zaatar
Sauce-less Zaatar Cheese Pizza
I just noticed that it has been 20 days (!) since I’ve posted. I have not dropped off the face of the earth or lost interest in my little blog. Everyone in the family has been under the weather. Coughing, sore throat, pretty much your basic winter cold. That meant that we ate things like chicken broth with noodles, or apple sauce, or simple things like that.
I’m back now, and we are back to eating ‘real’ food, but still of the super easy to prepare variety. The more complicated stuff will wait.
My son wanted to make pizza, so we got some frozen supermarket pizza dough – the kind that comes in a small ball that you have to roll out.
This probably sounds like my previously posted Manakeesh – Zaatar Pizzas. Manakeesh is different in that in it, the zaatar and olive oil are the stars of the show.
This one is more of a sauce-less pizza, where the zaatar is an accent to the cheese. I used my Misto to spray on a very light layer of olive oil. Okay, that is not quite true. My son loves playing with the Misto, so he pumped it, and then sprayed the olive oil. The Misto holds about 1/3 cup of olive oil, and we didn’t even use half of it to cover the entire round of pizza dough.
You can use whichever cheese(s) you like. We combined cheddar, mozzarella, and about a 1/3 cup of feta, for a total of 2 cups of cheese.
My toddler has recently discovered that she ADORES Kalamata olives. So much so that when I get to the supermarket olive bar, I have to make sure to get a few large pitted olives that I can easily slice for her to eat while the rest of us eat regular olives with seeds still in them. She is the reason I decided to slice some olives and throw them on there, but the olives can certainly be omitted.
Sauce-less Zaatar Cheese Pizza
1 whole wheat pizza dough
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cups of shredded and/or crumbled cheese
2 tablespoons zaatar
5-6 kalamata olives, sliced or chopped (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Roll out pizza dough to about a 16 inch round. Prick with tines of a fork.
Spray or brush on olive oil.
Mix cheeses and zaatar in a bowl
Dot with olive pieces.
Bake for 18-20 minutes.
Manakeesh – Zaatar Pizzas
One of the tastiest things to eat is warm manakeesh with some hot tea. Trust me on this. Make some nice, strong tea and sweeten generously. Enjoy it with this tangy/savory bread.
I tagged this as semi-homemade, because the dough is typically home-made, but when you are short on time, frozen supermarket pizza dough is a good substitute.
I always pick up a couple of package of supermarket frozen pizza dough during my weekly shopping trips- the kind that comes in a small ball. I usually also have one or two as backup in the freezer. We try to do one pizza night per week, varying toppings. It is fast and easy to prepare, and my son loves to help make pizza. Tonight he helped by mixing the oil and zaatar, and spreading it on the dough.
Manakeesh will usually be a little less puffy than this one when it made with the home-made dough. I will feature the home-made dough in a future post.
We have this on weekend mornings or for dinner. There were a few pieces leftover after dinner, and my husband promptly put them away to have for breakfast tomorrow.
Note – you can completely omit the cheese.
To make it a complete meal, put out several of the following small plates: lightly salted sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, Akkawi/Feta/Halloumi cheese, olives, labneh, fried or boiled eggs.
Manakeesh – Zaatar Pizzas
1 lb package frozen whole wheat pizza dough, defrosted and brought to room temperature
4 tablespoons zaatar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella or feta or a blend of the two
1/2 – 1 teaspoon sumac (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Cut dough into two rounds. Roll each one out to about a 10 inch round. Prick with tines of a fork.
Pour olive oil into a bowl. Add zaatar and stir to incorporate completely.
On first round, pour out half the zaatar oil mixture. Spread evenly.
On second round, pour out the rest of the zaatar oil mixture, and spread. Sprinkle cheese on top. Sprinkle with sumac, if using.
Bake 12-15 minutes until dough is done.
Mini Potato Zaatar Egg Muffins
My son is not a big breakfast eater on school days, because it is simply too early for him to get a lot of food in. I do think it is important to try to get some good protein into him before school, so I made these Mini Egg Muffins, which are actually not muffins at all. They are frittatas baked in mini muffin pans. This makes it easy to reheat one or two in the microwave. They are small enough that he can eat one quickly with some fruit or yogurt.
This particular one has potatoes and zaatar as the add in ingredients – potatoes for some carbs, and zaatar because in the Levant region, zaatar is considered brain food. It is very common for children to have zaatar for breakfast before exams, or to take zaatar sandwich in their lunchbox.
Mini Potato Zaatar Egg Muffins
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 small potato, diced small
salt to taste, a pinch or two of cumin
5 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon zaatar
shredded mozzarella
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat oil in small skillet. Add potatoes and cook over medium heat until potatoes are completely cooked through. You might need to add a bit of water if it starts to brown faster than it cooks.
Meanwhile beat eggs, milk, zaatar, and salt and pepper to taste.
Spray 9 mini muffin cups with nonstick spray. Portion some potatoes in the bottom of each cup, roughly equally.
Pour beaten eggs over the potatoes, again, trying to be as equal as possible. Add some mozzarella on top of each.
Bake 12-15 minutes.
Warm Mediterranean Egg “Salad”
Today’s lunch is a warm egg salad, made with olive oil instead of the standard mayo, and spiced with zaatar and paprika.
This is my favorite way to eat hard boiled eggs, and it doesn’t get easier than this. I sometimes omit the zaatar and paprika, and just add plenty of freshly cracked black pepper and salt. The fruitiness of the olive oil is a wonderful foil to the warm eggs. I love this with some extra toasted flat bread or pita bread. It would be great with pita chips as well.
Ingredients
2 eggs, hard boiled, peeled
2 – 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon zaatar mix
a pinch of paprika
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Smash down the eggs with the back of your fork. Add in the olive oil, zaatar, and salt and pepper to taste. Top with a pinch of paprika. Serve immediately.
Tastes best with very toasted pita or flat bread. I like to toast it on an open flame to get some nicely charred and crispy parts.
