Marina Bread

There's a Mediterranean restaurant in my town that makes really good kebabs and rice and their salad is also really bomb. But my favorite thing they do is a stuffed pita bread that they call "marina bread." The stuffing is a spicy tomato sauce with sweet onion slices and the whole thing is toasted over coals so the pita gets crisp and it's so good.

I decided to try my hand at making my own at home and actually ended up loving the result. They weren't quite as good as the real deal because I didn't have coals to toast my marina bread. But, they hit the spot and now I know what I'll do if I ever lose access to Carmel Haifa.

Ingredients:
pita dough or 8 pitas
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ onion, diced
1 teaspoon harissa
¼ teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons tomato paste
8 oz. can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons Calabrian chilis in oil, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
¼ onion, sliced
8 to 10 sprigs cilantro, chopped

You can certainly use store bought pita (and actually, this is a great way to jazz up plain old pita pockets) but I made my own.

While the pita dough is proofing, start the sauce. Finely mince some garlic and dice onion.

Add onions and garlic to a saucepan with a generous glug of olive oil and saute and sweat over a medium high until v. soft.

Add in spices and toast until fragrant. Then, stir in tomato paste and toast until the mixture turns from a bright red to a rich burgundy. It's important to cook out the tomato paste to get rid of that tinny canned flavor.

Add in a can of tomato sauce and stir. Add in a big spoonful of chopped Calabrian chilis and mix until homogenous. Reduce heat to low and simmer until 20 to 30 minutes or until the sauce is thickened to the texture of ketchup. 

I had some leftover cilantro so I chopped it up and added it to the sauce right at the end.

Form the pita dough and bake.

Split the pita open along one side, smear the tomato sauce all over the inside, add a few pieces of thinly sliced onion and a sprinkle of cilantro leaves, press back together, and then toast on a hot griddle until toasty.

These also keep really well in the fridge untoasted. Just toast when you're ready to dig in.

I followed Carmel Haifa's serving method by cutting the marina bread into quarters. These make a great lunch. The pita is crispy and just slightly smoky, the sauce is spicy and flavorful, the little bit of sliced onion adds a sweetness, the cilantro adds verdancy, and the whole little package is so good.

Here's the recipe page: