Stuffed Pita with Chard and Ricotta Salata

As long as you've made the pita dough in advance (which I did) this is a quick and easy meal. You can alter the filling to be almost anything you want, just make sure that it's relatively dry and that it's cooled when you add it to the dough--this is a great way to use up leftovers!

I'm thinking this is going to become a heavy-rotation meal once school starts. Frozen pita dough + leftovers or sauteed greens = dinner. Amazing.

The recipe for the pita dough makes six pitas.You'll use two of these for this recipe. The rest can be wrapped tightly and frozen (or you can do it the other way like I did and make the pitas first and then use the dough for this. In that case you'd just pull two dough balls out of the freezer and put them in the fridge in the morning). Or, if you forget to do such things, putting the dough balls in individual bags and put them in a warm water bath. They'll thaw in about 30 minutes.

As I write out the recipe, I realize that it looks extremely complicated. It's not. I promise.

Stuffed Pita with Chard and Ricotta Salata
Adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian


Pita dough:
1 1/2 c apf
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 packet yeast
1 t coarse sea salt
1/2 t sugar
3 T olive oil
1 c warm water

Filling:
4-6 oz chard, stems removed and chopped, leaves chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
salt
pepper
a pinch of red pepper flakes
1/4 t cumin
1 medium egg, beaten
1 oz feta or ricotta salata, crumbled

1 T toasted sesame seeds

Place all of the dough ingredients except the water in the bowl of a food processor fitted with either the regular blade or the dough blade (see your specific food processor manual for details--mine only requires the dough blade if you use more than 3 c of flour). Turn on the food processor and pour the warm water through the feed tube. Process for about 30 seconds. The dough should be starting to come together. If it's too dry, add more water, 1 T at a time, until the dough forms a ball. The dough should be slightly sticky, but smooth.

Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the bowl sit in a warm place to rise for 1-2 hrs (or 4-6 in the fridge).

While the dough is rising, make your filling. Heat a splash of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and chard stems. Saute until the stems are softened, about 8 minutes. Add the chopped chard and spices. Saute until the chard is collapsed and tender, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and place in a fine meshed strainer. Allow to cool while the dough is rising. Once it's cool enough to handle, squeeze out as much water as possible. Just before filling, beat the egg, mix in the chard and cheese.

Punch the dough down and divide it into 6 equal pieces. Roll the pieces into balls. At this point I made some plain pitas (follow the directions below without filling and decrease the cooking time to about 5 min). I then individually wrapped the rest tightly in plastic wrap and popped them in the freezer. If you want to just proceed with the recipe, leave out as many as you think you'll need (this recipe makes 2 stuffed pitas, but the filling can be easily doubled or tripled).

Set the dough balls aside, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for about 20 minutes, until puffy. When the dough has rested, roll each ball into an oval a little less that 1/4" thick on a sheet of parchment. Preheat the oven to 350 with a pizza pan, baking stone or inverted cookie sheet on the middle rack.

Let the dough rest for about 10 minutes. After the dough has rested, fill each pita with about 1/2 c of the chard mixture. Fold the pita around the filling, leaving it exposed in the middle (see picture). Brush the dough with a bit of water and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Place the parchment on the hot stone/pan/sheet (I fit two on my pizza pan quite easily). Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the pita is browned on the bottom and the egg is beginning to set.

Serves 2