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.

Beat the heat.... Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Yes, I do realize these are tomatoes and not peppers... keep your pants on they're coming

It's hot.... it's TOO HOT!  I know there are some people that make an honest effort about never complaining about the weather, because they wanted it to be hot all Winter.  I am not one of those people.  There are days (this year there are many days) that are just too stinking hot and no amount of frigid winter weather (that is long forgotten by July) will ever make me forget that a heat index of 115 and 1000% humidity is WAY TOO HOT!

Especially when you are faced with the task of feeding a few faces every night in said heat and humidity.  What to make when the mere thought of boiling water raises the temperature in your micro-kitchen a few degrees?

Step 1:  Forget everything you know about what should constitute a well rounded meal.  You feed your family normal meals approximately 328 days a year.  This number is completely pulled out of the air and has no statistical relevence whatesoever but I assume it gives enough room for two weeks of too hot to cook days in the summer, and the rest is filled with things out of desperation, like chicken nuggest, and fast food drive through.  Anyway.... a couple of days with some random food stuffs isn't going to cause malnutrition.

fruit salad sneaks in all the goodie phytochemicals in, when served with lemon-ricotta pancakes your youngest child will promise to never put you in a nursing home

Step 2:  Buy a pre-cooked roaster chicken from the grocery store, a block of good quality cheese (make sure it is pasturized, not a soft mold ripened cheese, or goat cheese if you're pregnant.  Hey it sucks but it's science, it could do some serious damage to your developing child.  NO that is not opinion.  Listeria is is a scientifically proven fact, want to be scared...do a google.  Stay away until after delivery.  Trust me that is easier said than done for me.  If you're doctor says it's okay I recommend getting a doctor that didn't fail Microbiology), a loaf of decent bread, a jar of pickles, a jar of olives, and a tomato and/or cucumber.  Take all the meat off a chicken, put the bones in a bag in the freezer for later stocks.  Throw everything else on a plate (maybe you help the ones under 4 with the knife) and voila.  Meal 1 accomplished.

Step 3:  Realize you cannot feed your family or yourself a bunch of cheese, pickled items, and cold chicken for the next two weeks.

Step 4:  PANIC.

Step 5:  Find other heat friendly meals that aren't just salad.

Step 6: Use this post as a way of sneaking in your mother-in-laws amazing Roasted Red Pepper Soup, and fulfill the request of one of your friends for the recipe at the same time... sneaky, sneaky.

I never got a chance to take a final pictures, you know with the heat and all, so that is another reason I am sneaking it into this post.  I'm not sure if hot soup sounds like a good idea to some of you when it's hot outside, but honestly I love soup any time, and as long as whatever it is I'm cooking doesn't make the inside temperature of my kitchen, match the outside temperature, it's all good!

Roasted Red Pepper and Potato Soup

The Mother-in-Law's Recipe
Ingredients

*5 large red bell peppers
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup butter
8 cups (2L) chicken broth  (can substitute veg. broth for a vegetarian version)
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1/3 cup finely chopped basil
Dash of Angustura bitters (find this with the alcohol drink mixers)
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Method

Wash peppers and leave them whole. Place them on a hot barbecue grill or under the broiler and cook until the skin closest to the flame or element is charred and bubbly, about 5 minutes. Using tongs to turn the peppers, continue charring until skin is blackened on all sides. Remove from heat and put into a paper bag. Close tightly and let sit about 10 minutes or until the skin peels easily. Remove all the skin and seeds and dice flesh. Melt butter over medium-low heat and add the onion and garlic. Saute for 10 minutes or until the onion is translucent. Add the red peppers and chicken broth, cook for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and cook an additional 15 minutes.

Puree the soup in the blender and return to the pot. Add the basil and Angostura bitters. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stir well. Remove from heat. Add salt and pepper to taste.

* Can substitute jarred roasted red peppers. Wash them well and remove any charred skin before chopping.  However which would you rather eat?  The right is a pile of sad, droopy jarred peppers that I keep on hand for those days that I don't have the extra 2 minutes to roast a fresh one, or say have used a couple of red peppers because I forgot they were marked for soup.  And the left is a freshly roasted pepper.  There is no comparison really.