Before we came to the mission field, we prayed for and about many things- one of which was a tiny prayer for God to give me a home where I could cook and bake in.
At the time, the chances were slim. Most homes we knew about were not finished building. Those which were, didn’t even have a stove. To my amazement, God did it yet again by showing us, in the most detailed of ways, how much He loved us, taking care of the littlest of our needs. Who would have thought the NGO hostel we stumbled across had not just an electric stove, but an oven too!
While the hungry husband is happy having a meal of homemade black pepper pork burgers with caramelized onions, and homemade Italian twists made with chopped olives, rosemary, oregano and paprika today, I’m happy being able to cook, leisurely and contentedly, for someone who always appreciates his food, in a place we have come to call Home.
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Here’s sharing the recipe with you!
Cliff loves this. When we were back at his home in Canada, I understood why. Near his home was a little family-run Italian bakery, where his father loves to buy freshly baked Italian bread from. With a brown paper bag of fresh bread, he would also bring home a stash of horseshoe-shaped Italian twists, which were beautifully savory and aromatic.
Chopped olives, paprika and cayenne were Cliff’s idea. What better way to cook than for a hungry someone with ideas? : )
Although the recipe below looks like it calls for many ingredients, the great thing is that you can feel free to use what you have in your fridge or kitchen. I added chopped olives and pasta sauce only because they were lying around in the fridge- the result was delicious!
Food for Love:
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp of herbs (Get creative! You can use thyme, rosemary, basil…)
- 8 black olives, chopped (optional)
- 1 tbsp pasta sauce (optional)
For this recipe, I used the herbs in my kitchen which were:
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp basil
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp cayenne
The Act:
1. Mix warm water with the yeast and let it stand for 10 minutes till it becomes creamy.
2. Prepare a mixing bowl with flour. Add in your herbs and chopped olives.
3. Add the pasta sauce (optional) into the creamy yeast mixture and
mix it into the flour to form a dough.
It should be very gooey and sticky, but no worries!
Simply add some more flour and olive oil to work it into a doughy texture.
You can see it’s still quite sticky and that’s okay!
4. Let the dough sit in a warm place, with a moist cloth over it.
I used a wet paper towel over the dough.
I let it sit in an oven I had allowed to warm up, after turning it off from low heat after 5 minutes.
5. After allowing the dough to rise for about 45 minutes, here comes the fun part!
6. Divide the dough into small balls.Then let your imagination run!
I decided to make them into long cylinders and twist them into a triangle.
(Cliff calls them “hearts” but I’m sure it’s only because he’s trying to be sweet.)
7. Toss them in a VERY hot oven if you want them to be REALLY crunchy.
These delicious things were blazed in a 200 degrees Celsius oven, for more than 30 minutes and voila!
Because I made these close to lunchtime, I served it as a side dish with a homemade cheesy pork burger with sauteed onions.
Ever grateful for a husband who appreciates his wife’s cooking : )
Enjoy this recipe!