Flash-Roasted Green Veg
4
servings
Main
Course
Print Recipe
Ingredients
Directions
Ingredients
8
thin green Turkish peppers
4
red onions, cut into thin wedges
8
fava bean pods
4
bunches Little Gem lettuce, halved
1
bunch of radishes
1
bunch of scallions
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Turkish chile powder (pul biber)
Extra-virgin olive oil
7 oz
(200 g) feta
1
(14.5-ounce) (400 g) can of chickpeas, drained
Zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
sm
bunch of thyme
2
cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Yogurt Flatbread (recipe follows)
For the Dressing
sm
bunch of mint
sm
bunch of dill
sm
bunch of flat-leaf parsley
Splash of white wine vinegar
1 tsp
maple syrup
Yogurt Flatbread (Makes 4)
1 ⅔ c
(200 g) plain flour (I use spelt), plus extra for dusting
1 tsp
baking powder
¾ c
(200 g) Greek yogurt, or 10 tablespoons (150 ml) warm water
It may seem a bit unusual to roast fava beans in their pods, but do give it a try. The pods sweeten, soften, and char all at once, keeping the sweet little beans nestled safely inside, and you can eat the whole pod so nothing is wasted. I use the long, thin, pale,
lime-green Turkish peppers here as they are readily available in the market near where I live, but if you can’t find them, then a couple of normal green peppers, deseeded and cut into chunky strips, will do. I like to use jarred chickpeas, as I find them to be more carefully cooked and hence more tender than canned. The pulses tend to be bigger than those in the 14.5-ounce (400 g) cans, so use about 10.5 ounces (300 g) of drained jarred chickpeas, if you can get your hands on them.
Directions
Yogurt Flatbread
- Put all the ingredients into the bowl of your food processor and pulse until the mixture forms a ball. If you don’t have a food processor, this can be done in a bowl using a fork to begin with, followed by your hands; it will just take a little longer.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface dusted with flour and knead for a minute or so, to bring it all together. Put the dough into a flour-dusted bowl and cover with a plate. Put to one side to rise a little for 10 to 15 minutes. Don’t expect it to rise like normal dough, but it may puff up a tiny bit.
- Dust another clean work surface and rolling pin with flour, then divide the dough into four equal pieces. Using your hands, pat and flatten out the dough, then use the rolling pin to roll each piece into a disk roughly 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter and 1⁄8-inch (2–3-mm) thick.
- To cook in a frying pan: Warm a frying pan or griddle that’s a bit larger than your flatbread over medium heat. Once your pan is nicely hot, cook each flatbread for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, until nicely puffed up and golden in places, turning it with tongs.
- To cook on a barbecue: Once your barbecue flames have died down but it’s still good and hot, cook each flatbread for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, turning with tongs, until nicely puffed up, and a little charred.
Flash-Roasted Green Veg
- Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C).
- Put all the vegetables on a baking sheet—you may need two if you have smaller ones—then season liberally with salt and pepper and sprinkle over 2 good pinches of the pul biber. Drizzle generously with olive oil and put into the very hot oven to roast for 25 minutes. You want the oven to be quite fiercely hot, so that everything will char. Turn your vegetables a couple of times while they cook.
- On another baking sheet, lay the whole block of feta on one side and the chickpeas on the other. Drizzle a splash of oil over the chickpeas and toss to coat. Top the feta with a little more pul biber, half the lemon zest, and the thyme tips. Put this into the oven on the rack underneath the veg.
- Meanwhile, make the dressing. Chop all the herbs and put them in a bowl with the remaining lemon zest and almost all the juice, plus 4 tablespoons of olive oil, the vinegar, and the maple syrup.
- When the vegetables are nearly done, squeeze the last of the lemon juice over the top, scatter with the garlic, and return the baking sheet to the oven for a couple of minutes.
- Serve the roasted vegetables, topped with chickpeas, chunks of feta, the herb dressing, and Turkish flatbread.
From The Modern Cook’s Year by Anna Jones, published by Abrams Books c 2019. Photo credit: Ana Cuba