Sweet & Spicy Flatbread
Roasted grapes, caramelized onions, roasted pepper and seasoned ricotta flatbread
What do you consider a flatbread? To me it’s the distant cousin to pizza , there is familiarity, comfort and a healthier vibe. It’s a pizza with no sauce, innovative toppings and a fusion of cuisines. The combination of flavours in this recipe, the earthy caramelized onions, spicy roasted poblano chile , sweet roasted grapes and dollops of seasoned ricotta touches everything I love in a flatbread.
I will add a note and state I did not make the dough from scratch but I purchased it from a nearby pizza place. You can feel free to create dough using your favourite pizza dough recipe but pre bought dough is a great time saving shortcut . . So if you give this one a try let me know your thoughts .
Please note:
This recipe is built for a 12 inch thin crust flatbread.
Caramelizing onions can take about 30 minutes and it is the process of slowly cooking the onions so that their natural sugars release and they achieve a dark brown soft jammy texture. You can add in 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar after 15 minutes of cook time to the onions to add some additional flavour.
Poblano pepper can be substituted with bell pepper or jalapeños depending on your spice preference.
Roasting the grapes and poblano pepper can be done on the stove top in a cast iron pan versus the oven , it really is your preference.
If you want to add protein I think grilled chicken breast, bacon or even lamb meatballs would be awesome in this mix.
Ingredients :
Pre - made pizza dough for a 12 inch pizza
1 large onion sliced
10 grapes halved
1 poblano pepper
1/3 cup of ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 sprigs of thyme
1/4 teaspoon of grated garlic
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preparation:
Caramelize the onions by place the sliced onion in a non-stick pan on low heat and with 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil. Slowly turn the onions after 10 minutes and add 1/8 teaspoon of salt to help draw out the moisture . Keep monitoring and turning the onions every 5 minutes. If the onions start burning you can add 2 tablespoons of water and if the onions start sticking to the pan you can add 1 tablespoon of butter . This process generally takes about 30 minutes and is completed when all the onions slices have become soft and golden to dark brown.
Roast the grapes by tossing them in a little vegetable oil and putting them in the oven at 375 F for 10 mins . These can burn quickly so keep an eye on them and quickly remove from the heat as soon as the skins start turning brown approximately 5 minutes.
Roast the poblano pepper by tossing it in a little vegetable oil and placing in the oven at 450 F for 20 minutes. Remove from heat once the skin on the pepper looks blistered , set aside and peel off the outer layer of skin once the pepper is cooled.
Season the ricotta with thyme, grated garlic, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, salt and black pepper to your taste
Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thickness (or to your preference of thickness). Place toppings and place dollops of ricotta mixture on the flatbread and drizzle the remaining olive oil across the top of the flatbread.
Place in a pre-heated oven at 400 F for 20 minutes (this may differ based on your oven, altitude ensure the flatbread is fully cooked and browned).