Whole Wheat Flatbread Stuffed with Potatoes, Spinach and Peas.

Last month we attended a 50th birthday dinner with an amazing spread cooked by the birthday girl herself ( with help from her husband). These stuffed flatbreads were my favorite dish of the evening. You can make them as complicated or as simple as you like depending on how much time you want to spend making them. They are great leftovers for lunches !!

The Flatbread

You can buy whole wheat flatbread or tortillas to save time. I think they would be just as good as the ones I made.

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon  salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for brushing 
• 3/4 cup warm water

1) Stir together in a large bowl the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt.
2) Stir in the oil and water until combined.

3) Turn the dough onto a clean surface, (I like to use waxed paper on my kitchen table). Knead the dough for five minutes until smooth.

4) Cover and let rest for 30 minutes while you are making the filling.

The Filling

• 3 cups steamed potatoes chunks
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped
• 3/4 cup fresh steamed or frozen peas 

Cumin seeds.

1) Saute the cumin seeds in the olive oil for about 30 seconds, then add the chopped onion and curry powder. Cook until the onions soften.
2) Add the chopped baby spinach and stir until just wilted, this will deglaze the pan as well.
3) In a large bowl mash the potatoes add the steamed fresh peas or defrosted frozen peas and the spinach onion spice mixture. Mix together.

Putting it all together.

1) Divide dough into six balls and roll out into 8-inch rounds.

2) Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat and cook rounds until slightly puffed and golden, 1 to 2 minutes.

This was taken before I flipped it over.

3) Flip and spread half of each round with filling.

4) Gently fold over other half and cook until golden, 2 minutes.
5) Flip and cook 2 minutes more. Brush with olive oil.

I kept the completed ones warm on my griddle, you can also do it in the oven set low.

 6) Serve flatbreads cut in half, with chutney, yogurt and hot pepper jelly !!

Wheat Berry Spinach Salad

I was looking through a cookbook "Super Natural Cooking" by Heidi Swanson, the other day and came across this recipe for a salad using wheat berries. Back in my hippy days I remember fondly one of my college roommates cooking up wheat berries and combinding
them with peanuts and maple syrup for breakfast, it was a weird dish but for some reason I loved it.

I have not used wheat berries since then except in their processed form of flour. I decided to give this recipe a try. The first thing I discovered is that Heidi uses "soft" wheat berries and even our extensive natural grocery store did not carry them. I was undaunted and bought "hard" wheat berries instead. As you will discover the results were good :-)

As usual I messed with the original recipe.

Ingredients

Salad
2 cups wheat berries, soft or hard
6 cups water
2 teaspoons sea salt
6 ounces of fresh baby spinach ( 6 cups loosely packed)
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped 
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Dressing
zest and juice from one orange
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 olive oil

1) Combine the wheat berries, water and salt in a large pot and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Lower the heat, simmer covered for over an hour, mine took about 80 minutes. Keep checking for tenderness and water. They will still be "al dente" but chewable.

2) While the wheat berries are cooking you can prepare the rest of the salad.
    Wash the baby spinach. It turns out 6 ounces is about 6 cups of spinach loosely packed.

3) Cut the dried tomatoes into small pieces. I love to use scissor for jobs like this. I have three or four pairs in my kitchen.

4) Make the dressing: Combine orange juice and zest with the lemon juice.

5) Whisk in the half cup of olive oil, add a dash of salt and pepper.

6) Once the wheat berries are done, drain them and while still hot toss in the spinach, dried tomatoes and the dressing. Add the feta cheese last or for a vegan salad leave it out.

This salad really is better once it had cooled down, it is even better the next day.
I served it with curried potatoes and summer squash, pita bread and chutney. Great dinner !!

As you can imagine this salad lends itself to lots of variations, try adding olives or garbanzo beans, toasted walnuts or dried cranberries, fresh corn or fresh peas. Change the dressing as well !!