually just one or two bites. It is the same for all of the guests at the table. And finally, it is not ordered by anyone; rather it is offered free of charge."

We had a few ingredients at my house and ran to the market and picked a few more to improvise with. We got garlic, of course, an avocado, a prepared tube of organic polenta, Quorn vegetarian Chicken nuggets, and a pomegranate to garnish with.

First we turned the oven on 400* and put the whole bulb of garlic in to roast for about 45 minutes. We sliced the cooked polenta into 1/4 inch thick circles, and spread them out on a cookie sheet with the faux chicken nuggets. We added these to the oven when the garlic had about 15 minutes left. We sprinkled them with salt, pepper, lemon and cayenne before popping them in to turn golden brown and slightly crunchy.

We mashed the avocado up with some vegan sour cream I had, lemon, salt and pepper for a delicious and creamy sauce. We took our baked ingredients and stacked them together with the sauce and roasted garlic and sprinkled them with pomegranate seeds and fresh cayenne pepper.

Only problem with these "amuse bouche".... Although they did indeed make us feel like ultra VIPs, there was no way to stop after just one! (I'm not sure if they qualify for the term after eating the entire tray between two of us!)

ariel's making ... brussels sprouts with pomegranate glaze

my boyfriend sam bought me a bottle of this awesome pomegranate molasses the other week. it's really delish (i could just eat it by the spoonful!) but i've never used it before in cooking so it was time to get creative.

i had just gotten some fresh brussels sprouts at the farmers' market so i decided to try roasting them up with a pomegranate glaze.

first i washed and halved them.

then it was time to make the glaze.

you'll need:

2 T pomegranate molasses
2 T organic extra virgin olive oil
few pinches of sea salt
clove of chopped organic garlic

then i topped them generously with the glaze and popped them in the oven at 350* for about 40 minutes.

when they were a little brown and soft, they were ready to eat! after they came out of the oven, i topped them with a drizzle of garlic mayo ... just for kicks!

my lens got all steamy after i took the brussels out of the oven and i got this cra-cra photo of my oven. spooky!

happy almost thanksgiving darlings!

kisses,

ariel

Karina was hired to make a cake!

The dust (or baking powder) was settling after Daisy's wedding cake and I found myself ansy for the next baking challenge. Thankfully, my co-worker Amanda approached me about making her boyfriend's birthday cake and I gladly accepted the job.

The only request was a rum cake, so I started researching various recipes and jotted some notes to spring me off in the process. I decided to do a banana ginger rum cake and wanted to decorate with fried plantains and candied thyme. I doubled everything I'm about to tell you because she requested a cake for about 30 or so.

To start:
In one bowl, mix 3 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, & a few shakes of salt.

In another bowl, mix 3/4 cup softly melted butter with 1 cup cane sugar & 1 cup brown sugar. I actually mixed it with my hands to really blend it together becuase I had no electric mixer.

I switched to a metal whisk and added 3 eggs, one at a time, making sure it was well mixed.

Add 1/4 cup milk ( I used vanilla almond milk because I avoid cow's milk as much as possible!), several pours of dark rum and a splash or two of vanilla. Beat, stir or whisk until smooth and blended and then begin mixing in alternate scoops of the flour mixture and 1 cup of sour cream. (You can obviously use vegan sour cream, butter and egg replacer to make this completely vegan!).

The recipe I based this off of asked for powdered ginger but I always prefer the real, fresh thing! I added a ton of ginger and heard no complaints about it later. I wasn't fully satisfied with the flavor yet, so I mushed up two ripe bananas with some almond butter & almond milk and blended this. I also added some cayenne, cinnamon and more salt to get a delicious and dynamic batter.


The batter was getting pretty thick, so I added some more rum for fun!

I decided to throw in some pecans in the bottom of each pan for a little crunch surprise!

I filled each baking pan half way with batter and then added some amazing ginger steusal. For this streusal, simply chop up a half cup or so of crystalized ginger, 2 tbls brown sugar and 1 tbls chilled butter and mix it with your hands in a small bowl. Really pinch it together to form little clumps, then spread over your batter.

I finished off the batter in each pan until smooth on top and popped in the oven at 350*. The original recipe said for 1 hour but all my cakes were down way before this. I was using several sizes and types of cake pans, so I just kept a look out and waited for the smell and a toothpick to tell me when they were ready.

As soon as they were done, I easily slid each cake out of their pans (because I had well-greased & dusted with flour beforehand), and used a fork to puncture several holes in the tops to pour my rum syrup into.

For the rum syrup, mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 1/4 cup dark rum in a small sauce pan, stirring until boiling. Then add 1 1/2 tbls of chopped up butter and stir until it has all melted together. Do this right before the cakes are done so you can go right to pouring it over them while they are warm.

Pour half of the syrup over the holes in your cakes and let it soak in. Save the rest for glazing the outside, plus a little for making the candied thyme.

I completely made up how to candy the thyme, and fortunately it worked great. I just boiled each sprig in the leftover rum syrup for a minute or two and dipped them into a bowl of sugar.

I laid them out to dry and the candied thyme result was not only beautiful for a garnish, but also shockingly delicious!


For my other garnish, I wanted to experiment with fried plantains on a cake.

I bought two spotted, semi-ripe plantains and cut them in long diagonal slices. I heated vegetable oil for several minutes and carefully (with tongs) placed the slices in the oil for a minute or two on each side, until they began to turn bright yellow and gold. Then I placed them on a cookie sheet on their sides and let them dry for a bit, before placing them in a bowl of cold water with some chopped up garlic and salt in it. I soaked the plaintains in the water for about a minute, dryed them off with a towel, and placed them back into the hot oil. This time I fried them for a few minutes on each side until they turned golden brown.

Sprinkle them with sea salt and they are good to go!

I peeled some pomegrantes because I thought the seeds would be the perfect final touch with my yellow and green, and I went into the decorating zone with my extra glaze, thyme, & plantians!

Although the plantains where delicious when I made them and gorgeous as a garnish, the cake was not served until almost 8 hours later and they had dried out and become quite bitter by then. If you are going to decorate with plantains on your own cake, make sure it will be served and eaten right away!

I hate to brag but dang it was delicious!