Smoked Caviar And Hummus On Pita Toasts Food

SPICED PITA TOASTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• In a dry small heavy skillet toast seeds over moderate heat, shaking skillet, until fragrant, about 1 minute, and cool. In an electric coffee/spice grinder finely grind seeds and salt with paprika and in a bowl stir together with oil.
• Split each pita into 2 rounds and brush rough sides with cumin oil. Cut each round into 8 wedges and arrange, rough sides up, on 2 large baking sheets. Bake wedges in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden brown and crisp, about 8 minutes total. Cool pita toasts on racks. Pita toasts keep 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature.

PITA TOASTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375° F.
• Halve pitas horizontally to form 8 rounds and lightly brush rough sides with oil. Season pitas with salt and cut each round into 6 wedges.
• Arrange wedges in one layer on 2 baking sheets and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Cool toasts. Toasts may be made 1 day ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.

RED PEPPER HUMMUS WITH TOASTED PITA TRIANGLES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Place pita triangles on a large baking sheet and spray the surface with cooking spray. Season the tops with garlic salt. Bake 6 to 8 minutes, until golden brown and crisp.
• Meanwhile, rinse and drain 1 can of the chickpeas. Place drained chickpeas in a blender and add red peppers, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and cumin. Process until smooth. Season, to taste, with salt and black pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl and top with parsley.
• Serve hummus with toasted pita triangles arranged alongside.

SMOKED CAVIAR AND HUMMUS ON PITA TOASTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Halve pitas horizontally and stir together oil and paprika. Brush rough sides of pitas with paprika oil and season with salt. Cut each pita round into 8 wedges and bake in single layers on a large baking sheet in middle of oven 10 minutes, or until crisp.
• Finely grind cumin seeds in an electric coffee/spice grinder. Purée chick-peas in a food processor with cumin, garlic, parsley, tahini, lemon juice, and salt and add enough water to make smooth.
• Put hummus in a pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-inch plain tip. Pipe a scant 1/2 teaspoon onto each pita toast and top with 1/4 teaspoon caviar.

SMOKED HUMMUS

Steps:

• Set up a smoke box or foil pan with 1 cup of wood chips. Place under the grill grates of a gas grill on top of a burner. Preheat the grill to 300 degrees F with the direct heat under the pan with the wood chips.
• Slice a little off the top of the head of garlic to expose the top of the cloves. Drizzle the cloves with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil and wrap it in foil. Place the chickpeas into a colander that is entirely metal. Cover the colander with foil. Place both the chickpeas and garlic on the cool side of the grill. Close the grill and let the chickpeas smoke for 30 minutes and the garlic cook for 1 hour, until the cloves are soft. Remove the chickpeas and let cool while the garlic finishes cooking.
• About 10 minutes before the garlic is done, place the lemon halves, cut-side down, on the grill over direct heat and grill until slightly charred and grill marked, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool and then squeeze the juice from the lemons through a strainer into a bowl.
• When the garlic is done, let cool for about 10 minutes and then unwrap from the foil and squeeze the garlic head over a small bowl to remove the softened cloves.
• Combine the cooled, smoked chickpeas, roasted garlic, tahini, salt, cumin, juice from the grilled lemons and water in a food processor. Blend for 2 minutes, and then drizzle in the remaining 3/4 cup olive oil. Continue to blend until completely smooth, 3 to 4 minutes. If the hummus is too thick, add some more water to achieve desired consistency.
• Transfer the hummus to serving bowl and garnish with chopped roasted red peppers, paprika, parsley if using and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve with seasoned pita chips on the side.
• Add the pita chips to a large bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil and toss to coat. Combine the paprika and garlic salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the pita chips and toss to coat.

TOASTED PITA CHIPS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Cut each pita bread in quarters and each quarter in half to make 8 triangles. Place them in a single layer on a sheet pan and sprinkle lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for about 10 minutes, until crisp, turning once.

HUMMUS WITH TOASTED PINE NUTS, CUMIN SEEDS, AND PARSLEY OIL

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• In a blender or small food processor purée 1/4 cup parsley with 1/4 cup oil. Pour mixture through a fine sieve set over a bowl, pressing hard on solids, and discard solids.
• In a small baking pan toast pine nuts and cumin seeds, stirring occasionally, until nuts are golden, about 10 minutes.
• In a colander rinse and drain chick-peas and in a food processor purée 1/2 cup with garlic until garlic is finely minced. Add tahini, water, lemon juice, salt, remaining chick-peas, and remaining 1/2 cup olive oil and purée until smooth. Recipe may be prepared up to this point 3 days ahead. Keep hummus and parsley oil chilled, covered, and pine nuts and cumin seeds in an airtight container at room temperature. Bring parsley oil to room temperature before using.
• Strip leaves from additional parsley sprigs. Divide hummus between 2 shallow dishes and smooth tops. Drizzle hummus with parsley oil and sprinkle with parsley, pine nuts, and cumin seeds.
• Serve hummus with pita toasts.

VEGETARIAN MUSHROOM SHAWARMA PITAS

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 425 degrees. On a large rimmed sheet pan, drizzle the mushrooms and red onion with 3 tablespoons oil. Sprinkle with cumin, coriander, paprika (if using), 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; toss to coat. Arrange in an even layer and roast until tender and browned, about 20 minutes. Add the pitas directly to the oven rack to warm during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
• Meanwhile, toss cabbage with remaining 2 teaspoons oil in a medium bowl; toss to coat. Season generously with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, stir together yogurt and turmeric; season with salt and pepper.
• To serve, slather yogurt over warm pitas. Top with cabbage, mushroom mixture and herbs, and serve immediately.