This photo is of the horse I rode on the carousel at the Heritage Museum on Cape Cod a short while ago. Sometimes I feel like I am on a permanent carousel. Up and down, round and round. Life doesn't stop. Up, with weddings or babies or awards/honors....down, with illness or deaths or divorces. Going round and round all the while, life continues on. Sometimes it seems like there are more downs than ups, so we need to pay attention to the ups and celebrate them, no matter how small they may be. More on that in another post.....
I forgot to mention the nice cupcakes I got for John to eat at the rehearsal dinner and wedding last weekend. They were from Dee's One Smart Cookie, and the link is here. Delicious jumbo cupcakes with raspberry filling. Awesome!
Last night I made another quick dinner of Jones Canadian Bacon, which is gluten free, eggs, and some flatbread. I was first introduced to the idea of flatbread from the book, Food Matters, by Mark Bittman. I always change my recipes, knitting patterns and other directions.....and here is what I wound up doing. I changed many things, like the proportions and cooking method. The result is an interesting mix of textures: crunchy on the bottom, with the onion imparting a creamy mouthfeel, and a dense top of something between bread and a cracker. Next time I think I will dust the top with parmesan or cracked pepper or sesame seeds or something to give visual interest. I would like to try other flours, too....there are many different gluten free flour blends available!
HH's Flatbread
This is also known as "Socca."
Preheat oven to 450.
Chop 1/2 a small onion into tiny bits.
Mix 1 cup garbanzo flour (Bob's Red Mill makes this),
1/2 tsp. salt, and
1 cup water.
Use a wire whisk to make it smooth. Set it aside for now.
Heat 1-2 Tbs oil in the 10" skillet
Add chopped onion and 1/2 tsp Herbs de Province. This is something I picked up about a month ago....it has thyme, rosemary, savory, basil, lavender, and other stuff, too. If you don't have this, use whatever strikes you that day.
Cook a little until the onion softens. By this time your oven should be preheated. Pour the flour and water mixture over the onions. Pop the skillet into the oven and bake 25-30 min. Cut into wedges. Serves 3-4.
Update 10-12-2013: Flatbread Pizza!
Today I used this basic recipe for a flatbread pizza for two.
We were heading out for a car show in the afternoon, so in the morning I combined:
1 cup garbanzo flour
1/2 tsp. salt,
~1 tsp. of Italian herbs,
~1 Tbs of olive oil, and
1 cup water.
I covered this and set it in the refrigerator to allow the flour to absorb the liquid while we were away.
When we came home, I turned on the oven to 450.
I put another tablespoon of olive oil into my 10" cast iron skillet.
I put that into the oven to heat up, then I poured the batter into the hot pan.
I baked it about 22 minutes. It looked nice.
I shifted the oven to broil.
I topped the flatbread with some tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella, and grated parmesan.
I returned the pan to the oven/broiler until the mozzarella was melted.
It slid out of the pan easily. Once on a platter, I cut it into six slices.
Okay, truth be told, I made two of these. But one was all we needed for the two of us!
