Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Soup and Spirals

The weather here in St. Louis is starting to change...fall is finally inching its way here. A few nights ago, a sudden chill inspired me to root around for something warm and hearty for supper. The fridge was rather empty, but I had half a batch of pizza dough in the freezer. Together with pantry supplies like brown lentils and canned tomato, this light meal was thrown together in 30-40 minutes. The aroma of simmering soup and baking bread in the kitchen is so therapeutic at the end of a long day.

The inspiration for the pizza dough spirals comes from a two-sentence post for savory bread rolls on the blog The Casual Baker. The method is analogous to that of the sinfully delicious cinnamon rolls, except that these are savory little bites with a tasty mixture of garlic, olives and red pepper flakes tucked inside. You could use just about any "filling" here- like pesto or chopped sun dried tomatoes, or minced herbs, or just crushed peppercorns. If you are a fan of cheese, that would make a nice filling too.

Pizza Dough Spirals

pizzrolls

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
1. Make the filling by combining 3-4 cloves minced garlic, 1/3 cup chopped olives (I used black Kalamata olives) and 1 t red pepper flakes (or to taste).
2. On a floured surface, roll out/ pat out the (thawed) pizza dough into a fairly thin rectangle. I used a half-batch of this dough to yield about 10 spirals.
3. Brush the dough lightly with olive oil, sprinkle the filling on it and roll up into one long roll.
4. With a sharp knife, cut the roll into slices. Place the slices cut-side down on an oiled baking sheet. Brush with more olive oil (optional) and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden.
5. Serve piping hot with some soup or just as a snack. It is a real treat to pull apart these crispy spirals and tuck into the fresh-baked bread.

The soup I made was an extremely simple Tomato Lentil Soup, essentially a tadka-less dal. Because I was serving the soup with these flavorful spirals, I did not load it up with other flavors. Otherwise, I would have added some garlic and red pepper flakes to the soup. There is barely a recipe here...but in case anyone is interested, here is the general method. It makes 3-4 servings.
1. Heat 1 t olive oil in a saucepan and saute 1 sliced onion until lightly browned.
2. Add 0.5 C washed brown lentils (whole masoor), 1.5 C tomato puree (fresh or canned), 2 C water, salt and pepper and let the whole thing simmer until the lentils are meltingly tender. Add more water if the soup feels too thick. Turn off the heat and taste the soup. Add some lemon juice or a sprinkle of sugar to balance out the flavors if necessary.
A garnish of fresh herbs would be delicious, but I had none on hand.

These fresh-baked spirals are my humble contribution to World Bread Day '07. Many thanks to Zorra for hosting this event. 2007 has been the year when I have really started to make breads- both our Indian flatbreads and other breads- on a regular basis, and it is such a rewarding experience each time! I look forward to plenty of bread-making inspiration in the round-up.

27 comments:

  1. savoury rools with pizza dough is such a neat idea!!! i can imagine them with a sprinkling of the red garlic chutney powder inside.

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  2. yummy Nupur... I will try this very soon.

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  3. Great food for wintery times! The spirals are a cool idea-will keep in mind when i am left with lil' dough!

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  4. Yum the piza spirals looks yummy

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  5. hey that soup with spirals looks so welcoming on cold & foggy day like today!!
    U did make me hungry now!!!

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  6. cool idea... :)

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  7. I am still drooling over those photos! Just loved the savoury rolls with the soup. Top of my list of 'Must try' recipes. Thanks Nupur

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  8. Yes Fall is definitely here and nothing to warm the insides like a bowl of lentil tomato soup and some of those creative Pizza dough spirals.

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  9. Sounds like the perfect cool weather meal. Tomato soup is one of my favorites, and those spirals look easy and delicious.

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  10. Nupur, both the pizza rolls and soup are so inviting .:)

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  11. love lentil soups....simple but satisfying...spirals look great too

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  12. Those creative spirals were V's ? Wow very neat

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  13. A perfect meal for chilly evenings :)

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  14. Wow Nupur that's a great idea after a long day at work, soups and bread are always welcome.

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  15. Thanks for linking to my post. =)

    Your spirals look perfect. Once again, I find myself wtih a bit of leftover pizza dough. I think I'll bake up a batch of savoury rolls and try your hearty soup at the same time!

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  16. Great idea Nupur.. you come up with such cool ideas.

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  17. I love lentil soups. Love what you've done with the pizza rolls.

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  18. No cheese here. Pesto or olives sound good to me :)

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  19. Now that's my idea of the perfect meal - bread and soup. Both look delicious Nupur! It's amazing you can put such a gorgeous (and nutritious) meal like that on the table in under an hour.

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  20. The pic makes me go hungry

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  21. oh wow....you came up with this on a hurried night? Most nights I need a lot(and I mean a LOT) of inspiration to cook something as elaborate as this. Kudos to you!

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  22. Now I'm hungry! The soup and the bread look so delcious!

    Thank you for joining World Bread Day.

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  23. Damn those rolls have my eyes rolling with delight!

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  24. i have wanted to make spirals ever since i saw Sharmi's herb spirals. yours look so inviting Nupur. I can imagine dunking them into the soup and slurping away:)

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  25. the rolls are a great idea to use up leftover dough. the soup looks great, but then never met a lentil soup that i didn't like.

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  26. Spirals? What a creative and fun recipe! I am definitely making these, which would make great party food too. Maybe I should throw a party just so I can make some. ;)

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  27. Bee, mmm...garlic chutney is a great idea, had not thought of that :)

    Raaga, you are such an enthusiastic baker, you will surely enjoy making this.

    Musical, you'll need a lot of dough...you can't eat just one ;)

    Happy cook, they tasted yummy too :)

    Padmaja, I know...foggy weather is sure to put you into a soup-craving mood!

    Priya, it is, right?

    Madhuli, let me know if you like them :)

    Indosungod, yes, "warming the insides" was exactly what this meal did for us!

    Lydia, next time I will make these will plain old-fashioned tomato soup. Any soup would actually pair well with these.

    Siri, glad you think so :)

    Rajitha, I am not such a fan of lentil soups (prefer good ol' dal) but this one was quite delicious :)

    Sandeepa, thanks :)

    Tee, it sure was!

    Bindiya, yes, it really is a treat after a long day.

    Casual Baker, thanks for sharing a really cool idea!

    Laavanya, this was someone else's idea :) I am not that good at fresh ideas ;)

    Cynthia, thanks so much!

    Suganya, yes, pesto would be delicious here.

    Cathy, the soup simmers and the rolls bake all by themselves, this is truly a minimum-effort meal.

    Bhags, oh dear! Well, just grab the rolls then!

    Nabeela, this is not elaborate at all! Give it a try!

    Zorra, thanks for hosting it! I know I will learn so much from the round-up.

    Dhana, :D LOL

    Priyanka, oooh, I should go see Sharmi's herb spirals now!

    TheCooker, your kids might enjoy eating these too, they are fun to eat.

    Susan, yes, these are totally great for party food, but don't forget to invite me :D

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