Say hello to your new recipe staple. This is the meal I put on the menu when I know I’m going to get home late or when I don’t have a lot of time to cook or when I just don’t feel like cooking. Five minutes of prep, 15 minutes to bake, 20 minutes ’til dinner time.
And it’s also vegetarian if that’s your thing.
If you’re not crazy about olives (but how could you not be?) or tomatoes, feel free to switch out the toppings and make it your own. Artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, red onion… I image they’d all make a tasty variation.
Ingredients
- 6 7″ pita (I prefer the Toufayan brand, or ones made at our local bakery)*
- 1 15.5oz can chick peas/garbanzo beans, drained
- 1 cup crumbled feta (or 1 4oz (by weight) container), reserve about 1/4 cup to sprinkle on top
- 1/4 cup olive oil, more if needed
- 2 TBS sundried tomatoes, rough chopped if they are not already cut (more if you like) (I use the California Sun Dry “Julienne Cut” )
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper
Toppings - 1/2-3/4 cup kalamata and oil cured olives, pitted and quartered (skip the canned black olives and go for the good stuff)
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced or quartered
Directions
Preheat oven to 350° degrees and place half sheet pan or large cookie sheet in oven.
In food processor, combine all ingredients, except toppings, extra feta, (and the pita, of course) and process until smooth. Add more olive oil if mixture looks dry.
Remove warmed pan from oven and lay out the pitas, but don’t overlap; if they hang off the edge, that’s fine.
Spoon equal amounts of chick pea mixture onto pita and spread to cover. Sprinkle with toppings and remaining feta. (If you accidently added all the feta to the chick pea mixture, no worries.)
Place pan in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove pan from oven and carefully slice pitas into quarters with a pizza cutter and serve!
*A Word On Pita:
Try not to buy pita that feel “puffy”. These trap moisture and can get a little soggy when you bake; you want crisp pita. If you’re a Walmart shopper, the Sam’s Choice “Greek Style” pita fits this profile. They’re tasty, but don’t work great for this recipe. Go with the Toufayan Classic White (dark blue package) or Whole Wheat (dark brown package). They have other tasty looking flavours (Savory Garlic and Sweet Onion) that would probably be delicious with this recipe, but I’ve never seen them at my store.