You can do an awful lot with very little, Fellow FoodBeest. This recipe is basically flour and water with a little olive oil, cheese and seasoning. It is a two-step cooking process. First you bake the flatbread – it’s a cracker, really. Then you top it and bake it a second time.

The flatbread comes from Sardinia, a Mediterranean island that is a part of Italy. Featuring za’atar, it actually has at least as much in common with Middle Eastern cooking as it does with Italian.

A spice mixture typical of the Middle East, za’atar is a blend of drued thyme, oregano, and marjoram. It sometimes includes sumac, toasted sesame seeds or salt. There are many different versions of za’atar, depending on where in the Arabian Peninsula or North Africa you are.

Za’atar is typically used on pita or hummus. You can use it to season meats or vegetables. You could mix it in with yogurt for a dip or on roasted potatoes.

I had quite a time finding za’atar. I hunted through the spice and international aisles of my local grocery chains and failed. One option was to seek out a Middle Eastern grocery store. Instead I went to the best source for great spices that I know of, the Spice House. The Spice House has stores in on Wells St. in Chicago, in Evanston and Geneva, Illinois, and in Milwaukee. It carries a really broad range of fragrant and fresh international spices and spice blends.

I couldn’t live without their Saigon Cinnamon. Or their sweet smoked paprika. But I digress, Fellow FoodBeest.

You can can order za’atar – or other spices – from the Spice House website.

Sardinian flatbread (6 good-sized pieces)

What You Need To Make Sardinian Flatbread
2¼ C unbleached all purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1 t sea salt
1½ C warm water

How You Make Sardinian Flatbread
Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of mixer (yes, you can do it by hand) and mix until it comes together and becomes elastic.

Remove the dough from the bowl and knead it a few times. This is a very messy process. The dough is sticky and your hands will be covered with it.

Set it on the counter and cover it with the mixing bowl and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, put a pizza baking stone on a rack in the oven and heat it to 475 degrees for a good half-hour. If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can use parchment lined sheet trays lined with parchment paper.

After the dough has rested, divide the dough into 6 pieces and roll each one in the palms of your hands until they become smooth balls of dough.

Sprinkle the counter lightly with flour and then dip one of the balls of dough into the flour and shake off the excess.

Using the palm of your hand flatten the dough out into an oval and, with a rolling pin, start rolling it out. Turn it 90 degrees between each roll so it becomes a long oval. Roll it as thin as you can. The pieces will be rustic and irregular-shaped. Not a problem. What do you think they look like in most Sardinian kitchens?

Using a fork pierce the dough. Gently lift the dough and place it onto the stone and bake it for 5 minutes, flipping it half-way through. While it is baking, roll out the next flatbread. Remove the first flatbread from the oven and continue baking the rest.

Feta Cheese and Za’atar-Topped Flatbread

What You Need to Make Feta Cheese and Za’atar-Topped Flatbread
3-6 pieces of Sardinian Flatbread
olive oil
[Use a good one. You can taste the difference with this]
za’ atar
[For more information about za’atar, see above]
sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
¾ C crumbled feta cheese

How You Make Feta Cheese and Za’atar-Topped Flatbread
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.
Brush the flatbread with olive oil, sprinkle with feta and then dust with za’ atar, salt and pepper. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Break it into pieces and serve immediately.

If you don’t know what to do with it, invite Mr. FB over. He will happily eat it while watching golf on TV. (Golf? Really? Yes, golf. Who knew?)

Grilled Flatbreads

Heat wave.

We got hit with a day of nearly 100-degree temperatures. The second floor of our house, with its fashionable skylights, is heating up way faster than even the most valiant air conditioner can combat. Temperature up there (where my office is) hit somewhere in the mid-80s this afternoon.

A brief rain just before dinner cooled nothing off, but left it even more humid. We’re expecting temperatures in the 90s for a good week. And it’s not even July yet.

Global Warming? Climate Change? Don’t be ridiculous, Fellow FoodBeest. They just moved Texas up to Illinois when we weren’t looking.

So when it’s too hot to cook there are a few options:
Eat raw. Fruits. Cold soups. Salads.
Grill.

And so that’s what we did.

I had been looking at grilled flatbreads for a while and today was the day.

They’re great because they’re so versatile, quick to cook and easy to eat.

Here’s what I learned
• Make the crust really thin, Fellow FoodBeest. The old saw that you can’t be too thin is true here. You want a cracker consistency; nothing chewy.
• Cook ‘em until they are seared but not burnt. It’s a fine line. You want crispy; not charcoal.
• Top ‘em with whatever you like. And then be creative. You want — you want whatever you like.

What It Takes to Make Grilled Flatbread
1 packet dry yeast, (1/4 oz)
½ C lukewarm water
3½ C unbleached flour
1¼ t salt
1 t sugar
1 C lukewarm water

How To Make Grilled Flatbread
Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water, add sugar, stir and let stand for 10 minutes until it gets frothy.

Pour Yeasty Lukewarm Water into Well of Flour

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour and salt, mix thoroughly with a rubber spatula. Make a well, add the yeasty water and about half the additional water; mix and gradually add more water a few tablespoons at a time using a rubber spatula (it can be very sticky until well mixed) until firm and elastic and just a little sticky to touch.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured working surface and knead for 10 minutes or until it is smooth and elastic. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with a plastic wrap and leave in a warm, draft-free place to rise for 2-3 hours. I put it in an unused, unheated oven for most of the afternoon.

The dough will nearly double in size. Punch it down, knead it lightly, roll it out into a rope and then pinch off handfuls to form into balls about the size of tangerines—somewhere between a ping-pong ball and a tennis ball.

Place balls on a lightly floured surface a few inches apart, cover and let rest for 10-15 minutes. They will increase in size again.

Keep the Flatbread Shape Uneven and Rustic

On your lightly floured working surface, squash a ball flat and round with your hand and then roll it out, flipping and turning it until it is a round of the desired thickness: less than 1/4 inch thick and about 5 inches across. Unevenly and oddly shaped is good here. Think rustic.

Set aside, covered, for another 10 minutes.

Grill ‘Em Until They Are Seared But Not Burnt

Heat your grill (We usually prefer the flavor of charcoal but this time we used gas because it’s easier) and grill at a medium heat until dark sear marks appear on one side.

At this point you can either flip it and grill the second side or – if you are using cheese you want to melt – you can top it before grilling the second side.

We used about half of the dough, wrapping the remaining balls carefully and freezing them for next time.

Flatbread toppings
Here are some suggestions

Flatbread Topped with Mushrooms, Pancetta and Cheese

Sauté two thick slices of chopped pancetta or good, thick-sliced bacon. Add 4 oz. sliced wild or crimini mushrooms and two minced garlic cloves. Sauté until soft. Add 2 T port or sherry wine to deglaze the pan. Top the flatbread with the mixture and add a little shredded mozzarella before you grill the second side.

Flatbread with Cherry Tomatoes, Fresh Ricotta and Garlic Scapes

Cook both sides of the flatbread. Rub one side with a cut garlic clove and brush with olive oil. Spread with good ricotta cheese (I used fresh ricotta, just because it is so much better) and top with tomatoes (I used sweet yellow cherry tomatoes), and sautéed garlic scapes. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and oregano.

Grill the first side. Top with some roasted cherry tomatoes. Brush flatbread with olive oil, top with tomatoes, goat cheese and chopped olives or capers. Grill second side.

Other things to play with:
Roasted peppers
Any cheese you like
Cooked sausage
Asparagus
Artichokes
Zucchini (or zucchini blossoms)
Corn
Spinach
Spring onions

You get the idea. Choose what you like. Be creative. Go ahead and make it as simple or complex as your mood dictates. Have fun.

Siracha Mary Shrimp Hors d'Oeurves

Please Pass the Hors d’Oeurves.

I am so in the holiday spirit. As I plan ahead to parties I am going to over the next few weeks and what I want to bring, food does tend to be top of mind. I know it’s the frantic holiday season. I know you have too much to do. I know you’re already eating too much. But I want to make it easy. 

I have two good new party foods for you. Both are fast and easy. Both are finger foods. Both are yummy. Both are forgiving if you doing something “wrong.”

The first is a seasonal Pear and Cheese Flatbread. By themselves, I’ve always found pears to be pretty boring, but if you cook them and/or pair them (or pear them) with cheese, something interesting happens.  This is one of those interesting things.

The second is a Siracha Mary. It’s actually a cross between a Siracha Bloody Mary (vodka and all) and a 21st Century shrimp cocktail. Low fat. No sugar. Really tasty! Ready? Here we go.

Pear Cambozola Flatbread

Pear Cambazola Flatbread

First the Flatbread, itself.
The crust is of the relatively easy variety and you can make it a day or two ahead if you cool it completely and keep it in an airtight container at room temperature.

What it Takes To Make Flatbread
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
[there was actually some thyme still living on the plants outside my kitchen in the middle of December!]
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup water
1/3 cup olive oil plus more for brushing
Flaky sea salt

How to Make Flatbread
Preheat oven to 450°F with a heavy baking sheet on rack in the middle of the oven. Stir together flour, chopped thyme, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in center, then add water and oil and slowly stir the water and oil into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon. A dough will form. Knead dough gently on a work surface 4 or 5 times. Divide dough into 3 pieces and roll out 1 piece (keep remaining pieces covered with plastic wrap) on a sheet of parchment paper into a roundish or oval shape. The dough should be thin and it can totally be imperfect and rustic.

Flatbread Dough with Thyme

Lightly brush the top of the dough with additional oil and scatter more thyme on top, pressing in the edges slightly. Sprinkle the whole crust with sea salt. Slide the parchment onto the bottom side of a preheated baking sheet, poke holes into it with a fork (to keep the flatbread flat) and bake 5 minutes. It should be pale golden and slightly browned in spots.

Transfer flatbread (discard parchment) to a rack to cool, then repeat the process two more times until you have three crusts. Then make 2 more crusts (1 at a time) on fresh parchment.

Alternately, if you are just running out of time and/or energy, pick up a couple of refrigerated pizza dough containers. Mix the dough with some fresh thyme and roll it out very thin. Sprinkle it with sea salt and place it on the upended bottom of a preheated dark baking sheet. Proceed to perforate it with a fork and bake five minutes. It won’t be a cracker-crackly, but it will be fine and no one but you has to know you used a ready-made crust. I’m certainly not going to tell.

What It Takes to Make Pear Flatbread Topping
Extra-virgin olive oil
Fine sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
2 ripe but firm Bosc or d’anjou pears cut into 1/4-inch thick slices and divided into 4 equal portions
8 ounces cambozola cheese
[alternately you can use Gorgonzola, Brie or goat cheese]
1 red onion, sliced and then the slices cut into quarters
3 cups baby arugula

How You Make Pear Flatbread Topping
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Sauteed Red Onions for Flatbread

Sauté the red onion in about a tablespoon of olive oil. Meanwhile, slice the pear about ¼-inch thick. Don’t bother to peel it.

Pear Cambozola Flatbread Ready to Bake

Put the slices of pear and the sautéed red onion on the prepared flatbread crust. Sprinke pieces of the cheese (your choice) all around the crust.

Flatbread Out of the Oven

Put the crust in the center of the preheated oven for five minutes. Remove. Let the flatbread cool slightly. Top with baby arugula, sprinkle with olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Cut into serving pieces and place on a pretty serving tray.

Siracha Mary Shrimp

Siracha Mary Shrimp

What It Takes to Make Siracha Mary Shrimp
1 pound medium shrimp in shell, peeled and deveined
2 T salt
3-4 celery ribs, chopped small
6 finely chopped scallions
½ C chili sauce
¼ C vodka
¼ C fresh lemon juice
1 T bottled horseradish
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1 t Siracha sauce

What It Takes to Make Siracha Mary Shrimp
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to boil with the salt. Add shrimp, then remove from heat and let stand in water until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Drain and cool a bit. Cut shrimp into thirds and mix with celery and scallions.

Mix Shrimp and Vegetables With Sauce

Whisk together chili sauce, vodka, lemon juice, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce and Siracha sauce. Stir sauce into shrimp mixture.

To serve, you can either spoon a couple of shrimp pieces with vegetables and sauce into the bowl of each Chinese soupspoon and arrange the spoons on a platter – or you can serve the shrimp in a bowl surrounded by crostini, endive leaves and/or cucumber slices for your guests. Either way garnish with diced avocado.

Party on.

Ok, Fellow FoodBeest, what little noshes are you enjoying with holiday season? What do you think of these? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the Comment section below.