Artichoke Carmelized Onion and Roasted Red Pepper Flatbread... don't forget the capers.

When you're oven is dead and you have a group of women coming over for a book club, having no food is not an option.  Well it's not an option for me, especially since I cannot partake of the wine and other alcoholic goodies.  Lucky for me I still have a grill and a husband that has a couple of recipes up his sleeve.  One of my favorites is his grilled flatbread.  I should probably call it our flatbread as I am the creative force behind the toppings.  I wanted to do vegetarian toppings and this is the first time I have thrown this combination together and it was sooooooooooo delicious, it may be my new favorite.  I adore artichokes especially on pizza, but I hadn't really planned ahead past picking up the artichokes at the store... brilliant I know.  I blame pregnancy brain.  Anyway... looking in the refrigerator I thought... hmmmmmm how about carmelized onions, aaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnndddddddddddd.... hmmmm there's a red pepper in the crisper, maybe roasted red peppers, another of my favorite.  Now I would normally add goat cheese to this but since it is going to be grilled the topping don't get super hot so I couldn't have goat cheese so regular mozzarella would have to do, but I still wanted something a little salty so I used capers.  Then I put them all out on the counter and thought... is that going to work together.  Imagine this is where the little light bulb appears over my head.  A quick check into The Flavor Bible gave me a confirmation that all of these flavors do go together, very well.  YES!

The next step was to decide the sauce.  I'm a big fan of olive oil and fresh herbs instead of red sauce, especially thanks to the joys of heartburn during pregnancy, but while looking at the toppings I thought that a white sauce might be great, and I personally think it was... hence the new move to favorite flatbread status.

Now we're ready..... when my husband makes the flatbread, I first decide what goes on each one then I prep the toppings and sauce and put them all together so he can just throw them together out on the grill.

First the boys prepped the dough, the recipe link to an earlier post is below... it makes 6 flatbreads, and they freeze beautifully pre-cooking so make the whole batch you won't be sorry.

 I drained the artichokes (I don't do fresh artichokes they are not worth it if you're going to add them to other things), cut them in half and have them a quick sear on the grill pan.

Carmelized a little onion

Roast the pepper

 I like to set it over the gas burner (don't judge my ancient stained burner... it will be replaced asap now that we've got the oven ordered), until charred.  For those stubborn spots that don't like to char I have a crème brulee torch, that thing comes in handy often.

Once it's all burnt and smelling delicious, throw it in a paper bag and close the top.  You want the whole thing burnt, the red parts in this photo are actually where the skin has blistered and peeled back.  Leave it in the bag for about 10 minutes, open the bag stem and seed the pepper and you can either wash or scrap the skin off at this point, it should come right off.

 Rinse and dry some capers and add everything to a convenient carrying case for your  husband. 

I won't add the photo of the sauce because it smells and tastes better than it looked under poor lighting but I'll make sure to give you the recipe.

Grill it up and serve.... don't expect a whole lot of leftover... I remembered this photo a few minutes after the flatbread hit the table.

Artichoke, Carmalized Onion, Roasted Red Pepper and Caper Flatbread... whew that's a long one
adapted from Eileen's little pea brain

Ingredients

Toppings
2 serving dough (makes 2 flatbreads, split the toppings below between the two)
olive oil
fresh oregano (to taste)
1 red bell pepper, roasted an sliced thin
1 can of artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed, dried, cut in half and seared if so desired
handful of grated mozarella or cheese of choice (there is parmesan in the sauce so nothing overwhelming)
2 teaspoons of capers, rinsed and dried
white sauce (recipe below)
1/2 large white onion, carmelized

White Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons fresh basil, minced
1/2 cup parmigiano-reggiano cheese, shredded

Heat butter in a small saucepan. Add flour and stir until thoroughly mixed.

Slowly whisk in milk, adding gradually. Stir in remaining ingredients. Will thicken upon standing.

Method

Prepare toppings as stated above.  Prepare white sauce, keep warm if possible or give a good stir right before adding. Prepare dough from HERE, and that link will also tell you how to grill it up.  Sorry I'm totally lazy and don't want to rewrite it.  Have a good week.

Chicken with Artichoke and Mushrooms

It's no secret that too many people eat their dinners while driving through an intersection in between picking the kids up from school and dropping them off at the practice of the day.  Never before have children had more appointments then their parents, or been more stressed, or been more malnutritioned, as in obesity not starving. 

In today's soceity we generally spend more on food than ever before and we have more food in our house than generations past, and yet we don't eat it, and that which we do it comes in plastic wrappers and tubes and all sorts of odd things that really doesn't resemble food at all.  Everyone is too tired and too burnt out to eat.  So they scarf something down in front of their computers after the kids have eaten their frozen meals and gone to bed exhausted from their crazy schedule.

I am no different.  Yesterday while driving home from the airport after a day of travel, that is so bad I hope to never think of it again let alone write about it, as I handed my not-yet-two-year old french fries from the the front seat I thought.... this is a far cry from the day when I was pregnant and my husband and I vowed that McDonald's would never pass this child's lips.  However the thought of going home and cooking made me want to burst into tears.  We too are just too busy and too exhausted to put in the time and energy that making dinner every night requires. 

The upside of this is at least some of us are more than aware of the short coming of these dinners and want to do better.  My friend Jenn has started a recipe swap on facebook that I am really loving and hoping people will add their input so we can all share in our quick cooking tricks.

This recipe comes from our dear friends Andrew and Nadia in Canada.  Every year when we go home to visit at Christmas time, they always cook up a meal (for a large crowd), that is a) delicious, and b) tends to be smart in time management as they know that being good host and hostess means being relaxed and actually being able to oh I don't know... visit with your guest maybe?  And every year without fail I am asking for the recipe and it usually goes into our general rotation for go to dinners for family and guests alike.

You want healthy, quick, and tasty... here you  go.  Say thank you Andrew and Nadia.

Chicken with Artichoke and Mushrooms


Ingredients

3 pounds chicken breast (I halved the meat but not the sauce as my daughter who "hates mushrooms and
                                       artichokes" loved the sauce)
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon paprika
14oz. canned artichoke hearts, without oil (I think I will halve the artichokes next time too)
2 cups mushrooms, sliced (I used pre-sliced to save time but found them a little thick cut)
2 tablespoons flour
2/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons white wine
1/3 teaspoon rosemary
1/3 cup butter

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper and paprka. Melt butter in large frying pan over medium heat. Saute chicken until lightly brown; remove with a slotted spoon to a casserole dish. Arrange artichokes between pieces of chicken.

In same frying pan, lightly saute mushrooms until all liquid evaporates. Sprinkle flour over mushroom; stir in broth, wine and rosemary. Cook, stirring, until slightly thickened. Pour over chicken and artichokes. Cover and bake for 25 minutes or until cooked through.