I don’t mean to mislead you with the term pizza: I mean to evoke more the style, the way of eating these, than to invoke the Italian original. I have to say, I also love proper pizza cooked this way, on the barbecue, but in high summer, making up batches of yeasted dough can seem uninviting at the very least. Besides, while shopbought flatbreads are fabulous, prepackaged pizza bases most definitely are not.
These vaguely Eastern Mediterranean versions of pizza are perfect for adding to a full-flown barbecue or to cook in a very hot oven or under a blistering grill to go with drinks any time.
The flatbreads I use here are labelled ‘white bread khobez’ but I don’t see why you can’t substitute any flatbreads you can lay your hands on. Za’atar – or zhatar – is a highly seasoned spice mixture of dried thyme, sumac and sesame (see my Za’atar Chicken with Fattoush recipe); halloumi is a hard Greek cheese, squeaky and salty, like edible polystyrene, which is the only way I know how to describe it, and wholly addictive: both are commonly available in supermarkets. These three suggested toppings are merely a start: the method lends itself pretty much to whatever elaboration you like.
I tend to cut these flatbread pizzas into spindly wedges, but leaving them whole is also an option; whatever, they’re best eaten hot straight off the barbecue as they tend to dry out and go splintery once they’re cold, but I’m also aware that this admonition is likely to be an unnecessary one.
for the za’atar flatbread:
1 tablespoon of za’atar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 flatbread
Mix the spice in the oil, and pour it over the flatbread. Place on a sheet of foil and cook for 2–3 minutes on a hot, preferably lidded, barbecue, in the hot oven or under the grill.
for the halloumi and tomato flatbread:
3 tomatoes, deseeded, roughly chopped
1 flatbread
50g halloumi cheese coarsely crumbled or grated
half a teaspoon dried mint
drizzle olive oil
small handful fresh mint
Spread the tomatoes over the flatbread (again, placed on a foil sheet) and crumble or grate the halloumi over the top. Sprinkle over the dried mint, drizzle with oil and place on the barbecue (or again, cook in a hot oven or grill). Roughly tear the fresh mint and scatter over the hot bread.
for the chilli and coriander flatbread:
1 flatbread
half a teaspoon ground coriander
1 long red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
small handful fresh coriander, chopped
Place the flatbread on a sheet of foil. Mix the ground coriander and chopped chilli in the oil and spread it over the bread, dibbling and spreading it with your fingers. Cook as above, and once it’s had its couple of minutes and is blistering hot, remove to a plate – or just to your hands – and sprinkle over the fresh coriander.