Pizza Sauces صوس للبتزة

So as I said in a previous post making pizza is not only fun but very easy. I made a veggie pizza and a Thai crunch pizza (CPK knock off). I noticed that it is rare for me to like EVERYTHING about a pizza so this is a good way to get whatever i wanted in my pizza...and more.

Toppings for the Thai crunch pizza: Peanut sauce, sesame seeds, mozzarella cheese, shredded carrots, cilantro, chicken and bean sprouts

Toppings for a veggie pizza: thinly sliced red onions, tomatoes, thinly sliced peppers (any color) and fresh mozzarella. Fresh basil to top when the pizza comes out would be great (i did it the next day with leftovers) and additional toppings are mushrooms (fresh not canned) and olives. Recipe for sauce below.

In a medium saucepan saute a medium onion and 4 cloves of garlic in some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

Once the onions are transparent add in oregano and basil. If you have fresh herbs i recommend those although the dry ones work well as a substitute.

Add in a can of diced tomatoes (san marzano work well but any tomato works)

Let the sauce cook for about 5 minutes on high and then add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste and stir in.

Continue to cook until the sauce is thick and reduced. When you draw a line with your spoon you shouldn't see water come out but instead some of the oil.

MMMMMMMMM (seriously people some fresh basil in here was SOOOO good)

For the Thai pizza top with peanut sauce and cheese and sesame seeds and chicken and cook until the pizza is completely cooked, when it comes out add the cilantro, carrots and bean sprouts.

Written recipe for tomato pizza sauce:

1 can of diced tomatoes (san marzano if you can find)

1 medium onion diced

4 cloves of garlic crushed

1 tablespoon of dried oregano

1/2 tablespoon of dried basil

salt

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

2 tablespoons of EVOO

Written Recipe for peanut sauce:

3 1/2 tablespoons peanut butter

3 tablespoons brewed tea

3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons chili oil or cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon ginger, minced

2 teaspoons honey

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions for peanut sauce:

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well OR in a blender

PIZZA PIZZA PIZZA dough

Pizza Dough...mmmmm why buy pizza when you can make your own at home..it really is very easy just whip up some dough in the morning or the day before and you can have pizza whenever you decide! Also its good to have a good pizza dough recipe because you can use it for so many other dishes like monkey bread, crazy bread, flat breads...the list could go on and on. Here is a very simple pizza dough recipe.

First i Add my yeast in the bowl that i want mix my dough in, you can do this either by hand or with a kitchenaide mixer

Add in warm water (it should feel warm to the touch but not too warm or it will kill the yeast) and i add honey to feed the yeast.

After about 5 or 10 minutes depending on the kind of yeast you have (instant or not) it should foam up like this, now you can finish your dough.

Add in flour (either bread or all purpose) and some extra virgin olive oil. Mix until everything is well combined. Once everything is combined you can either knead the dough with your machine or by hand. I find that by hand work well for me when there isn't a big amount. Another thing i want to point out is the hook on the kitchenaide, in the picture i used a paddle hook because this is a very small amount of dough but normally you would use a dough hook which is one curved line.

After the dough has been kneaded enough (it should be smooth and elastic) place it in a greased bowl for 2 hours and let it double in size.

I ended up baking two batches because i didn't think it would be enough (but for us 3 it was more that enough) So after the dough has risen you COULD use it now but if you want a really good dough i would let it rise one more time. The more it rises the chewier the crust. Another option would be to refrigerate the dough overnight and then 2 hours before you want to make pizza you take it out and let it rise.

And it is as easy as that to make pizza dough...i know it might seem like alot but trust me all you do is mix for a few minutes and the rest of the time it is just sitting there rising. Try it this dough came out very chewy and nice. When you cook the dough, if you want a crunchy chewy crust like a pizza oven then either use a pizza stone OR place it on a baking sheet with cornmeal or flour at the bottom and place it at the bottom of your hot 450 degree over for about 5 to 8 minutes (until the bottom is lightly brown) and then move the pizza to the middle of the over and let it continue to cook for 10 more minutes.

Written Recipe:

1 teaspoon yeast

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon warm water (105 to 110 degrees F)

1 1/2 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus 1 tablespoon for coating

Fatet jaj جاج

Fatet Jaj mmmmmm is all i can say when i think of this, it is so scrumptious. Arabs love fateh, we have a few different kinds and all of them are delicious. Syrians serve this as a side dish, never is it a main meal (although i wouldn't mind eating it as one) and some people do serve it as a main meal (not sure which countries) but they add a layer of white rice to it, its really good but i cant stray away from the original. In my previous post i made mloukhiyeh for which i needed to boil chicken so from the extra chicken i made this. Here is how to make a really easy and fast side dish.

First we start off by making the yogurt top. First I add garlic

Then i add Tahini paste (or sesame paste, if you can't find this then it can easily be made)

A squirt of lemon juice and some salt.

Next i cut and fry up pita bread, if you have children in the house keep the bread away from them, children love this, i turned my back for one second and he had already eaten half of the fried pita (habib albi).

So right before you are about to serve this dish put the pita chips in the dish that you plan on serving, a layer just hick enough so you cant see the bottom of the bowl. Add the hot chicken broth just to moisten the bread a little.

Next top it with the (room temperature otherwise it cools the whole dish down) yogurt mixture. Add the chicken and fried almonds and the most important topping....PARSLEY. I just want to say that i need parsley when it comes to certain foods. I hate when people say oh who ever missed the parsley in a plate....I DO...when its needed its needed this is one of my most favorite herbs.

Written Recipe: Some measurements are not included because it depends on how much you are making

Fried pita bread

boiled chicken with the broth

yogurt mixture:

1 cup of yogurt

1 garlic clove smashed

3 tablespoons of tahini paste

Squirt of 1 lemon or a teaspoon

salt to taste

Fried almonds

chopped parsley

Mloukhiyeh (Jews Mallow) ملوخية

Mloukhiyeh is a dish ALL Arabs love, i grew up eating just the juice of the dish with a squirt of lemon juice on my rice because i just didn't want to try it...or maybe i just matured...i mean if my picky two year old eats it why wouldn't i like it. growing up i always thought mloukhiyeh was Arabic spinach (yes Arabs do eat spinach...i don't know why i thought that) but mloukhiyeh is actually a plant called Jews Mallow. To prepare mloukhiyeh for cooking you first have to pick all the leaves off, wash them well and then dry then for about 2 days (unless you have alot of sun in which they will dry really fast) and after they are almost dry all the way we lightly fry it and keep it in the freezer. The different Arab countries make it differently, Syrians like it dry (meaning no extra sauce) Egyptians eat it like a soup (and with rabbit). In this posting i made mloukhiyeh with chicken but it can also be made with meat, same steps just different protein.

First we boil the chicken, you know the routine onion, cinnamon stick, cardamon, bay leafs and salt.

This is what the chicken should look like, taste the broth and make sure it has the correct amount of salt because i don't add salt to the mloukhiyeh itself.

In a saucepan cook up sliced garlic (about 1 whole clove) in either butter samneh or oil (i use a mix of butter ad samneh) You don't want the garlic to turn brown, you just want it to become more white and to release some flavor.

Next add the mloukhiyeh from the freezer (because it is dry it is not rock hard frozen)

Fry the mloukhiyeh until all the leaves are coated in the butter. Be careful not to leave it for too long because it will burn.

Slowly add the chicken broth one ladle at a time. When the broth is absorbed add some more. This is where it is up to your taste. Syrians like their mloukhiyeh with no extra juice or broth however i like just a little because i need moisture in my dish (my husband likes it with no extra broth) So it is up to you how much broth you add but add it slowly because at a certain point it will just stop absorbing the broth.

Normally you would add 1 whole bunch of chopped cilantro right at the end and let it cook for about 1 or 2 minutes but i didn't have FRESH cilantro i had frozen. It tasted good but naturally fresh cilantro gives it a much nicer taste.

Seriously people this is his favorite dish

Serve the mloukhiyeh with the chicken on top. Some people like to put the chicken in with the mloukhiyeh but ti changes the color of the chicken to green and doesn't look as nice, that is up to you (tastes good but doesn't look so hot)

Serve with vermicelli (shariyeh) rice and lemon to be squeezed over the mloukhiyeh.

Written Recipe:

1 whole chicken boiled (onion, cinnamon, cardamon, bay leaf and salt)

1 whole clove of garlic sliced thinly

2 tablespoons of samneh

2 tablespoons of butter

3 cups of dried frozen mloukhiyeh (this amount doesn't matter because the chicken broth is not a specific measurement)

lemons

Mushroom and Chicken Pasta Casserole معكرونة بالفطر و الجاج

This is a really good and easy dish to make and its good for like parties and such instead of the regular lasagna. I believe Khaleh Rajaa told my mom how to make this and it has become one of our favorite dishes in the house. If you don't cook very much this is a good way to start, its easy and for some of you its NON ARABIC (ahem ahem Yaman and Nour).

In a pan saute mushroom until golden brown. WHATEVER YOU DO RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO KEEP STIRRING THEM, this will release water and it wont caramelize the mushrooms.

See that beautiful golden brown...i don't like mushrooms very much but this looks good.

With the remaining butter in the pan (or you can add a little more) add flour and make a rue. A rue is a flour and butter mixture used to thicken sauces and soups.

Let the rue cook a little to remove the raw flour taste. It will bubble up like this which is good, but make sure to stir it, the cooking process only taste about 30 seconds of this bubbling up.

Slowly add COLD chicken broth (cold broth prevents lumps) and whisk until you get a nice sauce, let it boil. Add some milk to give it a little creaminess.

Return the mushrooms and the chicken (from when you boiled chicken and made a broth, shred the chicken before returning it to the sauce). If you want you can blend the mushrooms and sauce (not chicken) in a blender to make like a mushroom soup sauce but i didn't want my sauce dark so i didn't. I use to add a can of Campbell's mushroom soup instead of mushrooms but i don't like the additives so i don't do that anymore. Note the chicken is boiled chicken and the broth is used for the sauce.

The sauce should be runny, not as thick as like a bechamel because we are adding al dente noodles so that they thicken the sauce and so that the noodles absorb the mushroom taste.

Put everything in a baking pan

Cover with mozzarella cheese

cover and cook at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. (if you put it in the refrigerator it might need longer)

The cheese should be melted

When it comes out of the over it should be golden brown and yummy!!!

I like to eat it with salad (One of my favorite tomatoes, cucumber, radishes and fresh mint with olive oil and lemon juice....i like lettuceless salads)

Written Recipe:

2 chicken breast with skin and bone boiled (add onion, cardamon, cinnamon stick and salt)

(use 6 cups of the broth)

1 pound of noodles (1 box)

1 1/2 cups of fresh mushrooms (or campbells mushroom soup)

4 tablespoons of butter (more if needed)

8 oz of mozzerella cheese

1/2 cup of milk

4 tablespoons of flour

Riz ibFool (Rice and broad beans) رز بفول

Riz ou Fool is a very healthy and quick dish to make for dinner, in no time you can whip this up and even have a side to go with it. Broad beans or fool are a good source of protein and fiber, in 1 cup of broad beans there are 10 grams of fiber!!! This dish is an excellent example of why i LOVE arabic food, because spices come secondary to the actual flavor of the food. Arabs tend to use very little spice and rather combine ingredients and bring out their flavor, which i love.

I start off by cooking my lamb cubes in about 2 tablespoons of oil (the amount of oil doesn't matter because when the meat boil and you remove the "scum" you remove all the oil as well). The reason i do this step is because i want my broth to have as much flavor as possible and in order to do that i either need bones OR to make brown spot on my meat and pan. So once the "brown" spot are achieved add water and let it boil, remove the "scum" and then add 4 cloves. 1 onion, salt, cinnamon stick and 1 bay leaf.

I used Montana brand green broad beans (this brand was good, I've had some bad beans in my days)

Saute the frozen beans until they are no longer frozen and then...

Add a cup of water and cover the pot and cook the beans until all the water is gone.

Once all the water is absorbed add 1 cup of rice with 1 1/2 to 2 cups of your meat broth. and let it come to a boil. Add (optional) 1/4 teaspoon of Arabic spice and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon)

Note: i decided to use basmati rice because it has less starch than jasmine rice (traditionally used) and the broad beans have starch as well.

When the level of water is level with the rice and beans then turn the heat down all the way and cover and continue to cook until the rice is done.

Now the dish is done just plate it up and put your lamb cubes on top and garnish with fried almonds and pine nuts

Serve with a yogurt salad (yogurt, garlic, cucumbers, salt and dried mint) or with a small salad

Written Recipe:

1 bag of frozen broad beans (you can use fresh too, about 1.5 cups)

1 cup of basmati rice

1 cup of lamb cubes (fried and cooked with 1 onion, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and 4 cloves)

1 - 2 tablespoons butter, oil or samneh

1/4 teaspoon Arabic spice

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Pine nuts and almonds for garnish