Lavash Bread with Spinach, Tomatoes, Olives, and Fontina topped with a sprinkling of Parmesan Cheese - an Armenian-style flatbread that, with the toppings, makes a light, easy, and nutritious meal.
This spinach and cheese lavash is like a very thin crust pizza that is extra crispy and crunchy. The combination of the spinach with the cheese, tomatoes, and olives is so flavorful too.
Plus, even though there is a good amount of topping, it does not weigh down the lavash. The lavash stays super crisp even with the toppings.
To make sure this spinach lavash is shatteringly crisp, you pre-bake the flatbread in a very hot oven before topping it and baking it again.
What is Lavash?
Lavash is a soft, thin, yeasted Armenian flatbread, kind of like pita bread or naan, but thinner. It's great for wraps and for soaking up soups and stews or wrapping up saucy meats.
You can usually find store-bought lavash in your grocery store. My favorite is the lavash by Trader Joe's. It's the perfect size for this flatbread.
The first time I made this flatbread, I made my own lavash (see the photo below), but using store-bought lavash, if you can find it, really streamlines making this dish.
This flatbread dish is a fabulous way to get your spinach.
Ingredient Notes:
For the spinach, use a 10 to 12-ounce package/bag of frozen spinach. Be sure to remove as much moisture as you can before stirring in the rest of the ingredients. I thawed it overnight in the refrigerator, but it was still partially frozen, so I microwaved it for about a minute to fully defrost, and then squeezed out most of the moisture with my hands in a colander.
After that, I pressed and squeezed the spinach between two sets of paper towel layers to extract the extra water.
For the cheese, you will need both Fontina and Parmesan cheese. Fontina is a mild, melty cheese with a nutty flavor and Parmesan is salty and full of complex flavor. You can substitute mozzarella for the Fontina if need be, but I'm a big fan of Fontina.
Add some fresh chopped Campari tomatoes, minced fresh garlic, and briny green olives, along with salt, pepper, and crushed red peppers.
Mix everything together except the Parmesan in a bowl.
While my homemade lavash had uneven edges, store-bought lavash is usually shaped in a fairly even rectangle. You could also cut store-bought lavash into individual serving sizes for a "personal pizza" presentation.
Tips for Making this Spinach Lavash:
First, take your soft lavash breads and brush them lightly with olive oil and toast them in the oven. This will make sure they stand up to the toppings.
Once you top the toasted lavash, you can make both flatbreads at the same time, rotating and switching them on baking sheets from oven rack to oven rack, or you can make them one at a time, but be sure to serve them right away. They will keep for a bit under tented foil.
For a recipe variation, you can make this spinach mixture and then use it as a pizza topping. Just spread a little tomato sauce over a pizza crust and dollop the spinach over the top, sprinkle it with Parmesan, and bake.
Delicious.
If you have leftovers, this flatbread reheats nicely right on the rack in a the oven or toaster oven.
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers:
Wrap the slices in foil and refrigerate. When ready to reheat, place them directly on the oven rack and bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes.
By the way, if you have leftover lavash from either making it yourself, or from extra in the package from the store, you can make lavash crackers from it (which I did).
Use a pizza wheel to cut the extra lavash into squares, rectangles, or triangles and place them on a baking sheet and bake it for 1 hour at 200 degrees F. Serve with hummus, warm with butter, or your favorite dip.
This week, the From Our Dinner Table Group is sharing Mediterranean inspired recipes.
Mediterranean Recipes
- Kiftah bi Tahini from Pandemonium Noshery
- Lavash Bread with Spinach, Tomatoes, and Fontina from Karen's Kitchen Stories
- Mujadara from Magical Ingredients
- Old Spaghetti Factory Garlic Mizithra from Palatable Pastime
- Sicilian Steak from Art of Natural Living
We share Recipes From Our Dinner Table! Join our group and share your recipes, too! While you're at it, join our Pinterest board, too!
Lavash Bread with Spinach, Tomatoes, and Fontina
Ingredients
- 10 to 12 ounced frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 4 ounced Fontina cheese, freshly grated
- 4 Campari (small on-the-vine) tomatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1/2 cup green olives, pitted and chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 (12 by 9 inch) lavash breads
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 ounce (1/2 cup) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 475 degrees F with a rack on the lower third and a rack on the upper third.
- In a large bowl, combine the spinach, Fontina, tomatoes, olives, garlic, pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
- Brush both sides of the lavash with the olive oil and lay each on a baking sheet. Bake the breads for about 2 minutes per side, until golden brown.
- Leaving the breads on the baking sheets, spread the spinach filling on the two toasted lavash breads and sprinkle each with the Parmesan.
- Bake the flatbreads for 8 minutes, switching the pans on the racks halfway through, until the cheeses are melty and lightly browned.
- Move the flatbreads to a cutting board and cut with a pizza cutter.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
234.49Fat (grams)
14.08Sat. Fat (grams)
5.26Carbs (grams)
17.4Fiber (grams)
2.17Net carbs
15.22Sugar (grams)
0.87Protein (grams)
10.23Sodium (milligrams)
648.71Cholesterol (grams)
26.03This recipe was adapted from The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook: 500 Vibrant, Kitchen-Tested Recipes for Living and Eating Well Every Day.
Looks seriously tasty, plus healthy! Can't beat that!
ReplyDeleteYou get all your leafy greens!
DeleteCrisp lavash with spinach and tomatoes sounds heaven to me. YUM!
ReplyDelete