Umbrian Flatbread Sandwiches with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe

I’m cheating a bit here because my husband made the hard part of this.

In case you couldn’t tell by my infrequent posts lately, I’ve had a hectic few weeks.  Crazy deadlines at work, trip to Sonoma with friends, more chaos at work, and friends from out of town.   Somewhere in the middle of that, I managed to flip through the current issue of Saveur, saw this amazing Lidia Bastianich recipe, and realized I had everything I needed to make it.  Unfortunately, the night that I had planned to make it, I was buried in work, so my amazing husband made the bread.  When I finally pulled myself away from my laptop to make the filling, that came together easily and dinner was ready.

So, I can’t really speak to how easy the bread was, but it didn’t look too difficult and it was delicious.   It was simple and delicate and would probably go well with a variety of fillings.

If you can’t find broccoli rabe, I think Swiss chard would probably go well here.

Umbrian Flatbread Sandwiches with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe
Recipe by Lidia Bastianich from Saveur

Ingredients

1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
7 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red chile flakes
4 cups broccoli rabe
1 1/2 lbs pork sausage (I used sweet Italian)

Directions

In a small bowl, stir together yeast and 10 tbsp. water heated to 115°; let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Combine flour and salt in a food processor; pulse to blend. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil to yeast mixture and, with food processor running, pour in yeast mixture. Process until a dough forms. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface; knead for 6 minutes. Form dough into a ball; transfer to a large oiled bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; let dough rise until doubled in size, about 1 1⁄2 hours.

Punch the dough down; divide in half. Lightly flour one piece of dough and, using a rolling pin, roll into a 9″ disk. Place disk on a floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover dough with a damp towel; let sit for 15 minutes. Heat a 12″ cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Working in 2 batches, cook each dough disk, flipping occasionally, until light brown, about 10 minutes.

To cook the sausage, fill a skillet with some water, add the sausage, and simmer until the sausage is cooked through.  Remove the sausage from the skillet and set aside.   Heat 3 tbsp. olive oil over medium-high heat in the skillet.  Add the garlic and chile flakes and stir for a minute.   Add the broccoli rabe and cook until hot, about 3-5 minutes.

Meanwhile, thinly slice the sausage and return to the skillet.  Stir in with the broccoli rabe until the rabe is cooked and everything is incorporated.

Slice each flat bread in half horizontally to create two rounds – this is easier than it sounds!  Arrange broccoli rabe and sausages on bottom half of bread, drizzle with a little oil if you’d like, and top with other half. Cut sandwiches into wedges and serve.

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Lunch in Wine Country

Over the weekend, we took a friend on a drive up to Napa Valley for some wine tasting and gorgeous views.  I packed a picnic lunch and we stopped at the gorgeous Diamond Oaks winery to eat.

On the menu were chicken salad sandwiches, olives and roasted peppers, fresh strawberries from the farmers’ market, olive oil cookies, and Diamond Oaks Mina Ranch Chalk Hill Chardonnay.

Chicken Salad with Grapes and Tarragon

I’ve seen this combination pop up on menus and most recently, on Barefoot Contessa.  She’s got a couple different versions, but I mostly improvised. To make mine, I roasted a mix of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and thighs on 350 for about a half hour.  I used about five pieces combined.  Before baking, I drizzled them with some olive oil and salt and pepper, but other than that, I kept it simple. 

After they had cooled, I diced the chicken up into small cubes, and tossed it with a small shallot, a cup or so of green grapes that I had halved and quartered (cut before measuring), and a tablespoon of tarragon.  I mixed it all together with about a half cup of mayonnaise, maybe a bit more, and a bit of salt and pepper to taste.

I served the salad on thick slices of Acme’s pain au levain.  It’s the best bread ever.  If you live in the Bay area and have not tried it yet, go buy some now.  It’s like the perfect mix of sourdough and wheat bread and makes any sandwich taste magical.

Lemon Scented Olive Oil Cookies with Citrus Glaze

I stumbled upon Joy’s blog doing a Google search for olive oil cookies.  I had never eaten one, but I figured that they must exist and I wanted them for my wine country lunch.

This is a really fun recipe.  The cookies had a wonderful flavor – very fruity and light.    I didn’t want to buy almond extract for the glaze that she recommends, so I mixed the confectioner’s sugar with one part milk and one part orange juice, then added a pinch of lemon and orange zest to the mix.  I think the almond glaze would probably taste better, though I did like my improvisation. 

They are very cake like cookies, so I definitely want to make them again, but I’m thinking of making them into sandwich cookies with a fluffier icing in the middle, sort of like a food snob’s whoopie pie. 

All in all, a delicious lunch.

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