Pizza Napoletana with Roasted Eggplant, Fresh Basil, and Cherry Tomatoes

Mike and I are a little pizza obsessed. After we picked up a beautiful organic eggplant, basil, and cherry tomatoes from the farmers’ market on Saturday, I couldn’t wait to make a yummy pizza.

 

For cheese, I’ll occasionally make a tofu ricotta but, generally, we pick up the mozzarella flavour of Daiya cheese (available at Whole Foods, Choices, and some IGAs and specialty shops). After a few months of practice, I had developed a tasty thin crust pizza dough recipe that could be made at the last minute, but what eluded me was a Napoletana style pizza crust. And I think I have it. There are two different schools of thought in Italian pizza: the Roma style typically has a thinner crust and the Napoli style has a somewhat thicker crust. Napoli is the birthplace of pizza so I’ll go with that here.

 

This dough is not difficult or time consuming, but it involves a little bit of preparation and planning (not my strong point). This is a complete simplification of Peter Reinhart’s Napoletana Pizza Dough recipe from the Bread Baker’s Apprentice.

This dough has to be made the day before and rests overnight in the refrigerator. The day of baking, pull it out two hours before to knead it further and allow it to rise. This recipe might seem a little complicated, but it’s pretty easy and just took about an hour of my time (including sauce and toppings) on the day of and about fifteen minutes of my time the night before. You can also double the dough recipe and freeze some dough balls for the future.
 
Yesterday, after months of making pizza, we finally “invested” $20 in a pizza stone. You’re supposed to stick the stone in a cold oven at least 30 minutes beforehand and warm up the oven to temperatures of 450-500. It was a little bit of an adventure getting the pizza from the cutting board to the searing hot stone without a pizza paddle, but we managed it by wearing oven mitts, pulling out the rack with the stone on it a little, and by covering the cutting board with enough cornmeal to help the pizza slide off relatively easily.

 

Ingredients:

 

Pizza Sauce:

 

4 garlic cloves, minched

1/2 teaspoon olive oil

2 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 can diced tomatoes, drained of liquid

1 teaspoon sugar, or more, if desired

 

1) Heat frying pan to medium high heat and add olive oil and garlic cloves

2) Add all other ingredients and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add spices/sugar to taste.

 

Toppings:

 

1/2 eggplant, sliced

6 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1/2 package fresh basil

2 handfuls Daiya mozzarella cheese

Olive oil with 3 minced garlic cloves and 1 teaspoon sea salt in it- to use to brush on eggplant, tomatoes, and pizza crust

 

1) When oven is hot, put sliced eggplants on baking sheets and brush both sides with salted garlic oil. Cook about 3 minutes per side. Keep an eye on them since  the heat is so high. Set aside to cool.

2) Brush cherry tomatoes in half with salted garlic oil.

3) Brush crust with salted garlic oil. Add eggplant slices, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, and daiya. See cooking instructions under pizza dough section.

 

Pizza Dough:
 
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour or bread flour, chilled (I put mine in the freezer for about 15 minutes)
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 ¼ cup ice cold water (I put it in the freezer for a few minutes and pulled it out before it solidified)
¼ cup olive oil
A couple of handfuls of cornmeal for dusting
 
The night before:
 
1)       Stir together flour, salt, and instant yeast in large bowl.
2)       Add water and oil slowly and stir in with a large metal spoon.
3)       Work the dough with your hands. Mix and knead it together, and you can work the spoon like a dough hook by smoothing the dough with the spoon in one hand and by turning the bowl with your other hand in the opposite direction. Keep kneading the dough by turning and smoothing and kneading it into a disc then folding and shaping into a large ball.
4)       Sprinkle flour on a cutting board or country and place the ball of dough on it. Separate the dough in two and sprinkle flour over both sections and shape them into 2 round smooth balls. If they’re sticky, add more flour. Cover both balls of dough with a little bit of dough and place in fridge, covered (I used ziplock bags). The dough will keep in the fridge for three days or in a freezer bag for longer.
 
The day of:
 
1)       About 2 hours before cooking, pull out a dough ball (or both, if desired) and let rest for an hour under loose plastic wrap or a tea towel.
2)       After 1 hour, work the dough into a disc with your hands. Sprinkle with flour, then a little oil, then a little flour, then a little oil (while working it).
3)       Spread a lot of cornmeal on a cutting board or the back side of a baking sheet and place the dough on it. The bottom of the pizza should be covered in cornmeal.
4)       Using a rolling pin, spread out your dough into a pizza size. It can be irregular, it just adds to the charm. Punch down some little finger holes. The dough can be very thin but cannot be translucent or have holes. Leave it to rest again.
5)       Place pizza stone in middle rack of cold oven and preheat oven to 450 or 500 for 45 minutes.
6)       Brush crust with garlic and salted olive oil and work some minced garlic into the edges of the crust.
7)       Add tomato sauce, toppings, herbs and cheese, leaving space at the edges for the crust.
8)       Using oven mitts, pull out the oven rack a little and slide the pizza very gently from the cutting board to the stone. Some people use parchment paper, but we found it easier to just use a ton of cornmeal under the pizza to help it slide.
9)       After 2 minutes, take a peek to see if the pizza needs to be rotated 180 degrees. The pizza takes about 5-8 minutes to bake, but keep an eye on it due to the high temperature. Ours was done in about 6 minutes.
10)   When finished, pull out the oven rack with oven mitts, and slide the pizza back onto the cutting board from the pizza stone.
11)   Cool for a few minutes, slice, and eat.

 

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Vegan Egg Salad Sandwiches

Mike and I went to the Trout Lake farmers market on Saturday and, among other treats, picked up a freshly baked rustic loaf of multigrain bread from Vancouver’s “A Bread Affair”. Being a Vegan can be a little bit high maintenance, since you quickly realize that food companies like to hide dairy ingredients in lots of seemingly innocent products like bread and tortilla chips. That being said, we shouldn’t be eating products like those with lots of ingredients, anyway. Although we make a lot of food from scratch, we of course buy our fair share of premade products, but we stay away from any food that contains hard-to-pronounce and difficult-to-identify mystery ingredients. Processed foods are laden with chemicals, cheap ingredients, and allergens and, perhaps more importantly, don’t taste that good. Good bread is an inexpensive luxury: for about $5, you can buy a locally-made artisan loaf that tastes great with just a little Earth Balance margerine or oil and vinegar. Although most commercial breads will contain dairy, quality breads will not, save for the occasional specialty loaf.

I can’t remember where, but I have read a couple of places that black salt, available at specialty shops and middle eastern stores, imparts an egg-like flavour to vegan dishes. Ever since then, I’ve been interested in picking it up for my tofu benedicts and mayo type dressings for potato salad and egg salad, however, I didn’t come across it until this weekend at the farmers market. We picked up a container of black sea salt from a salt merchant at the market who has an intriguing array of salts available and I can’t wait to go back to pick up the hickory smoked salt to use on potatoes and faux-meat type dishes. Despite the hype, I was skeptical and had difficulty believing that a little black salt could make a noticeable difference in a dressing with such a rich flavour, but it did. Make sure to get a black salt that is flaked and not too coarse, unless you have a spare salt grinder around. Of course, if you don’t have black salt, just add a little more sea salt, but I highly recommend it. A little bit lends a lot of flavour to the dish.

Upon our return from the farmers market, I realized that we had an assortment of leftover odds and ends in the fridge that we had to use up before we could eat our new yummy produce guilt-free. While Mike planted our new organic tomato vines, I threw together a quick lunch of “Egg” Salad Sandwiches. We were out of Vegenaise, so I made my own faux mayo out of 1/2 block of medium firm tofu and 1/3 cup of sesame seeds (cashews would work as well) in the dressing. You could of course use 3/4 cup of vegenaise in the dressing instead, if you prefer. This recipe made enough for two sandwiches as well as enough leftover for a lovely picnic lunch in the park the next day that we ate with some Red Racer lager and vegan barbecue potato chips.

 Makes enough egg salad for 6 sandwiches.

Ingredients:

 

 

Dressing:

 

 

1/2 block of firm tofu

1/3 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup almond milk

2 tablespoons regular mustard

1 tablespoon tumeric

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teasoons black salt

 

Salad:

 

4 celery stalks, diced

5 mushrooms, diced

1/2 block of firm tofu, cubed

1 can of chickpeas, drained

1/3 cup raisins

Spices: A sprinkling of sea salt, black salt, pepper, and tumeric.

1 tablespoon olive oil

 

Sandwich fixings:

 

Good quality rustic bread

Earth balance margerine

Chopped romaine

Sliced cucumbers

 

1) Add all dressing ingredients to food processor. If you like, you can substitute 3/4 vegenaise for the 1/3 cup sesame seeds and 1/2 block of firm tofu. Blend until smooth. The dressing should have have the consistency of a thick ranch dressing. Put in fridge in food processor container to cool.

2) Heat up olive oil in frying pan on medium heat and add chickpeas, tofu, and mushrooms.

3) Add a sprinkling of sea salt, black salt, pepper, and tumeric.

4) Cook for about 7 minutes. Do not overcook.

5) Take the pan off element and mash the chickpea/tofu/mushroom mix right in the pan until all mashed and blended together. Don’t worry about it being chunky, it should be. Put in bowl in fridge to cool.

6) Once cooled, add a little dressing to chickpea/tofu/mushroom mix. If it has thickened up a little too much to spread around add a little almond milk to dressing and blend quickly before adding rest. Add diced celery and raisins and stir until the egg salad is combined.

7) Spread thick slices of bread with earth balance and add chopped romaine and sliced cucumbers. Add a generous amount of the “egg” salad and add salt and pepper and paprika to taste.

 

The egg salad keeps well in the fridge for about 3 days and it tastes even better the second day.

 

 

 

 

 

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Arugula Walnut Pesto Pasta with Sauteed Cherry Tomatoes and Artichoke Hearts

The best pesto of my life was found on a trip about 7 years ago to Cinque Terre, a series of five fishing villages on the Italian riviera. The pesto was fresh and nutty and it instantly ruined any store bought pesto for me. Here I decided to make a rocket pesto, which is made with fresh arugula in place of basil. The usually bitter arugula is offset here with the meatiness of toasted walnuts and the sweetness of organic cane sugar. This recipe is a great way to use up that jar of arichokes in your pantry and also has some pretty impressive health benefits: walnuts are a great source of anti-inflammatory Omega 3s and antioxidants, and arugula is a natural stimulant and is full of many nutrients such as fiber, Vitamin K, and calcium. It was also used in ancient Egypt as an aphrodisiac.

If you find some decently priced priced baby artichokes, by all means use them (see instructions on how to cook them here), but we just used a jar of artichoke hearts in this recipe. If the artichoke hearts you find are marinated in spices and oil just make sure to rinse them off before using.

Ingredients:

 

1.5 cups dry pasta, I recommend a rotini or penne

1 bunch or box of cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 jar of artichoke hearts, sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Dried basil, garlic, salt, and pepper

 

Sauce:

 

2 cups arugula leaves

1/2 cup toasted walnuts

2 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Generous amount of salt, pepper, and dried or fresh basil

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons sugar or maple syrup

1/2 cup almond milk

 

1) Boil and cook pasta according to package directions

2) Heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil to medium heat and add walnuts. Cook for about 7 minutes. Set aside to cool.

2) Drain and rinse artichoke hearts and slice and quarter cherry tomatoes.

3) Add all sauce ingredients including cooled walnuts to food processor. Process until smooth. Taste. Add more spices or almond milk if desired.

4) Saute sliced artichoke hearts and cherry tomatoes in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, dried garlic and dried basil for about 10 minutes, until cherry tomatoes are on the verge of bursting. 

5) Add pesto sauce and simmer until warm.

6) Serve on top of pasta noodles with a crusty loaf.

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Rustic White Bean Salad with Avocado, Homemade Croutons, and Little Creek Dressing

Mike picked up a new salad dressing from Whole Foods the other day, so we made a simple salad to try it out on. The dressing, Little Creek, is absolutely delicious and made on an organic farm in the Okanagan vailley. The beans and croutons here are so flavourful that this salad would even work with a basic dressing of olive oil, garlic, basil, sea salt, and freshly cracked pepper.

 

Little touches like sauteeing the beans in spices and making your own croutons really improves the texture and taste of canned or dried beans and elevates a salad from boring to delicious. Making croutons is a great way to get some use out of a a day old baguette or crusty loaf of bread that has become too hard to enjoy. The croutons will keep in the fridge well for another 2-3 days.

 

Serves 4

 

Ingredients:

 

1 avocado, sliced

Mix of romaine and green leaf lettuce

Little Creek Dressing

Salt & Pepper

 

Beans:

 

1 can of white beans, drained

3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

Salt
Pepper
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon cajun spice
1 tablespoon basil

 

Croutons:

 

1/2 day old baguette, cubed

2 tablespoons olive oil

Dried basil

Dried garlic powder

Dried oregano

Sea salt

Pepper

 

Beans:

 

1) Heat up a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat and add minced garlic coves

2) Add drained beans, all spices for the bans, and maple syrup.

3) Sautee for about 10 minutes on medium heat and put in fridge to cool.

 

Croutons:

 

1) Preheat oven to 350 F.

2) Put cubed pieces of bread on baking sheet.

3) Brush on oil very lightly or use an olive oil spray and sprinkle the basil, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper.

4) Flip the croutons over with a spatula and repeat on the other side.

5) Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Do not overcook. Cool.

 

Salad:

 

Add lettuce, beans, croutons, Little Creek Dressing, avocado, to bowl and mix. Serve with sea salt & freshly cracked pepper.

 

 

 

It being a long weekend, we paired it with a Southern Tier IPA brewed out of Lakewood, NY that we picked up from our favourite local beer store on Main St., Brewery Creek. This IPA is really easy to drink. It is pretty smooth, pretty malty, and a little bit floral. Refreshing IPAs really pair well with a light meal, like a salad.

 

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Southern Fried Chicken Burgers with Barbeque Mayo

This  meal is not that diet friendly but it is hands down, one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten. I first became interested in vegetarian substitutes for deep fried southern cooking when I ate a Vegan Po’Boy at a San Antonio, TX restaurant enroute to South by Southwest one year. Since then, I’ve been obsessed with replicating the decadent Southern goodness of a Po’Boy sandwich. I took liberty with the fixings here, but you could replicate a po’boy if you  served  the deep fried patties on a baguette or fresh hoagie bun with vegan mayo, shredded lettuce, hot sauce, and tomato. 

This  fried chicken would also be great with mushroom gravy and served with mashed potatoes in the winter and this recipe can also be used to make a delicious popcorn chicken appetizer if you cube the tofu, skewer it, and make enough BBQ mayo for dipping.

 

It is rather difficult to find a vegetarian barbeque sauce. Most contain Worchestire sauce with anchovies, so read through the ingredients carefully. My personal favourite is  the  Strubbs barbeque sauce  brand , which is vegetarian and, also, the best tasting commercial barbeque sauce I’ve tasted.  

 

Although this recipe looks lengthy, it’s pretty much fool-proof and can be finished in about half an hour. The below recipe makes 4 burgers and will leave you plenty of fried chicken to slice up over a salad the following day for a lighter dinner.  

 

Fried Chicken:

 

1 block of extra firm tofu

 Canola oil to fry chicken in

 

 Batter:

 

1 cup of flour

1 cup of water

1.5 tablespoon commercial egg replacer mixed with 2 tablespoons water

 

Dredge:

 

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon salt

Generous amount of pepper

 

Barbeque Mayo:

 

4 tablespoons vegenaise

4 tablespoons bbq sauce (we use Strubbs bbq sauce, available at Whole Foods and other fine grocery stores)

Dash of maple syrup

 

Burger Fixins’:

 

Cherry or roma tomatoes, sliced

 1 package organic deli sprouts (1/4 of a package, per burger)

 1 Avocado, sliced (1/4 per burger)

 1/3 English Cucumber, thinly sliced

 4 good quality hamburger buns

  

Fried chicken:

 

 

1) Cover a pan with 1.5 inches deep of canola oil. Turn on heat to high. After about 10 minutes, you can check if it’s hot enough by throwing a drop of water in the pan. If it sizzles, it’s ready to go. If the oil splatters too much, you should turn down the heat a little. The chicken should be sizzling, but if oil is splattering all over the kitchen, it’s too hot.

 2) Cut the block of tofu into half, and cut each half into 4 slices. Press each one gently down to squeeze out moisture.

 3) In a small bowl, stir the commercial egg replacer with water and mix it with the flour and water in a medium bowl to make the dredge. Whisk until free of lumps. The dredge should have the consistency of pancake batter.

 4) In a medium bowl, mix all of the dry batter ingredients together.

 5) Place each slice of tofu in the dredge and cover both sides in the mixture.

 6) Then, place each slice in the batter mixture and, using your hands, press the dry mix into the tofu to help it stick on both sides. It should be covered thickly in the batter and dredge coating.

 7) Depending on your pan size, using tongs or a spatula, cook 3-4 patties at a time in the oil, 3-4 inches per side. They are done when they look golden and crunchy. Place on a plate covered with a paper towel to drain.

 

 

 

 

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Classic Red Potato Salad

 Since being vegan, I’ve had a renewed interest in classic North American cooking. Although I definitely appreciate adventurous food, sometimes it’s really nice to recreate a childhood classic. We decided to make this really simple and loved it, but you could definitely add diced green pepper, celery, red onion, or parsley to dress it up. This potato salad is perfect for picnics, especially since the absence of egg in this recipe makes it more resistant to spoiling. This dish has the perfect classic egg salad flavour and leaving it in the fridge overnight really allows the flavours to develop and takes it up a notch.

 

Ingredients:

 

3 lbs of small red potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half

1/2 a bunch of green onions, sliced thinly

 

Dressing:

 

1/2 medium firm tofu

1 tablespoon mustard

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon of turmeric

2 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon of sugar or sweetener of your choice

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 teaspoon of mustard powder

1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk

10 cashews or 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds

2 tablespoons vegenaise

1 tablespoon olive oil

Generous amount of salt & pepper

1 teaspoon of paprika

 

1) Scrub and slice small red potatoes in half (if using larger potatoes, quarter them)

2) Bring large pot of water to a boil and boil potatoes until tender but still firm, about 20 minutes

3) While potatoes are boiling, add all dressing ingredients to a food processor and process until smooth. Dressing should be thick, but add a little more almond milk if necessary to lighten up

4) Drain potatoes, rinse them in cold water, and place in fridge to cool in a large bowl

5) Once cooled, add the sliced green onions and dressing to potatoes and mix well

6) Place back in fridge, if possible, for a few hours or overnight, to let flavours develop. It tastes fine right away, but we preferred it when we ate the leftovers a day later. A day in the fridge really allows the dressing to take on that distinctive classic egg salad flavour

7) Serve with freshly cracked pepper, sea salt, and a generous sprinkling of paprika on topV5J 5L6

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Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Sometimes, it’s nice to have a little treat with your espresso.

Ingredients:

 

Wet:

 

1/2 cup Earth Balance Margarine

3/4 cup sugar
Egg Replacer: 1 1/2 Tablespoons Commercial Egg Replacer mixed with 2 Tablespoons Water

1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup or 1 teaspoon Vanilla

1/4 cup almond milk

 

Dry:

 

3/4 cup Unbleached Flour

1/2 Teaspoon baking soda

1/2 Teaspoon baking powder

1/2 Teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup Rolled Oats

1/2 cup Raisins

 

1) Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly grease a cookie sheet

2) Mix the egg replacer with water in a small bowl

3) Cream together the sugar and earth balance in a medium bowl and stir until smooth

4) Add egg replacer, maple syrup or vanilla, and almond milk and stir in to sugar and earth balance mixture

5) In a large bowl, stir together all dry ingredients

6) Add wet to dry and stir until well-mixed

7) Drop spoonfuls of batter onto cookie sheet

Bake for about 8-10 minutes

9) Remove from oven, cook on wire racks and eat. Pairs well with freshly ground coffee!

 

 

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Fried Tofu Sandwiches with Caramelized Mushrooms, Sprouts, and Avocado

Sometimes, on a Saturday night, it’s nice to make a quick and nourishing dinner so you can move onto other more important things, like beers and cocktails. We had already had a late afternoon snack of a baguette and crackers with some vegan herb pate and spinach hummus from Whole Foods, so we felt like a pretty light dinner. I often get inspired by comfort food, and decided to do an upmarket version of a greasy diner sandwich. This entire recipe took us under 20 minutes, but you could hurry it up if you have pans for the tofu and mushrooms going simultaneously. I just prefer to avoid too many dishes.

I often hear complaints from people about the taste of tofu. Tofu, much like mushrooms, soaks up whatever flavours it’s marinaded in. Cooking technique is critical, because it can greatly improve the texture of tofu. Below, is my favourite technique for frying tofu for sandwiches or for brunch as a vegan “substitute” for bacon. If you’re using the below recipe, cut thick slices for sandwiches and really thin slices as a replacement for breakfast meat. The below fried tofu recipe with garlic and maple syrup tastes amazing first thing in the morning served with english muffins or hashbrowns.

One easy way to add texture to tofu is to brush it with oil then add cornstarch and whatever spices desired. The cornstarch adds a great texture  and leaves the tofu golden and crunchy, as long as you make sure the heat isn’t too high.

Ingredients (makes 2 sandwiches):

4 slices of simple, good quality bread

5 mushrooms, sliced thinly

1/2 avocado, sliced

1/2 container sprouts (we used deli sprouts)

A few tablespoons veganaise

A few tablespoons cornstarch

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 of a package of extra firm tofu

Dried basil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, & sugar to taste.

 

Fried Tofu Sandwiches: 

1) Spread veganaise generously to both sides of bread.

2) Put 1/4 sliced avocado on one side and sprouts on the other.

 

Mushrooms:

3) Heat up one tablespoon of oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat. 

4) Add about 1.5 garlic cloves (minced) and the 5 sliced mushrooms

5) Add a generous amount of sea or kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder, and 2 tablespoons of sugar.

6) Fry until mushrooms are browned and soft and look caramelized (about 7 minutes).

7) Put half of the mushrooms on each sandwich, on top of the avocado.

 

Fried Tofu:

 Cut half of a package of tofu into 4 thick slices

9) Brush both sides of tofu with oil, and sprinkle a generous amount of cornstarch on both sides of tofu. Press it into the tofu to help it stick.

10) Heat up the same pan used to fry the mushrooms (no need to rinse) to a medium heat and add 1.5 garlic cloves (minced). To make sure the tofu ends up golden and not black, make sure the heat isn’t too too high. It should be sizzling but not burning.

11) Add all 4 slices of tofu to pan. Add garlic powder, salt, pepper, sugar, dried basil, and a sprinkling of maple syrup to the side of the tofu facing up. After a few minutes, flip it over and do the same to the other side.

12) The tofu is done when it’s a dark amber colour and is caramelized with the maple syrup. It shouldn’t be burnt, but well-done (about 10 minutes).

 

13) Place tofu on top of sprouts and press sandwich together.

14) Serve with a handful of chips or a deli pickle.

 

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Quinoa Salad with Honey-Tahini Dressing with Lemon-Honey Flatbread

After way too much fun on the weekend,  we  really felt like a simple, healthy meal.

I have a newfound obsession with the Sangak flatbread I found at the local market. It is an Iranian  flatbread that comes folded over in one large piece and is traditionally baked on top of river stones in an oven. It is a great simple flatbread that tastes great with just some hummus and babaganoush.

Salad:
1 cup (dry) Red quinoa
2 cups Mache Leaves or other greens  such as spring mix, green leaf, or arugula.

1 Bunch of radishes, thinly sliced
1/2 Cucumber, diced
1 Avocado
5 Mushrooms, sliced
2 Garlic Cloves, peeled and minced
1 Red pepper, diced
Dried dates & prunes, sliced
1 can of chickpeas , drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon Oil, salt to taste, pepper to taste, 2 tablespoons sugar and garlic powder to taste to saute the mushrooms

Dressing:
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons tahini
2 dried dates
1 garlic clove
Spash of olive oil
1/3 cup almond milk
Garlic powder and  salt, to taste

Flatbread:
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
Juice from 1 lemon
Garlic powder, salt, and oregano to taste

1) Preheat oven to 350.
2) Cook the quinoa according to package directions. Put inside fridge to cool.
3) Heat 1 tablespoon of oil on medium   heat. Add 2  minced garlic cloves and 5 sliced mushrooms. Add 3 tablespoons sugar, and galic powder, salt and pepper to taste and mix it together.  Sautee for about 5 minutes, until mushrooms are tender. Put inside fridge to cool.
4) Mix together juice of one lemon, 2 tablespoons honey, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and garlic powder, salt, and oregano in a small bowl. Use a brush to spread it over the fla tbread. Put the bread in oven until warm and slightly toasted (about 10 minutes).  Do not overcook, you want it to still be soft.
5) Put all salad ingredients into food processor and pulse into smooth. If you don’t have a food processor, omit the dates and whisk until smooth. If it is too thick, add a little more almond milk.
6) Once quinoa and mushrooms are cool, put them in a large salad bowl and  with the diced red pepper, the chickpeas, the diced cucumber, and the dried dates or prunes. Pour in the salad dressing and toss the ingredients until mixed. Put the sliced avocado on top.
7) Cut the flatbread into pizza shaped triangles.

 

Serve and enjoy.

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