cook: more vegetables in the mezze repertoire

While on a return trip home, I stopped for dinner in Santa Cruz. I wanted Mediterranean and therefore dined at Ibiza. I ordered the lamb plate with a dollop of Muhummara and decided that I had to learn to make that spicy dip. The bright yellow pickled cauliflower was my favorite, and of course, anytime I can eat a cabbage salad, I will. I loved the balance of all the flavors and eating rice instead of pita bread. The charred broccolini and microgreens were a boon to my required vegetable intake.

My mother-in-law and sister-in-law went with me to the county fair though I also went to the fair the day before with two other clay friends. I soaked garbanzo beans, boiled them to make hummus. The cauliflower only needed to be washed and cut into small florets for pickling while the eggplant, bell peppers and jalapeno were to be roasted for the spicy dip.

 

I also mixed 2 cups of self-rising flour with 8 ounces of Greek full fat yogurt to make pita bread. Took one of the dough balls to cook on a hot cast iron pan. 

The peppers and eggplant were roasting nicely under a high broil and let the skins blister and blacken enough to make it easy to peel, and I felt no need to cover with plastic wrap. 

 

For the cabbage salad, I sliced half a small head of red cabbage on the mandolin and plucked herbs like parsley, dill and marjoram from the garden. I tossed the shredded cabbage in a dressing of mashed garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice.

 

Love a colorful and...

sturdy salad. Crunchy salad done, I then peeled the roasted vegetables.

 

I had already blitzed the chickpeas and eggplant into hummus and baba ghanous, respetively. Time to pulse the red bell peppers with walnuts, Aleppo pepper, cumin, and pomegranate molasses for the spicy dip.

I read online that the pita dough could be refrigerated and "baked" later, and into the icebox went the dough balls

Lunch for one ready!

  

But prior to eating, food storage of hummus, baba ghanoush, muhummara, and feta cheese.  

Fast forward to the next day, I cooked saffron rice and off to the fair with family. On our return home, I griddled the pita bread and heated the lamb before setting out all the dips.

I had leftovers for quite a few days and added leftover zucchini fritters to lunch the next day. 

Okay I've upped my Mediterranean skill set with a few more recipes and couldn't be more pleased.