Beet, basil, and cheese crackers

While Jon was waiting in line at the deli counter a few days ago, I spotted this intriguing Greek cheese called manouri. (you might remember it from the composed salad I posted yesterday.) The sticker near it said it was made with the whey from feta and sheep's milk cream. It wasn't very expensive, so I bought a little to try. We really enjoyed it. It's not as salty as feta, and it has a nice creamy texture that is kind of hard when it's still cold and gets very soft when it sits out a while. It's like a cross between feta and mozzarella.

These crackers were an after-dinner snack for me when dinner hadn't been quite enough, but I think they would also make nice summer party food. I think crostini would work in place of the crackers, too. I think beet instead of tomato on the cracker is tasty and a little different from what you might expect.

For two crackers:

2 Wasa or other sturdy crackers

4 slices manouri or other semi-soft cheese

4 leaves basil

1 medium beet, cooked, peeled, and sliced into rounds

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Top each cracker with 2 slices of cheese, 2 basil leaves, and half the beet rounds. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and a tiny drizzle of olive oil.

More crackers

Jon loves my crackers, so I'm trying to keep them around. I first wrote about them here. The basic recipe is 1 cup flour, 2 tbsp fat, 1/2 tsp salt, and enough water to make a dough. I also like to add some nuts or seeds and flavorings. I discovered that a pizza stone is WAY better than a baking sheet. I tried that on Jon's suggestion on Saturday, and it was awesome. No burned or undercooked spots! Below are three combinations I've made recently.

Hazelnut-wheat:

1/4 cup hazelnuts
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter

Chickpea-pumpkin seed:
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dry rosemary
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Parmesan-herb:
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning, or a blend of oregano, basil, thyme, and marjoram
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp heavy cream

Process nuts or seeds in food processor until they are coarsely ground. Add flour, salt, seasonings, and butter or oil. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. For the Parmesan-herb recipe, add 2 tbsp cream. Otherwise, add 1/4 cup water. Pulse to combine. Add water in tablespoon increments, processing briefly after each addition, until dough forms a ball.
Turn dough out onto generously floured surface. Roll to about 1/8 inch thickness. Carefully transfer to floured pizza stone. Score lightly with knife or pizza cutter and bake in 385 F oven until golden on top. Start checking around 10 minutes and watch it carefully after that.

Rosemary-olive oil crackers

In my ongoing quest to make more things at home, I decided to try making crackers. This is my third batch, and they have all gotten good reviews from Jon. The recipe, which I got again from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, is infinitely variable, as are many of his recipes. The essential ingredients are flour, fat (butter or oil), salt, and water. Beyond that, you can add cheese, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, etc. Since it's a flatbread, it doesn't need the gluten found in wheat flour, so you can use any flour you want. I "accidentally" bought spelt flour about three years ago (I misunderstood a recipe; it was calling for whole spelt) and have had it in my freezer ever since, so I've been using half all-purpose flour and half spelt flour. I like the result, so I plan on doing that until I run out of spelt flour. I might go to all-spelt. The recipe calls for a 400 F oven. The first two batches burned on the edges before they were all the way hard in the middle, so I decreased it to 385 this time. I think it would have worked great if I hadn't forgotten about them. They got a little burned on the edges anyway. I love the rosemary-olive oil Triscuits, although they're a bit salty, so with this recipe I was going for that flavor. It smelled fantastic baking, but the flavor wasn't there quite as much when they came out. They're still good, though. This is my recipe, which differs slightly from Bittman's.

Rosemary-olive oil crackers:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup spelt flour
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Place first five ingredients in food processor. Pulse until well-mixed. Add sunflower seeds and pulse until mixed. Add 1/4 cup water and pulse. Continue adding water, about a tablespoon at a time, and pulsing until dough sticks together in a ball. Roll ball out on a floured surface until it's 1/8-1/4" thick. Place onto floured baking sheets (one if you roll in a more rectangular way than I do, two if your dough is rather irregularly shaped), score lightly with a knife if you want it to break apart easily, and bake at 385 F until brown and crispy. Check after 8 minutes and watch closely after that.