Tag Archives: red pepper

Lahmucan (Turkish Pizza)

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Ingredients:lahmucan
3 Eggplants, roasted
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, sliced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon tamari (or light soy sauce)
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon kirmizi biber, or combination sweet paprika and cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cumin
handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Dough
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon agave nectar (or other sweetener)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup spelt flour
1 yeast packet

Directions:
Rinse and dry each eggplant and slice them in half. Score each half in a diamond, cross-hatch pattern. Place all 6 halves on wire roasting rack. Heat oven to 400 degrees and cook for 40 minutes.

While the oven is heating up combine all ingredients in order, in a mixing bowl. Using a mixer on a low setting mix dough until it forms a ball. Cover and set dough aside for 40 minutes while the eggplant roasts.

Let the eggplant cool for about 10 minutes. Add the onion and red pepper along with some water, curry powder and tamari and saute for about 10 minutes. Once the eggplant has cool scoop the inside and place in a food processor along with the tomato paste and kirmizi biber. Puree until ingredients are combined. Add the sauteed onion, red pepper and parsley and pulse to break down. The vegetables shouldn’t be completely broken down, but have some minor chucks.

Once the dough as risen, roll it out and divide into 4 separate pieces. With a rolling pin, roll out each piece of dough to resemble a single serving pizza. Top each piece of dough with the eggplant mixture. Cook each Lahmucan for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

Serving Size: 4

Nutritional Facts: 1 Lahmucan
Calories: 463
Total Fat: 2.4 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 588.9 mg
Potassium: 1287.8 mg
Total Carbs: 91.8 g
Protein: 16.5 g

Notes: This was also the second time I made Lahmucan, the first time time from Vegan Magic, which I think lacked flavor. I continued reading other sites and saw a pureed eggplant mixture using assorted spices. Not sure the tamari was needed when sauteing the onion and red pepper. If you are not a curry fan, you could probably do without the powder and not lose much flavor.

You can adjust the amounts of flours to your liking. I do want to try spelt and besan. Lahmucan can be eaten folded up, but with the dough recipe above it was not very pliable and the dough ended up tearing as I ate away.

Source: I pulled this recipe together referencing a few different website including Vegan Magic and Food Network. In the ended I combined what I read into my own recipe.

Cheese Sauce

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INGREDIENTS
Cheese Sauce:
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes and then rinsed
2 tablespoons tahini
1 roasted red pepper (rinsed from jar or prepared from fresh)
1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 tablespoon Bragg’s Liquid Aminos or low-sodium soy sauce
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup water

DIRECTIONS
In a blender, combine cashews, tahini, roasted red pepper, nutritional yeast flakes, tamari, cayenne pepper, and water. Blend on high until smooth and set aside.

SOURCE: FOK: Recipes for Super Bowl XLVI

Baked Ziti & Summer Vegetables

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Ingredients
4 ounces uncooked ziti (I used Rigitoni)
1 tablespoon olive oil (omitted)
2 cups chopped yellow squash
1 cup chopped zucchini
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups chopped tomato
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 cup (2 ounces) part-skim ricotta cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray

Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Boil pasta according to package directions.

In a large skillet, over medium heat add diced onion, yellow squash and zucchini and sauté for 5 minutes (or longer if desired). Add the garlic and diced tomatoes  and sauté for 3 more minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the pasta, mozzarella cheese, herbs and pepper.

In a separate bowl combine the ricotta cheese and egg. Stir this mixture into the noodles and vegetables. Lightly coat a 9″ x 13″ Pyrex pan with cooking spray. Spoon into the Pyrex dish and sprinkle mozzarella on top. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.

Notes
I got this recipe off Cooking Light online and pretty much stuck to the recipe. I made more than 4 ounces of pasta, using Rigatoni noodles. In hindsight I might have used a bit more Ricotta cheese, as the original recipe called for only half a cup, and I bought a store brand, low fat Ricotta. Seemed to work just fine and tasted okay. The basil was homegrown from our herb plants as well.