The homemade Pitta Saga...

I had friends coming round for lunch, we'd had a big meal the day before and had a fridge full of leftovers and while I didn't want to short change them with warmed up seconds I didn't want to be wasteful either... what to serve them....hmmmmm... think, think, think.....I spend my free time reading a number of food blogs, the few I follow on Twitter are foodies and many of my Facebook friends are foodies... I read alot about what other people are cooking so over the past week I had read a link and followed it about the making of homemade pittas.  It struck me as I gazed into my fridge that the leftover lamb and chickpea side dish could have the makings of a Greek Meze and somewhere in cyber space there was a pitta recipe just waiting for me... only problem was, I couldn't find it!!! I checked my own blog only to find that I had made them once before... but the link was broken..I still had no recipe. I asked who was responsible for whetting my appetite... who, in the last week or two had made homemade pitta with such fabulous results that I had stored it away in my 'must do' folder in my head... well it didn't take long for Domestic Jules to get back to me... it was her, she'd made them, they were truly fabulous and she very kindly sent me the pitta recipe link.... so I made them...only thing I did different is I cooked them on my Pampered Chef Rectangle Stone, I think it helped it to puff up and become crisp on the underneath too.

I agree, strange shape and probably a little well done but very nice all the same!

Check out Domestic Jules blog to see how they really should be cooked!

With those I served the reheated lamb from the day before. It had been served sprinkled with pomegranates so I carefully picked those out and squeezed the juice into the meat. Wrapped it in foil and slowly reheated it and came out trumps... moist and moreish Lamb Salad!

Then I made the  Tzatziki - A photo can be seen here

350g/12oz Greek yogurt
1 cucumber
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic, pushed through the garlic press
dash of extra virgin olive oil
paprika, for sprinkling

Method
1.De-seeding the cucumber before grating. Place the grated cucumber in a fine strainer and press to squeeze out all the excess liquid.
2.Combine the yogurt, cucumber, lemon juice and garlic. Add a dash of olive oil and sprinkle with paprika.
3.Leftovers can be sorted in the fridge but will separate slightly. Just mix with a fork before serving again!

I then turned the chick pea side dish into hummus by adding a large glug of oil and a tablespoon of tahini paste before whizzing it to a smooth paste (sort of... we all like a bit of texture in our lives!!!)
A beef tomato salad  - Ripe tomatoes slices, white onion finely chopped, torn basil (used dried at a pinch), glug of oil, salt and pepper and a generous glug of balsamic vinegar and you're done! Cover and let marinate until you're ready to serve.
 
A mixed green salad finished it all off nicely!!

Pitta bread made with wholemeal bread was equally good!



We served all this with copious amounts of Procecco, sparkling water and squash for the kids. For dessert I made Turkish Delight Syllabub  again I need to apologise to Nigella, I subbed lots of things in this but it still turned out fab... Tia Maria instead of Cointreau for a start and the chocolate on the top was more appropriate with the change too I think... hey, it worked for us, so no complaints!!!