Capers and Eggplant Pizza

I confess, I’m a pizza junkie, in fact as long as I have cheese, some sort of tomatoes (sauce, diced, sliced, pureed, or whatever) and a crust, I’m happy. I constantly experiment with the toppings, the following recipe is my latest creation. Yes, I know, I didn’t discover America; others have made similar pizzas before me – but – this one came out delicious and I’ll be making it often.

Pizza Dough

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.
2. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour.
3. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Roll out to a 10″ circle.

Topping

Ingredients

• 1 eggplant
• 1 tablespoon salted capers, rinsed
• 1/2 lb of mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 25 cherry tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• basil (for garnish)

Directions

1. Wash and slice the eggplant into very thin slices (I used a mandolin). Grill the eggplant slices in a pan for about 2 to 2.5 minutes on each side.
2. Wash and quarter the cherry tomatoes. Cut the mozzarella cheese into medium-large dices and tear the basil after cleaning it carefully.
3. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese into, the capers and the cherry tomatoes over the pizza; season with olive oil, salt and pepper, then bake at 450 F for 4 minutes.
4. After 4 minutes add the eggplant and continue cooking for another 4 minutes, until the edges brown lightly browned and crispy. Remove from oven, garnish with the basil leaves and serve immediately.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Sason Grill

Any faithful reader of this blog knows we have never reviewed pizza joints or take out places of any kind; we always confined our reviews to restaurants AND, even then, only to those establishments we could really rave about. So how come, today, I am reviewing a take out place? Why the sudden break from The Kosher Scene‘s usual practice? Truth be told, I never intended to deviate from our ways, however…

Yesterday afternoon, I passed by Sason Grill and the aroma emanating from the place (I’ve been blessed, or cursed, with a very strong sense of smell) suddenly made me hungry. It’s a tiny place, located on a side street off Brooklyn’s Avenue J (1012 East 15th Street; Brooklyn, NY 11230; Tel: 347.307.6647; under the hashgocho of Kehilla Kashrus), off the main street and very easy to miss. It looks extremely unpretentious, hardly enticing, but… don’t let appearances fool you!

Their menu includes only four items: Shawarma, Schnitzel, Falafel, and Hamburger. I ordered a Shawarma Sandwich Platter.

Juicy shawarma on the spit...

It came with two falafel balls, fried potatoes (cut Argentinian style, papas fritas we call them), and grape tomatoes on the plate – and a pickle, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant and tehina with the shawarma inside the pita – as you can see below:

Shawarma Sandwich Platter

The shawarma, made from fresh baby chicken meat, was very juicy; spiced liberally to give it that Middle Eastern flavor of cumin, etc, it was unusually delicious. I got a selection of the three house sauces: chimichurri, olive and tehina. All three made fresh in-house. The best part about this unexpected feast was, surprisingly, its low cost. Though it certainly lacked the presentation I’ve become accustomed to, it more than made up for it in flavor. I know I’ll be back again and again. Next time, I’ll even bring SYR with me.

CS