Yogurt Flatbreads with Barley and Mushrooms

This is a delicious mushroom barley ragout flavoured with garlic and thyme served on a whole wheat-yogurt flatbread. Despite the hearty sounding ingredients, this dish is surprisingly light and bright tasting because of the addition of preserved lemon and lemon juice.

The barley simmers while dry mushrooms soak and fresh mushrooms are given a quick sauté. The mushrooms are combined and simmered and the dish is finished with the addition of the cooked barley and lemon ingredients. The author indicates that this can be made in advance and reheated at serving time, which I did, but be prepared to lose what little sauce there is to the barley! I don’t think it’s meant to be a saucy dish but I did add a little vegetable stock when I reheated it.

Ottolenghi describes the flatbreads as "amazing” and I concur. Crispy, chewy and tangy, I could have eaten them on their own. They don’t take much time or effort, and though they’re fried, they don’t absorb much of the fat…I used just slightly over 1 tbsp to cook all of them. There is an error in the instructions for rolling them out “ I think they should be ~1/8” thick, not 1” as the recipe states.

This made a wonderful lunch for 3 but I wouldn’t hesitate to serve it as a starter at a dinner party