Grilled Summer Veggie Flatbread

June 4, 2018 by Nicole Collins

Sometimes, you've just gotta do what you gotta do.

And, if that involves grilling at 10 o'clock in the morning, than that's just what it is.

You see, it's been raining for like ever here in Baltimore. It's been doom and gloom central. I don't know how people live in places where the sun barely comes out. Because, I think this icky weather is miserable!

I haven't mowed my yard in weeks. I can't see poor little Charlie anymore when he goes out in my backyard, because it's that overgrown. For the few hours that we've gotten where it actually stops raining, I still can't mow my grass because of the pond that accumulates at the bottom of my hill. But, since it never stops raining, the puddle never dries. And the grass is growing at lightening speed with all of the water it's getting. It's a hot dang mess I tell you!

But, that's just a minor inconvenience to me. There's a small town about 40 mins away from me that has been destroyed by flooding for the 2nd time in 2 years. It seems like they just finished rebuilding, but these awful rains have knocked them down again even worse than the first flood in 2016. It's so sad, so I'm certainly thankful that I'm only dealing with overgrown grass and ugly mood swings.

For real though, I've forgotten what the sun looks like, so if anyone could send me a pic to assure me that it still exists, that would be great.

This past weekend was supposed to bring more torrential downpours, which it did; but there was this window of a few hours early Saturday morning where the forecast showed it would be dry.

So, I did what anyone who is totally over the rain would do. I broke out the grill! I can't help it that it just so happened to be at 10am. I'm sure my neighbors loved that.

Don't worry. It didn't last long; because within an hour, it was raining again. Thank goodness I wasn't making anything that would take significant grill time, because I was supposed to have a few more dry hours according to the hour by hour forecast.

Obviously, I didn't.

What was so important that I had to grill at 10am on a Saturday morning? Well, I was grilling veggies.

And why was I grilling veggies? Because, today we're making Grilled Summer Veggie Flatbreads!

You guys know I prefer my veggies raw, but there's something about a grilled veggie that changes the game for me a bit. Maybe it's the pretty grill marks. Maybe it's the extra firey flavor. Who knows? But, the grilled veggies on today's flatbread make me a little too excited.

For our veggies, we're putting some corn on the cob, some sliced zucchini, and some sliced red onion on the grill. They get brushed with a quick mop of olive oil, seasoned with a little salt and pepper, and thrown on the grill for just a few minutes til they're cooked to perfection.

In addition to our grilled veggies, we also use some grape tomatoes and some really thinly sliced jalapenos. The fresh veggies add a nice contrast with their crispiness to our perfectly softened grilled veggies. I used heirloom grape tomatoes, because they're pretty (duh!) And, I chose to take the seeds and ribs out of the jalapenos. If you can handle the heat, feel free to leave them in!

The crust for our pizza is some naan. I pretty much only use naan for flatbreads and pizzas now, because they're an easy to find, no effort required, and totally delicious ingredient. I chose to toast my naan in the oven, because I wanted it to be crisped up enough to hold all the goodies we pile on top. But, I'm sure you could pop it on the grill to toast too.

The glue for our pizza is a goat cheese mousse. That's right. GOAT CHEESE MOUSSE! It's so simple to whip up, too. Whip some heavy cream, beat in some softened goat cheese seasoned with freshly cracked black pepper, and mix the two together. BAM! Goat cheese mousse!

Building the flatbreads is the most fun part. There are sooooo many colors and flavors and textures and even temperatures. You get so many different kinds of sensations in one bite: cool, spicy, creamy, crunchy, and then a pop from the corn kernels. YUM!

There's so much happening on these flatbreads, they can be a little messy to eat. But, that's ok. The flavor explosion is totally worth it. I'm not judging if you fork and knife it. Or, if you just wear the goat cheese mousse all over your face, like me.

Alright guys, if anyone sees the sun, please let it know that Baltimore misses it! And, let it know it's welcome to return at any time. REALLY...

In the meantime, enjoy; and, let's eat!

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Grilled Summer Veggie Flatbread Serves: 4 Print

Ingredients:

For the Grilled Veggies:

• 1 zucchini, sliced ¼ inch thick

• 1 ear corn on the cob, shucked

• 1 small red onion, sliced ¼ inch thick

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• salt and pepper, to taste

For the Goat Cheese Mousse:

• 4 oz goat cheese log, softened

• 1/3 cup heavy cream

• ½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper

For the Flatbread:

• 2 original naan flatbreads

• ½ jalapeno, very thinly sliced in to rings, ribs and seeds removed

• ½ cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half

Directions:

1. Make the goat cheese mousse: Place heavy cream in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, add goat cheese and black pepper. Take 1 tbsp of heavy cream from the first bowl, and add it to the goat cheese. Using a hand mixer, beat heavy cream on medium speed until stiff peaks form, about 5 mins. Then, use the hand mixer to whip the goat cheese with the pepper and 1 tbsp cream, until smooth. Scrape the goat cheese mix in to the whipped cream. Fold the mixes together until combined. Set aside in the fridge.

2. Grill the veggies: Preheat grill to medium high heat. Using a pastry brush, brush oil on both sides of the zucchini slices, red onion slices, and corn cob. Season zucchini and red onion with salt and pepper, to taste. Place veggies on the grill. After 2-3 minutes, carefully flip zucchini and red onion slices. After another 2-3 mins, remove zucchini and red onion slices from the grill. Flip the corn, and close the grill. Grill for another 5-6 mins until the corn starts to char. Remove from grill. When corn is cool enough to handle, cut kernels off of the cob.

3. Assemble the flatbreads: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush both sides of naan bread with water. Bake for 10-12 mins until crisp and the edges start to brown. Set aside to cool for 5 mins. Evenly divide goat cheese mousse between two flatbreads, and spread over the naan, flat side up, leaving a ½ inch border around the edges. Divide roasted veggies, jalapenos, and tomatoes between two flatbreads; and layer on top of the goat cheese. Cut, and serve!

Recipe notes:

*These flatbreads are best served fresh. Unless you're ok with eating them cold (which I actually really like), they don't do well as a make ahead.

*I chose to toast my naan in the oven, but you could prepare them on the grill, as well. They may not get as crispy, but I didn't try this to say one way or the other.

*Since we're grilling some smaller and thinner veggies, it's possible you'll lose a couple of good men through the grates. You could use a grill basket or just be really careful to avoid this.

*I removed the ribs and seeds from my jalapeno slices, because that's where all the spicy stuff is. If you can handle the heat, go ahead and leave them in.

*I chose to use a hand mixer to whip my cream because it's such a small amount. It didn't seem worth it to break out the stand mixer, but you could certainly do that if you wish. The whipping time will be shorter if you do that.