Falafel and Pita

There were three lunch trucks outside the library where I worked in college, one of which was affectionately known as the "Greek Truck." I am pretty sure that this had to do with the fact that they had gyros and a big Greek guy, who whenever you would order anything with the works, would yell into the back of the truck to whomever was working the grill, "Give me a gyro all the way!" From this man I had my first pita with hummus, sprouts, and cucumber and I was hooked right away. Soon after I had my first falafel, and all was right with the world. Now anything on a pita always makes me think of that lunch truck and the man who taught me that it's not pronounced "jahy-ro," but "jeer-oh."

I have made a few pita recipes over the past year or so with pretty good results, but I have tried a different recipe pretty much every time. Recently, when I saw a post about pita on the Smitten Kitchen blog, I knew that I had yet another new recipe to test. Now, what to put in the pita once they were baked? Falafel sounded good to me, so I decided to try my hand at frying some up. Except for one somewhat failed attempt many years ago at one of my first all-veggie meals to try and impress my new fiance (she married me anyway so I guess those falafel couldn't have been too bad), I have never made falafel at home. I perused a few recipes and settled on this one from Mark Bittman.

The pita recipe worked beautifully. The dough was very easy to work with and the pita puffed nicely in the oven.

Now I think I'm finally ready to take the plunge, settle down, and commit to a pita recipe.

The falafel were very good as well. I cut down the cayenne in the recipe by half and forgot to add the onion, although I don't think the falafel were any worse for it. I am definitely going to be making this recipe again as well. I prefer a light, tangy yogurt sauce on my falafel rather than a tahini-based sauce. I just combined some yogurt with a bit of lemon juice, some minced garlic, and a dash of salt, pepper, and cumin. Delicious!

All I can say is, "Give me a falafel, all the way!"

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Pita Bread Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Falafel Recipe from Mark Bittman's Bitten Blog