Baba Ganoush and Pita Crisps Recipe

The Lebanese Recipes Kitchen (The home of delicious Lebanese Recipes and Middle Eastern food recipes) invites you to try Baba Ganoush and Pita Crisps Recipe. Enjoy tasty Middle Eastern food and learn how to make delicious Baba Ganoush and Pita Crisps. 
 
Cook Time: 20 min
Level: Easy
Yield: 2 cups

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds (2 to 3 small) firm eggplant, halved lengthwise
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lemon
1/4 cup, a generous handful, flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons tahini paste
1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
2 bags pita crisps, any flavor (recommended: Stacy's)

Directions

Turn broiler on high.

Brush cut eggplant with olive oil on flesh side, drizzle over skin side. Season the eggplant with salt and pepper. Place flesh side down on nonstick baking sheet and leave under broiler 4 to 5-inches from heat until skin is charred and flesh is very tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes.

Scoop out eggplant flesh into food processor. Paste garlic with some salt mashing it with the side of your knife. Add garlic and the juice of 1 lemon to processor. Add parsley and tahini to processor and process until smooth. Adjust salt then transfer dip to a bowl and stir in half the pine nuts, garnish with remaining nuts. Surround the dip with pita crisps and serve.

Baba ganoush on pita - Baba Ghanoush - Muttabel with Za'atar-Spiced Pita Bread Recipe


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Spicy Hummus: Quick Chickpea Spread Recipe

The Lebanese Recipes Kitchen (The home of Delicious Middle Eastern Food Recipes) invites you to try Spicy Hummus: Quick Chickpea Spread Recipe. Enjoy cooking vegetarian Middle Eastern recipes and learn how to make Spicy Hummus: Quick Chickpea Spread.

Ingredients

1 (14.5 ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
2 rounded tablespoons tahini sesame paste, found in both dairy and dry specialty foods sections
A drizzle extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed pepper flakes
1 teaspoon (1/3 palm full) ground cumin
1 teaspoon (1/3 palm full) ground coriander
1 clove garlic, crushed
Coarse salt
1/2 lemon, juiced
Pita breads, grilled and cut into wedges for dipping

Directions

Combine beans, tahini, oil, pepper flakes, cumin, coriander, garlic, salt, and lemon juice in food processor bowl and grind into a smooth paste. Transfer to a small dip dish and surround spread with warm pita wedges. This recipe makes a great appetizer, or anytime snack.

Tidbit: this is a fantastic dish to take to a pot luck or block party -- it's always a hit!

Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

Middle Eastern Hummus with veg sticks Recipe - Hummus without Tahini - Hummus with Tahini

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Balsamic Vinegar

True Balsamic vinegar is an artisan product from Modena, in Emilia Romagna, Italy, and is made with grape must (juice) that is simmered to make a concentrate, allowed to ferment, then, for a minimum of 12 years, matured in barrels of progressively decreasing size, made from different woods in order to impart different flavours. The result is dark, rich and syrupy and to be used very sparingly.

The real thing will be marked with 'tradizionale' and/or DOC and will be expensive. You can also buy the more afforable, industrially made 'aceto balsamico di Modena', which uses vinegar as well as grape must; as it's not aged for so long, the flavours won't be as strong.

Availibility

All year round.

Choose the best

For the real deal, always look for the trems tradizionale/DOC or aceto balsamico di Modena. Very cheap balsamic vinegars are just masquerading as either of the above and will have been coloured and flavoured with caramel - although they're fine for salad dressings and glazes, they won't have the authentic intensity of flavour.

Store it

In a cool, dark cupboard.

Cook it

Add just a few drops (connoisseurs use a pipette) of tradizionale to ripe strawberries, slices of well-aged parmesan cheese or very good quality vanilla ice cream. Brush aceto balsamico di Modena over roasting chicken or duck breasts, shake some over grilled tuna steaks, drizzle over tomato salads or stir a little into a roast vegetable pasta sauce.

Can't find it

Try sherry vinegar or wine vinegar.

Health Benefits

• Balsamic has anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties which make it an effective remedy for treating infections and wounds.
• Folk healers used balsamic to cure body pain and as energizer.
• Balsamic vinegar contains powerful antioxidant called polyphenols which fight cell damage and boost our immune system.
• The antioxidant in balsamic have also the potential to protect against heart disease, cancer, and other inflammatory conditions.
• Balsamic can help boost the activity of the digestive enzyme pepsin thus improving metabolism.
• Balsamic may help control diabetes. Study suggests that by adding as little as five teaspoons of the vinegar with a meal can improve insulin sensitivity. Better insulin sensitivity means better diabetes control and lowered risk of dangerous complications.
• Balsamic can reduce cholesterol level.
• Balsamic antioxidant may slow the aging process.
• Balsamic reduces the frequency of headaches.
• Balsamic contains important minerals that can strengthen the bones.
• Balsamic can help prevent anemia and fatigue.
• Balsamic can help suppress appetite and therefore an aid in controlling weight.
  

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