Euro 2016 Food Challenge: Belgium: Flammekueche

Day one of the food challenge! And on tonight's menu, Belgian Flammekueche / Tarte Flambée. 

Basically pizza with crème fraîche, onions and bacon.  I actually first ate this in Alsace, and it's one of my favourite things.  You can buy them in Costco, and pre-diet they were a regular post-shop treat!

Here's my attempt at a Slimming World version.  If you're not on SW, you can easily convert this to a full fat version - just follow the recipe here but use a standard pizza base recipe, smoked streaky bacon and full fat crème fraîche.

In looking for a low-syn pizza base I found the great healthy extras pizza recipe from The Slimming Foodie: http://www.theslimmingfoodie.com/healthy-extras-pizza/ 

I never knew you could use bread mix as a healthy B!  What a discovery. Only certain ones mind... I used the Asda wholemeal bread mix:

I did a few experimental ones first, trying quark and fat free Fromage Frais for the sauce (as they're syn-free).  Crème fraîche is far nicer, and worth using a syn, I think it needs the slight acidity that you don't quite get with the other two.

Flammekueche / Tarte Flambée 

Syns per tarte:
0.5-1 syn for the crème fraîche (check syn values carefully, the different brands vary a lot!)

6 syns for the base if not using as HEB

Ingredients 

1 x wholemeal bread mix (at the moment Aldi or Asda count as HEB)

Frylight

And for each tarte you will need:

1 smoked bacon medallion (or a rasher of back bacon with the fat trimmed off)

1 small onion
1-2 tbsp low fat / fat free Crème Fraîche

Prepare the dough

Make up the dough according to the packet instructions.

60g of the made up dough counts as your HEB choice.  When the dough is ready, weigh it out into 60g portions - I got 14 out of the Asda packet.  Dough can be frozen, so wrap up any portions you don't need and put them in the freezer for another time.

NB. If you are short on time / can't be faffed making dough, this recipe would probably work on a different base, e.g. using one of the wraps or sandwich thins that count as your HEB.  

Prepare the toppings

Cut the bacon into short strips.

 
Spray a frying pan with Frylight and cook the bacon strips.  This should take about 4-5 minutes on a medium heat.  

Remove the cooked bacon from the pan into a bowl and set aside.

Peel and thinly slice the onion, and add it to the frying pan.  Cook on a low heat until softened (about 10-15 minutes).

Assemble and bake

Preheat your oven to 240C/220C fan. 

If you've got a pizza stone, put it in the oven to heat up (if you haven't got one, I'd recommend investing - brilliant for getting a crisp base on homemade or shop bought pizzas).  If you haven't got a pizza stone, use a large baking tray.

Make the base by rolling out your dough, and/or hand-stretching it (like they do in proper pizza places!).  I did a mixture of both - I rolled the dough out fairly thinly with a rolling pin, then carefully stretched it out by hand, as thin as it would go without breaking.  I like a super thin base anyway, but for SW purposes more surface area = more pizza, more toppings and less of the wholemeal taste!

If you're using a baking tray, put your base onto a piece of greaseproof paper.  

Get your heated baking tray / pizza stone out of the oven, and put the base onto it, carefully stretching out the base a bit more if necessary.

Spoon on and spread out 1-2 level tbsps. of crème fraîche, leaving a small border around the edge.  Top with the cooked onion and bacon.

Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the base is crisped up and lightly browned.

Serve with a big pile of salad.