FOOD: Springtime means spring greens

“SPRING, where flavours bloom, and the table becomes a canvas of nature’s vibrant palette,” said Anthony Bourdain. Or, as Robin Williams said in a more direct way, “Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s feast!’.”
Last week the young generation here at home offered to cook supper for Mum and Dad. Who wouldn’t like that! The delicious hake was perfectly cooked with crispy skin in the pan and steam finished. The rice, made with a knob of veg stock, was fluffy and light. The cut vegetables of carrots, courgettes, peppers and broccoli florets were laid on baking trays, oiled and seasoned.
All Dad had to do was put the oven on and get the heat right. I thought we were under pressure for time, so I whacked it up full blast… and forgot about it.
The result? The broccoli down near the oven’s fan end became charred. I thought I had messed up. However, on popping the florets into our mouths we LOVED the crispy, tasty effect.
This got me thinking about lovely green spring vegetables, toasted and crispy. The next day I tried this successful recipe for lunch. The dried and browned spring onions compliment the sweet cheese and savoury chilli perfectly, served on texture flatbreads. There is something lovely about slightly charred greens.

Charred spring-onion flatbreads with chilli and feta
THIS is a great recipe to put together with others, especially when making the dough. Who doesn’t love flour ending up everywhere?

What you need
2 bunches spring onions, trimmed
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
200g feta cheese
100g Greek yogurt,
1 red chilli, finely sliced
½ tsp nigella seeds, if you can get them
A good glug of good olive oil
Seasoning

For flatbreads:
400g strong white bread flour
7g yeast
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt
A glug of good olive oil

What you do
TO make the dough, first mix the flour, yeast and sugar with the olive oil, 250ml warm water and a teaspoon of salt. Mix in a mixer with the dough attachment for eight to ten minutes, or use muscle power, kneading it together on a floured surface. Place the dough in a cleaned and oiled bowl, cover with cling film and allow to rise for one or two hours, until it has doubled in size.
To prepare everything else, you want to slice one bunch of spring onions and cook them over a medium heat in a pan with oil, adding the garlic, chilli and nigella seeds, until it all sizzles – and then cook for another two minutes.
Blitz the yogurt and 150g of the feta in a food processor and tip in half of the spring onion-garlic-chilli mixture and season.
To make the flatbreads, dust a clean surface and on it split the risen dough into four balls, working them round between your hands. Allow to rest for five minutes, then roll out the balls as flat as you can, using flour and a roller. Before cooking, lift and stretch them, using your hands, and brush their surfaces some oil.
Using a heavy-bottomed pan over a medium high heat, cook each flat piece for about two minutes a side until puffed and browned. Remove and keep these warm under a towel until you have cooked them all.
Cut the spring onions in the remaining bunch in half lengthways and cook with some oil over a high heat for three minutes. This is where the delicious charring comes in.
To serve up, just lay out each flatbread, brush with oil, place charred spring onions on top, drizzle the feta-yoghurt mixture and remaining garlic-chilli mixture over this and then crumble the leftover feta over the lot. Serve with an accompanying spring-greens salad dressed with any vinaigrette.
Happy spring to all!