Am I the only one hadn't heard of lavash crackers before this month's challenge? For those of you who are similarly unenlightened they are pita-style flatbreads which are ideal for scooping up a variety of dips, salsas and more. They are also vegan. Yes, this month Natalie from Gluten a Go Go and Shel from Musings from the Fish Bowl challenged us to make a completely vegan recipe together with a vegan dip to go with it. Hmmm. I must admit that it took me a little while to think of a suitable vegan topping to accompany the crackers. Did you know that all tasty things contain animal products?
In the end, I found inspiration on http://www.veganfamily.co.uk/ and decided to make a basil pesto with Brazil nuts, almonds and pine nuts but no Parmesan (boo hoo). I also made a black olive tapeanade but cheated a little by adding some anchovy paste (sorry little anchovies).
To go with these Mediterranean style toppings I added sun dried tomatoes to the dough, sprinkled pine nuts on top and enjoyed my crackers Roman style.
As much as I enjoyed the taste, sadly there wasn't much of a crack to these crackers. I tried to roll the dough out thinly, I really did. But despite using my meagre muscles to the full I just couldn't get the dough as thin as they needed to be.
When it came to 'snap' the bread into shards for serving, all I got was a dull bend. Oh well, they still tasted good.
Even if you don't get round to making these breads, I do thing it's worth trying to think about your recipes from a different perspective. I would never have thought to make anything specifically vegan. However, this nut pesto is a winner and I'll be stirring the leftover into a bowl of pasta sometime soon.
For the lavash crackers, you can find the recipe here. Instead of the vegetable oil, I used the oil from the sun dried tomatoes and I added five or so tomatoes finely chopped and some dried oregano. 
To make the pesto, follow the recipe below.Basil and Nut Pesto
Half a cup of olive oil
Bunch of basil
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of almonds
1/2 cup of pine-nuts
1/2 cup of Brazil nuts
salt and pepper to taste
Blend the oil, garlic and basil in a food processor. Add the nuts and process until you have a chunky puree. Season to taste.
See, easy!
Check out the rest of the bakers here.
14 comments:
Great photos. I hadn't even thought of pesto as a topping.
j
Ah Joy indeed it is a challenge to make these little ones thin enough. When you think their thin enough . . .they are not. For me I think success will be dividing the dough in half and making two sheets of them.
Both your dips look fabulous! and the sundried tomato and it's oil in the dough . . . that's like super smart.
I love tapenade and pesto toppings. I agree animal products can make some things better:-). But olives I will take any day. Great job.
What a beautiful pesto - so green and fresh looking! I loved your flavor combinations.
mmmm i would love some of that pesto! i had a really hard time figuring out how to make a vegan dip too!
Looking good Joy! I also got more of a bend than a snap with my bread, but it's still a great medium for dips. Nice pictures!
Cheers!
Wow dear! it looks delicious! and that pesto is fantastic..and if an italian tells you..;-) you can trust!
have a perfect day!
Silvia
The pesto looks and sounds good.
I also added some marinara and herbs while making the dough and they turned out pretty nice.
Great idea to mix the sun dried tomatoes into the dough! I'll bet they added a lot of flavor!
I got more of a "bend" with some of mine too.
I love how your blog comes from Laura Ingells Wilder! How cool!
Wonderful crackers. These were the first I think I saw that had something actually in the dough. Great thinking.
Looks delicious, great job!
I've never heard of Lavash crackers either... And I'd certainly be challenged to think up a vegan dip. You did a great job and these look very delicious.
the pesto sounds like a great topping!
Post a Comment