roasted garlic

chickpea flour flatbread w/ new potatoes + fresh basil (v + gf) /  by Lindsey | Dolly and Oatmeal

as i'm sure many of you know, anya, from the beautiful blog, Golubka, released her first cookbook, The Vibrant Table a few weeks ago.  i was lucky enough to receive a copy and have been anxiously plotting out what i will make first.  first of all, this cookbook is more than a cookbook; it's a guide on healthy, wholesome, CONSCIOUS eating - with a preface that frames all the ingredients in the book and explains why anya utilizes them (some of which i have never heard of before, but am totally jazzed to use - maca + mesquite!). not only do her recipes reflect her culture and heritage, but they are also a celebration of family and meals for all kinds of occasions.  moreover, the photos (all of which her daughter take - both for her blog and the cookbook!) weave a beautifully, vibrant food story.

i've been working on a flatbread recipe for some time using chickpea/garbanzo bean flour.  there's been a lot trial and error - substituting half the garbanzo bean flour for other GF flours, adding various amounts of oil and water and adding different herbs and spices.  finally, i reached a consistency and texture that i'm super pleased with - crispy and thin without much of a crumble!  i've been waiting for just the right mix of ingredients to top this flatbread, so when i received my copy of The Vibrant Table (and immediately read through it!) and saw anya's fingerling potato and rosemary flatbread, i knew i had found the perfect way to top off my flatbread.  new potatoes are popping up at all the markets around me, as well as leafy herbs and freshly plucked onions, so i chose to make a few changes to the original recipe based on what was available to me.  all in all, the garlic-smeared flatbread with slightly sweet potatoes, shiitakes, onions and some toasted pine nuts, came out to be one of the loveliest combos i've ever had.  thank you to anya for the inspiration! 

chickpea flour flatbread w/ new potatoes + fresh basil (v + gf)

| makes 2 flatbreads |

flatbread topping adapted from The Vibrant Table

i didn't have all the ingredients from anya's flatbread recipe, she uses rolled oats, quinoa flakes, nuts, zucchini and chia seeds that i would imagine to be super tasty.  but if you're not gluten free, substituting your favorite/go-to flatbread recipe is totally ok too! 

ingredients

dough

  • 2 cups garbanzo bean/chickpea flour, plus more for dusting
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for coating bowl
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
  • 6-8 tablespoons water

topping

  • roughly 12 ounces assorted new potatoes, thinly sliced (preferably with a mandoline)
  • 1 head of garlic
  • 4-6 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced thin
  • 1 small red onion, sliced thin
  • 1/4 cup fresh basil, julienned
  • 2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
  • olive oil for brushing
  • sea salt + fresh ground pepper

instructions

  • place the sliced potatoes in a large bowl; cover the slices with cold water and 1 tablespoon sea salt.  let sit for about 1 hour
  • preheat oven to 350°.  slice off the top of the garlic head to expose the insides.  peel most of the surrounding layers of paper and place inside a piece of foil.  sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil, wrap foil and place in a small baking dish or ramekin.  roast for 25-30 minutes - until cloves can be easily pierced with a sharp knife.  squeeze garlic cloves into a small bowl and mash with the back of a fork; set aside

for the crust

  • in a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt.  add the olive oil and mix with your hands until oil is evenly dispersed and the flour resembles small crumbles.  by the tablespoon, work water in little by little with your hands - you may need more or less water depending on your brand of flour.  in the end, you want your dough to be pliable, but not too sticky.  once dough comes together kneed and form into a smooth ball, brush with a bit of oil and cover with a dish towel - let rest in the bowl for 8-10 minutes
  • divide dough evenly into 2 pieces (place second piece back in the bowl and cover).  take a large piece of parchment paper and dust it with flour.  form dough into an disk and flour the top of the dough (you can either use a second piece of parchment or a floured rolling pin), and roll dough into a 9-10 inch circle - if edges crack just pinch back together
  • repeat with second piece of dough when ready

assemble flatbread

  • preheat oven to 400° with a baking sheet inside
  • drain and rinse the potato slices, pat dry.  using a pastry brush, smooth top of dough with a 1/4 of the roasted garlic puree, then evenly arrange potato slices, overlapping the edges of slices until the dough is covered.  lightly brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt + pepper.  transfer the flatbread, with the parchment, to the oven and bake for 16-18 minutes
  • remove flatbread from oven and add half the mushrooms and onion, then add another 1/4 of the garlic puree and a small sprinkle of salt.  bake for about 13 minutes, remove, add basil and then cook for another 2 minutes.  remove flatbread and transfer to a cutting board. slice bread and top a tablespoon of toasted pine nuts.  serve and enjoy!
  • repeat with other piece of dough

roasted garlic hummus /  by Lindsey | Dolly and Oatmeal

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a few months ago a new cookbook came out called, jerusalem by yotam ottolenghi. i had been able to preview parts of the book through a website i follow, 101cookbooks, and the beautiful images are what initially caught my eye. each page illustrates the every day lives of jerusalem's inhabitants and how food perhaps is one thing that unites them. here is one part of the introduction that has stuck with me:

"although jerusalemites have so much in common, food, at the moment, seems to be the only unifying force in this highly fractured place...it is sad to note how little daily interaction there is between communities, with people sticking together in closed, homogeneous groups. food, however, seems to break down those boundaries on occasion. you can see people shop together in food markets, or eat at one another's restaurants...it takes a giant leap of faith, but we are happy to take it - what have we got to lose? - to imagine that hummus will eventually bring jerusalemites together, if nothing else will."

i used the recipe from jerusalem in combination with the smitten kitchen variation of it. seriously, best. hummus. ever! however, achieving this totally-worth-it-hummus was no easy task. in deb perelman's (smitten kitchen) hummus post, she gave up the trick to smooth, creamy hummus: skinless chickpeas! who knew!? whether you are using dried chickpeas or ones out of the can, deb insists that one has to "pop" each chickpea individually out of its shell/skin. tedious? yes! worth the aggravation and work? yes!

adapted from jerusalem and smitten kitchen

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makes a little under 2 cups

1 3/4 cups cooked, drained chickpeas (from a 15-ounce can) or a little shy of 2/3 cup dried chickpeas 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (for dried chickpeas only) 1/2 cup tahini paste 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or more to taste 8 cloves roasted garlic 1/2 teaspoon table salt, or more to taste approximately 1/4 cup water

::for dried chickpeas::

in a bowl soak dried chickpeas with water that is twice their volume (just make sure the there's a few inches of water covering the chickpeas). leave them to soak overnight. the next day, drain the chickpeas. in a sautè pan over medium-high heat, combine the chickpeas with the baking soda (apparently this reduces the gassy effects of dried beans!). stir constantly for about 3 minutes. add 3 1/4 cups of water - bring to a boil. once it boils turn down to a slow simmer (i had my heat up too high, my beans got quite mushy and were hard to peel later on). use a slotted spoon to skim the foam from the surface. they will cook for 20-40 minutes. you will know that they're ready when they break easily between you thumb and finger.

drain the chickpeas. you can either let them cool on their own, or run them under cold water.

::for dried and canned chickpeas::

here is the important part: peel your peas! place the chickpeas between your thumb, forefinger and middle finger and pop them out one by one.

in a food processor or blender, blend the chickpeas until clumps form. next, add the tahini, lemon juice, salt, and roasted garlic, blend until pureed. add water by the tablespoon until you get desired consistency.

transfer the hummus to a bowl and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. let it sit longer if possible to let the ingredients marinate.

::enjoy::