kabocha squash & kale pide

This is a familiar theme with me and almost comically sad, that while everyone is out with a dazzling display of their Christmas goodies, I am still showing up with my pumpkin and Thanksgiving leftovers 🙂  Not that I haven’t tried to chip away at them, but when you grossly overestimate the amounts of food and are left with more than you bargained for, it can be slow going!

Thankfully, I was finally left with just the table decor of some Kabocha Squash and Kale.  The initial idea was to make a pizza……the cheese and sauce would act as a great camouflage and chances of protests about a week of leftovers would be minimal!  But I was out of mozarella so that plan went out the window……only to be replaced by something even better.  The Turkish Pide.  A wonderfully light pizza-like snack that we were introduced to while in Turkey.

Before our trip there, we knew that the food would be amazing since we had eaten many a fabulous meal at the home of our friends, I. and A.  But even with those high expectations, we were simply blown away once we got there.  The food, the country and most of all, the people!  Wherever we went, we were met with the friendliest of smiles and hospitality.  Our teen was probably three or four at that time and I remember walking into a small shop with him and the owner gestured us to come to his counter.  Puzzled, we walked over and he pulled a small nazar boncugu from the drawer and pinned it on my son’s shirt:)  Another time, we were walking along the Grand Bazaar and there was a cart selling hard candy.  We stopped to buy some for our son and just as we were leaving, the seller called my son and stuffed a whole fistful more of candy into his hands.  So touching and so special.

During our travels, we knew we would never have to search for vegetarian food because there were small bakeries and restaurants everywhere, selling all kinds of pide and other wonderful cheese-filled savory pastries.  Some of them almost too beautiful to eat!

These don’t look anywhere as pretty as the ones we saw but they are quite delicious 🙂 The crust in this recipe is very similar to a pizza crust except for the addition of some yogurt.  The end result is a slightly tacky dough that rolls fairly thin and bakes into an airy and crisp pide.

The choice of the filling is not traditional but you could certainly experiment with ones that suit your palate.  And though the procedure might seem long and laborious at first glance, it really isn’t complicated.

Along with the Mozarella, I was also out of Feta cheese but I did have some fresh paneer so I used that.  You can use any crumbly cheese of your choice.  I would highly recommend baking the pide on a pizza stone which gives it a wonderfully crispy crust.

So with this, I am officially done with the Thanksgiving leftovers and hopefully will have something exciting for a Christmas recipe.  Keeping my track record in mind though, it will probably be right around the time everybody else is ringing in the New Year 🙂

Kabocha Squash & Kale Pide

(Makes 12 pides)

Printable recipe

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flor

1 1/4 cups white whole-wheat flour (Aata)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar
2 tsp instant yeast

1/8 cup plain yogurt ( I used home-made)

1 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
approx. 1 cup warm water*Add the flours, salt, sugar and yeast to the bowl of stand mixer with a dough hook*.Run on low speed to mix and then add the yogurt and olive oil.  Start adding the water slowly until  you get a slightly sticky dough.Increase the speed to medium and knead for about 5 mins, until the dough clears the side of the bowl and forms a smooth, silky mass.  You can add a little more flour if it is too sticky.

Transfer dough to an oiled bowl and cover with a kitchen towel.  Leave it a warm place to rise until double in size (approx. an hour).

Filling:

2 cups Kabocha Squash, thinly sliced

2 cups Kale , tightly packed

1 small onion, thinly sliced

6-8 pitted Kalamata olives

2 + 1 tbsp olive oil

6-8 tbsp tomato paste

2 cups vegetable stock with salt, hot

3 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsely

2 tsp crushed red pepper

1 tsp black pepper, coarsely powdered

1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp sumac or a couple tsp lemon juice.

1 1/2 cups paneer, Feta cheese or any crumbly cheese of your choice.

salt to taste
A few tbsp of melted butterPreheat oven to 400 degrees F.Put the sliced squash in a mixing bowl and toss with 1 tbs of olive oil.  Transfer to a greased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for approx 10 mins, until the tip of a knife goes in easily.  Do not overcook or else it will turn to mush upon mixing.While the squash is baking, wash the Kale and chop it roughly.

Pour the hot vegetable stock into the same mixing bowl used for the squash and add the chopped kale.  Let it sit for about 10 mins.  Once the stock has cooled down a bit, you can rub the kale to soften it a bit.  Remove kale and squeeze out the excess stock.  Save the vegetable stock since we will be using some of it in the final mixture.

Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a skillet over medium heat and add the sliced onions.  Cook on a low heat until they get caramelized.

Add the crushed red pepper and the tomato paste and stir until well mixed.  Add a few spoons of the vegetable stock to prevent it from burning.

Add the roasted squash, kale and paneer/cheese and mix well.  Add the black pepper, cumin powder and the olives and mix.  The mixture will be quite dry and you can add the reserved stock a little bit at a time until it looks moist but not wet and puddly.  I used over a cup of the stock.

Add the sumac/lemon juice, parsley and season with salt.  Let the mixture cool completely.

Assembly:

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F with a baking stone at the bottom-most rack.

Divide the dough into 12 equal balls and cover with a damp kitchen towel or paper towel.

Roll each into an oval shape of approx. 6 inches long.  Put a couple of tbsp of the filling along the center and fold the sides over it, pinching the tips at both ends.  Give the pinched dough at both the ends a slight twist.

Transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Brush the shaped pide with some melted butter, allowing a few drops to fall over the filling.

Transfer the Pide to the baking stone and bake for approx. 8 mins, until it is golden brown.

These are best had soon after they are out of the oven, while the crust is still crispy. Slice at a diagonal and serve with some more butter or olive oil.  I like to also sprinkle some za’atar on top.

* The amount of water varies depending on the humidity, season etc.  Add almost all the water and then add the rest slowly.

* You can also knead the dough in a food processor or by hand.