Crispy Shaved Brussels Sprouts Flatbread Pizza

Crispy Shaved Brussels Sprouts Flatbread with Bleu Cheese, Dried Cranberries, Balsamic Syrup

Crispy Shaved Brussels Sprouts Flatbread Pizza
Bleu Cheese, Dried Cranberries, Balsamic Syrup

Keep flatbread on hand and you will never be without a crowd-pleasing appetizer. Flatbread pizza is fast and easy to prepare, and it can be topped with any type of cheese and an unlimited creative combination of items from the pantry or the fridge. Today’s fusion of flavors and textures was especially harmonious.

Brussels sprouts are roasted until the edges get crispy and caramelized. Flatbread with covered with a layer of mozzarella, topped with Brussels sprouts and bleu cheese then baked until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Dried cranberries add a layer of sweetness with a pop of color. An artful drizzle of balsamic syrup also brings sweet and subtly sour notes.  Crispy shaved Brussels sprouts flatbread pizza joins my “flatbread pizza collection” along with the Croatian Sausage Flatbread Pizza and Potato Arugula Flatbread Pizza. There will definitely be more to come.

Brussels Sprouts Flatbread Pizza Recipe

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Cevapcici Flatbread Pizza with Ajvar and Sweet Onion aka #SuperBowl Flatbread

Cevapcici Flatbread Pizza with Ajvar and Sweet Onion aka #SuperBowl Flatbread

Favorite Dish on the Super Bowl Buffet, Guaranteed

Cevapcici (Lamb and Beef Sausage) Flatbread Pizza
with
Ajvar (Spicy Roasted Red Pepper and Eggplant Dip/Spread)
Mozzarella, Sweet Onion, Sour Cream

San Pedro, our charming town located on the seaside corner of America’s second largest city, is home to thousands of Croatians, including my butcher. One of his specialties is the stubby cigar-shaped Balkan sausage known as cevapcici. He makes his with lamb and beef and spices although some people also add pork to the mix.

They are skinless and formed by a unique kitchen gadget, into what I would call a particularly unfortunate shape as they are not too pretty for the camera if you know what I mean. But what they lack in visual appeal, they make up for in flavor.

Cevapcici are almost always accompanied by onion and often by sour cream, peppers, flatbread, and ajvar – a super-tasty Balkan spread/dip/relish made primarily with roasted red pepper then smaller amounts of roasted eggplant, chili, salt, sunflower oil, and sometimes garlic. For the Super Bowl, I’m transforming the beloved Balkan sausage and it’s condiments into a pizza. It will be the favorite dish on the buffet, guaranteed.

Pronounce all the c’s like a ch, Che-VAP’-Chi-Chi. And pronounce ajvar as AY-var.

How to Make Cevapcici Flatbread Pizza

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Flatbread Pizza: Potato, Arugula, Sour Cream, Chives, Olive, Truffle, Lemon

Flatbread Pizza: Potato, Arugula, Sour Cream, Chives, Olive, Truffle, Lemon
Lavash Flatbread Pizza
Potato, Arugula, Sour Cream, Chives,
Kalamata Olive, Truffle Oil, Black Truffle Salt, Lemon

Sometimes this uprooted Chicago girl wants to serve a skinny pizza. We really do still adore our deep dish pizzas – especially Lou Malnati’s. But I also grew up enjoying Candlelite pizza, fondly remembering my parents’ love of the super-thin crust at the hip joint that was walking distance from our home on the Far North Side – a neighborhood tavern where the graphics on the old-fashioned neon sign now read “Cool Served Here.”

Fast forward many decades – while my lavash flatbread pizza recipe isn’t Candlelite-style per se – it is ultra-thin with a cracker-y crust. Still faintly reminiscent of the Chicago thin-crust pizza of yesteryear, even though back then the topping never included potato, arugula, kalamata olives…or truffle salt.

Lavash Flatbread Pizza Recipe

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