Culinary Guides

The star here is a caramelized onion cream sauce, and it earns its keep. Sweet slow cooked onions get blended with a little coconut cream and rice wine vinegar, then spread across a flatbread and topped with a crunchy salad of snap peas, toasted coconut, and herbs. It is bright, a little sweet, and a good way to use the first tender pods and pea shoots of the season.

Ingredients

For the caramelized onion sauce

• 1 1/2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and sliced into thin half-moons
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 heaping tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup coconut cream (scraped from the top of a can of full-fat coconut milk; chill the can the night before so the solids separate)

For the snap pea and coconut gremolata

• 1/3 cup grapeseed oil
• 1 large shallot, thinly sliced into rings
• 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped mint
• 1 tablespoon grated lime zest
• 3/4 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed, large ones sliced in half
• 2 cups pea shoots or tendrils (the whole plant is edible, no need to discard stems)
• 1/4 cup mint leaves, minced
• 3 tablespoons reserved shallot oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce or tamari
• Flaky sea salt

For the flatbread

• 1 ball of homemade or store-bought pizza or flatbread dough

Directions

Make the caramelized onion sauce

1. Heat the grapeseed oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Add the sliced onion and saute until tender and lightly golden but not crisp, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.
3. Stir in the minced garlic and cook another minute or two until fragrant.
4. Add the rice wine vinegar and a few pinches of salt and pepper, and cook until the moisture evaporates.
5. Stir in the coconut cream and bring to a simmer. Cook until the cream thickens slightly.
6. Remove from the heat and puree in a high-speed blender until smooth. Taste, adjust the seasoning, and set aside.

Make the gremolata and snap pea salad

1. Wipe out the skillet and add 1/3 cup grapeseed oil. Cook the sliced shallot over medium-high heat until golden and crisp, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Drain on paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Pour the shallot oil into a small bowl and reserve.
2. In the same pan, toast the coconut flakes over medium heat, stirring, until the edges are golden, about 3 minutes, then transfer to a bowl.
3. Add the fried shallots, chives, chopped mint, and lime zest to the coconut flakes. Toss and season with salt and pepper.
4. In a medium bowl, toss the snap peas, pea shoots, minced mint, reserved shallot oil, lime juice, and soy sauce. Season with flaky salt and pepper, then stir in the gremolata.

Assemble and bake

1. Heat the oven to 450F (230C).
2. Roll out the dough and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
3. Spread a layer of the caramelized onion sauce over the dough.
4. Bake until the crust is cooked and the sauce has browned and bubbled a bit, about 10 to 12 minutes.
5. Top the flatbread with the snap pea salad, slice into wedges, and serve with more sauce drizzled on each slice.

Grower's tip: Pick sugar snap peas while the pods are plump and glossy but still snap cleanly in half. Left on the vine a few days too long, the sugars turn starchy and the pods go tough. Pinch off the top few inches of shoots and tendrils too, since they are just as sweet and keep the plant branching.

The onion sauce and the gremolata can both be made ahead and kept in the fridge. For the best texture, assemble and bake the flatbread just before serving.

The fresh parts of this flatbread are easy spring crops. Sow snap peas along a trellis, keep an onion bed going for the sauce, and grow a little chives and mint nearby for the gremolata.