Friday 19 June 2015

Roasted Vegetable and Avocado Pita Pizzas



Okay, I’ll admit it. I have a problem. A problem with how ridiculously adorable these little bastards are! Look at them! They’re so cute they should be locked up. Or eaten.

Oh, and I promise this’ll be the last bready recipe for a while. Seriously, tortillas, tacos, burritos and now pitas. I gotta try branch out a little. But I had to share this recipe, ‘cause it’s become my go-to vegetarian dinner. I’m a sucker for anything with avocado, and as far as I’m concerned there’s not a meal out there that couldn’t be improved by the addition of roasted garlic. Spiced crunchy chickpeas and soft chunks of sweet potato are really just the icing on the cake. And if all that sounds like something you can get on board with, then you’ll love these Pita Pizzas.

To save time, you can just buy pita breads from the supermarket. But if you want to go full-homemade, making your own pitas is as simple as throwing together this dough, rolling it into little disks and baking them in the oven for a few minutes. Easy.

Credit where credit’s due, this recipe was ripped off from inspired by Pinch of Yum’s version. Lindsay’s photos are a constant source of deep burning jealousy inspiration, and her recipes are just depressingly amazing so inspiring. I’m not bitter, shut up.


You should be. She’s much better than you in every possible way. Just sayin’…


1) Dump chickpeas, diced sweet potato and a tonne of peeled garlic into a roasting tray.

2) Throw on a bunch of spices, some salt, and plenty of olive oil. Roast until the chickpeas are crunchy.

3) Mash a couple of avocados, mix with lime juice, pepper and sour cream.

4) Split some pita breads in half, toast, smear with the avocado mix and top with the roasted veg.

Done and done. Simple, tasty, wholesome food.


Forget vampires, you’ll ward off all your friends with that much garlic!


You my friend, have clearly never had roasted garlic. Well let me tell you right now, you’re in for a treat. In much the same way that raw onions and caramelised onions are two entirely different beasts, roasted garlic has none of the sharp taste (or breath) of raw garlic. Instead, it just has an amazingly sweet, sticky texture and deep, rich flavours.

Do yourself a favour and give this recipe a whirl. Detailed description below.


Ingredients (serves 2-3) - €7



  • a whole head of garlic (for serious)
  • ~ 300g of sweet potatoes
  • a 400g tin of chickpeas
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp garam masala (or a mix of cumin, coriander, rosemary… whatever you want, really)
  • 2 avocados
  • 100ml sour cream
  • a lime
  • 4 pitas (if you like, you can make your own awesome pitas by baking thin circles of this dough)

    Start preheating your oven to 190°C. The sooner you get your vegetables in the oven, the sooner you get to eat, so let’s do this!

    Peel the skin off your sweet potato and cut it into cubes of about 15mm. They need to be small  enough to be bitesized, but they can’t be too small or they’ll dry up and burn. Break apart your head of garlic, and peel each clove. Garlic can be roasted without being peeled, but the papery skin still can’t really be eaten, so you’d have to peel it either way. I just prefer getting it done now. Which makes cooking garlic pretty much the only time in my life when I don’t choose procrastination…

    Drain and rinse your chickpeas, then empty them into a roasting tray along with the sweet potato and garlic. Use the biggest tray you’ve got, you don’t want it to be crowded or they’ll just sweat all over each other like they’re in some kind of dodgy nightclub. Sprinkle everything with your spices and a couple pinches of salt before pouring in the olive oil. Mix well, and they’ll be left glistening and exotic looking. Like they’re in those nightclubs that only exist in dreams and music videos.

    Slide the tray into your oven and leave them to roast. They’ll need to cook for about 40 minutes, but every 15 or so take them out and give them a shake-rattle-and-roll. If they start to look dry, add a little more olive oil. When they’re done, the chickpeas should be crispy, the sweet potato, soft. Don’t let the garlic burn, or instead of a tasting like candy, they’ll taste like ass. Burnt ass.

    When the veggies are almost done, whip up the avocado dip. All you need to do for this cut your avocados in half, scoop out the flesh and mash it up. Pour in the sour cream, squeeze in the lime juice and crack in some black pepper. Give it a stir, and it’s done!

    The last thing is the pitas. If you’re using store-bought ones, throw them in the microwave for half a minute to puff them up a little. Then they’ll be much easier to separate into two, giving you a much thinner base to put your toppings on. Throw them in the oven for the last few minutes of roasting the vegetables, and you’ll have perfect crispy breads for your pita pizzas. Assemble like you’re an Autobot and enjoy!



(Rosemary goes superbly with roasted garlic, so I thoroughly recommend adding a little of that.

Also, I slightly over-cooked the veggies here, yours shouldn’t look quite so dry. Embarrassing, but I really couldn’t be bothered to re-shoot the photos…)

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