Ethnic: Mediterranean :: 4/4

Archive for Ethnic: Mediterranean – Page 4

This Italian gal's version of vegetarian sushi

By Leslie · Comments (16) · April 15th, 2010

So everyone loves sushi right?? Well, vegetarians, not so much. . . But I have solved that! I used all my favorite vegetables to create Italian Vegetable Sushi! I even serve it with my Italian version of soy sauce, which is not a soy sauce at all. It's so easy and so healthy and your guests will have never seen anything like it!

Leslie's Vegetarian Italian Sushi

What you'll need:

1 eggplant, sliced very thinly lengthwise, grilled and patted dry

1 red bell pepper, roasted, de-seeded, quartered and patted dry

2 handfuls of fresh spinach

3-4 fresh basil leaves

a couple pinched parmesan cheese

1/2 cup to 3/4 cup ricotta cheese, drained (click here for my homemade recipe)

For the dipping sauce:

1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp. olive oil

a pinch of salt

a pinch of sugar

What you'll do:

After prepping the eggplant and pepper make sure you pat them dry. It's very important or they won't stick together properly. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter. Place your grilled cooled eggplant in a long row:

Make sure you lay your eggplant wide enough, it's better to be too wide.

Arrange the spinach and basil over the eggplant:

Next, place the peppers and the parmesan:

When placing the ricotta, do one line right down the middle:

Now for the wrapping. Lift the bottom and fold it upwards and use your fingers to form the round tube:

Careful, not to let any of the cheese fall to the outside.

After you've got your tightly wrapped tube, refrigerate for at least an hour. This can be done a day ahead. When ready, carefully remove the plastic wrap and slice in 1 1/2 slices.

For the dipping sauce, simply whisk the ingredients together!

You can serve these however you like, but I love the idea of serving then like sushi with chopsticks and the sauce in a soy sauce bowl.

Enjoy!

Printer Friendly Version

Comments (16)

Categories : Appetizers, Ethnic: Mediterranean

Mediterranean Salad at the Portobello Market

By Leslie · Comments (2) · March 30th, 2010

Oooh I love street markets!! Especially ones with amazing food! This is the market I stumbled upon in the Notting Hill area in London. And a fabulous adaptation recipe for a Mediterranean salad! Enjoy!

Here is the amazing Mediterranean Salad! If I was going to recreate it, I would do something like this:

1 English cucumber, sliced and quartered

1 red onion, sliced and quartered

1 large basket of cherry or small tomatoes

1 carton of kalamata olives, or your favorite ones

1 container or ricotta or feta cheese (which was used here) at room temperature

a splash or red or white wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and stir : )

Here are some more pictures of the great market:

Comments (2)

Categories : Ethnic: Mediterranean, Restaurant Reviews: London

Lasagna Roll-ups

By Leslie · Comments (2) · March 15th, 2010

This is a fun way of doing lasagna and a fabulous way to enjoy that homemade ricotta cheese! It makes serving a lot easier. (much less of a mess) And the technique is really easy! Give it a try next time you are in the mood for Italian!

What you'll need:

1 box of lasagna noodles

Tomato sauce (my recipe or yours)

For the filling:

1 large tub of ricotta cheese

A handful of fresh parsley, chopped

A handful of mozzarella, shredded

A handful of grated parmesan cheese

A handful of fresh spinach, chopped

A handful of fresh basil, chopped

What you'll do:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Combine all the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix. Cook the lasagna noodles till they are done, but still VERY al dente. (they will cook more in the oven) Drain them and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking.

You are going to use a 9X13 baking dish. Cover the bottom of the dish with tomato sauce so the pasta doesn't stick.

On a clean surface, lay a noodle down and spread the cheese mixture in the middle 3/4 of the noodle. Start at one end and roll up! Place in the baking dish. Repeat with all the noodles.

When you are done with the rolls, cover them with tomato sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and starts to brown.

This is soooo good!! You are going to love this!!

Comments (2)

Categories : Ethnic: Mediterranean, Pasta, Vegetables: Tomato

Calzones

By Leslie · Comments (0) · September 16th, 2009

Last night Sim was feeling like pizza, so we decided to mix it up a little and make calzones. Now there are a bunch of ways to make these, so it can be fun and creative. My Grandma makes them sauceless with sausage, spinach, raisins, etc. I'll try to get her exact recipe, my family loves it! I make mine stuffed full of veggies and lots of cheese! Sim obviously loves his with lots of pepperoni. Now with calzones, you want to make them with either no or very little sauce in them, then dip them in tomato sauce. Now, how to make them. Basically, make pizza dough and tomato sauce. (The recipe is down below for "pizza") Roll the dough out into a round shape, just like you would for pizza. Place all the stuffing ingredients on one half of the circle. Make sure you leave a little room on the edges to make a crust. Fill it with anything your heart desires! Stack it pretty high, because the ingredients will melt down when you bake it. Fold the dough over and crease the sides so they will stay closed. Make three slits on the top so air can be released. Place on a floured baking sheet in a 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes, until golden brown. Serve with tomato sauce. Hope you enjoy! And with this and all recipes, let me know what you think!

Calzone!

Comments (0)

Categories : Entrees, Ethnic: Mediterranean, Vegetables: Tomato

PIZZA!

By Leslie · Comments (6) · August 17th, 2009

Pizza is also one of my favorite foods! My family has been making homemade pizza for generations. I caught this pizza making bug early on and have been trying to perfect my pie for years. This is the recipe for the one I'm stuck on right now. I'm really liking it! So go ahead and give it a try!

Pizza

What you'll need:

1 packet of yeast

1 large drinking glass of hot tap water

3 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. maple syrup (yup! it gives it really nice depth oppose to using sugar)

a big pinch of salt

a bunch of all purpose flour (about 3 1/2 cups)

tomato sauce

a fresh ball of mozzarella, or shredded

Toppings

a pinch of oregano

Dissolve one packet of yeast with a tall glass of hot tap water in a large bowl. Let it sit for about 5 minutes. The yeast will bubble.

Add the olive oil, REAL maple syrup. (the real part is important! no aunt jemima!) and salt. Keep stirring!

Gradually add All Purpose Flour and mix until a nice ball of dough is formed.
You can do this two ways. A: You can put all the liquid in a Kitchen Aid and add the flour until a ball forms (saves you a lot of time and sweat!) Or B: You can simply turn the dough out on a floured cutting board or counter top and knead until a pliable ball forms (plus is your arms will get a workout so you can skip the gym today!)

Either way, you then place your ball of dough in a large floured bowl and cover it with a clean kitchen towel. Let it rest for about 45 minutes.

During that 45 minutes we'll make the tomato sauce. Now this is my "semi homemade" version using a can of san marzano tomatoes instead of real tomatoes. Here is the link to my recipe.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees or as hot as it will go. Make sure if you are using a pizza stone, it's in the oven at this point : )

Ok, assembly. I use a pizza stone so I'm going to assemble my pizza right on a pizza peal. You can also make a deep dish or Sicilian style by using a cookie sheet, just grease it well with some olive oil.

So, back to the assembly: Take your dough out of the bowl and knead it just for a couple seconds, just to make sure it's not too wet. (if it is, add a little more flour) You then want to form your dough into a round flat pizza shape. Sure, you can toss it in the air like you've seen so many professionals, but unless you are, a professional that is, I recommend you just kinda pull and press the edges until your shape is formed. (If you are going Sicilian style, just press the dough into the pan) Flour your pizza peal and lay your dough on it. Give it a little shimmy to make sure it is loose and you'll be able to slide it off.
First, drizzle some olive oil on the dough and sprinkle with a little salt.

Next, apply your tomato sauce. Apply according to how saucy you like your pizza. Ok, so time to build! Be an artist! Be creative! You can put just about anything on a pizza! Tonight I'm making two kinds: Pepperoni for Sim and Mushroom and Onion with fresh ricotta for me. The first topping and the last topping are the most important! First topping should be the fresh basil. Then pile on your meats, veggies etc. Sprinkle on your cheese. It can be shredded mozzarella, or fresh mozzarella. Tonight I'm going with fresh. Also add on some shredded parmesan or romano. The last ingredient goes on right at the end. Shake some dried oregano on top. (It gives awesome depth and flavor!) Ok, finally done! Stick it in the oven for about 10 minutes. Watch it closely, every oven cooks differently. Basically, you are waiting for the cheese to melt and the crust to be golden. I hope you enjoy this pizza as much as Sim and I do.