A Mexican-ish feast of cumin sautéed greens, spicy beans and kefir flatbreads
This is such a good one for a relaxed dinner party with friends, minimal effort, maximum flavour and it’s packed full of veg (& meat free) so it’s pretty virtuous too.
Make the flatbreads ahead of time, they need to be rested for at least 45 minutes before cooking. Serve everything family style on your most colourful plates, crack out the sombreros (and Margaritas!) and let your guests serve themselves.
Ingredients (serves 6)
Kefir flatbreads
600g kefir yoghurt
600g white spelt flour
1.5 tsp fine sea salt
3tsp baking powder
Cumin spiced greens
600g cavolo nero (Spring greens/ chard work well here too) stalks and leaves separated
3tsp cumin seeds
Olive oil
3 garlic cloves
2 limes juiced
9 leeks rinsed and finely sliced (minus the green tops - which you can keep and make my green oil with)
Spicy beans
3 tins of barlotti beans drained (any type of bean would work here)
2 red onions finely diced
6 large tomatoes grated / 1 tin of good quality crushed tomatoes
Good splash of Worcestershire sauce
Coriander, stalk and leaves separated, each finely chopped.
2 red mild red chillis (seeds removed or kept…depending how spicy you are feeling!)
Lime pickled onions
2 red onion, finely sliced
Sea salt
2 limes juiced
Garnish
400g feta, roughly broken up
Lime wedges
Chopped coriander
…margeritas?!
Method
Start with the flatbread- mix all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to combine until a ball of dough has formed. On a floured surface, knead for 5 minutes and then leave to rest in a bowl covered for 45 minutes (or longer if you want to get ahead).
Prep all your veg and make the lime pickle. Combine everything in a bowl and set aside. You can break up the feta on a plate now too to save time later.
Roll out your flatbreads . Divide the dough into 12 balls and on a floured surface roll each ball into a rough circle, aim for about 3mm thick. Layer each flatbread in between sheets of baking parchment so they don’t stick and set aside, covered so they don’t dry out.
Next heat some olive oil in a large, heavy based frying pan on a medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and wait until they sizzle, followed by the leeks and a good pinch of sea salt- turn down the heat and let them sweat down and caramelise.
Meanwhile sweat the red onion in a saucepan with some salt before adding the chopped chilli and coriander stalks.
When the leeks are lovely and soft, add the finely chopped cavolo nero stalks and sauté to soften for around 5minutes on a low heat. You might need an extra glug of olive oil here.
Add the tomatoes to the red onion saucepan with a good splash of Worcestershire sauce, then add the beans and bring to a simmer and keep stirring.
Heat a small frying pan (no oil) to medium high heat and start to cook the flatbreads. They take about 2 minutes each side. It is useful to have the oven on a low warming temperature (no more than 100 degrees) so you can wrap the cooked flatbreads in foil and keep them warm while you finish the other elements off.
Meanwhile now the leeks and cavolo Nero stalks should be cooked down, add the leaves to the pan with lime juice and gently sauté- just for a few minutes - you want them to still have a little bit of bit when you come to serve them. Just before serving, stir through the chopped coriander leaves.
Assemble all of the elements on the table, with plates and serving spoons so everyone can build their own ‘tacos’ and you can kick back and enjoy yogurt margarita!