Forgive my absence! I was getting ready for the big housewarming and I realize I've been neglecting my fans...all five of them. Well - at least I've heard people have been reading these...
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| The Saturday Feast |
Last weekend some friends came over and we made some delicious kebabs from Akhavan, complete with pita, hummus, baba ganoush, as well as some awesome pre-prepared shwarma meat. Kebabs are a great way to feed a big group when you don't want to be making steaks for everyone, or a whole chicken, etc. All in all, it was a good meal with tons of leftovers. And herein lies the key - making good use of your leftovers. I'd spotted this recipe for BBQ pizzas - I've never heard of anyone making pizza on the BBQ - and after buying way too much food the night before; leftover kebabs suddenly became pizza toppings for Sunday night.
Here's how it all went down:
Making Kebabs:
Any marinated meat will do, but most people lean towards chicken or pork. Buy a bunch of veggies - peppers, onions, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms...wash and chop them into generous pieces. Then cut up your meat into large-ish cubes. You can either use metal re-usable skewers or bamboo ones (but they'll have to be soaked for a good while in cool water so they don't burn and effect the taste of your food.) Then just skewer away! If you're cooking chicken - make sure you check it before serving, if it's pork, just don't overdo it or it'll dry out.
Shwarma?
This was the first time I'd bought the stuff, it was the same price as the chicken (about 12.99$/Kg) but it was great! it was cut too small for the grill so I used a grilling rack to cook it. Easy-peasy.
BBQ Pizzas: (makes four 8 to 9 inch pizzas)
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup warm water
1/2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp yeast
Olive oil
Salt
Parchment paper (cut into 9 inch squares)
Add the sugar and the yeast to the water and set aside for a few minutes. Then mix most of the flour and the salt in a large bowl - add the water/yeast and stir with a fork. Keep adding flour until the dough stops sticking to the bowl (you'll probably be mixing with your hands by that point.) Lightly flour the counter, plop the dough onto it and knead for about 3-4 minutes or until the dough is "springy" when you poke it. Clean your bowl - oil it and put the dough back in the bowl, brush it with more oil. Cover with a towel and let it rest for no more then 15 minutes. Now - you can let it rise a long as you want, this will just give you thicker spongier crust. Personally, I like a nice thin crust, so I don't over-knead, I don't let it rise very much and I let the heat do it's work with the yeast.
Lightly flour the counter and your rolling pin, separate and roll the dough into about 9 inch circles (it'll be pretty thin, but don't worry about that!) Oil the parchment paper, put the pizza on it, and then oil the up-side of the pizza. You then repeat this step for the remaining 3 pizzas and stack 'em!
Put them on the grill using the parchment paper, over MED-LOW heat and then remove the paper after a few minutes. Rotate them ever few minutes so they cook evenly. Flip and move the cooked pizza onto a baking sheet. Put on your sauce, your toppings and your cheese and broil them in the over for a few minutes to melt the cheese (this last step could be done on the BBQ, but it works much better with an oven!)
Serve and enjoy the Oooh-ing and the Aahh-ing.
TW
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| And...Sunday Leftovers! |
Labels: Chicken, Kebabs, Leftovers, Pizza, Pork
Any marinated meat will do, but most people lean towards chicken or pork. Buy a bunch of veggies - peppers, onions, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms...wash and chop them into generous pieces. Then cut up your meat into large-ish cubes. You can either use metal re-usable skewers or bamboo ones (but they'll have to be soaked for a good while in cool water so they don't burn and effect the taste of your food.) Then just skewer away! If you're cooking chicken - make sure you check it before serving, if it's pork, just don't overdo it or it'll dry out.
Shwarma?
Add the sugar and the yeast to the water and set aside for a few minutes. Then mix most of the flour and the salt in a large bowl - add the water/yeast and stir with a fork. Keep adding flour until the dough stops sticking to the bowl (you'll probably be mixing with your hands by that point.) Lightly flour the counter, plop the dough onto it and knead for about 3-4 minutes or until the dough is "springy" when you poke it. Clean your bowl - oil it and put the dough back in the bowl, brush it with more oil. Cover with a towel and let it rest for no more then 15 minutes. Now - you can let it rise a long as you want, this will just give you thicker spongier crust. Personally, I like a nice thin crust, so I don't over-knead, I don't let it rise very much and I let the heat do it's work with the yeast.
