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closeYes, that new Full of Life Flatbread in your grocery’s frozen food section bears a striking resemblance to American Flatbread, but not to worry.
Both are handcrafted by the same people and baked in a primitive wood-fired earthen oven, but the new brand represents an absolute dedication to local ingredients and sustainable methods of production.
It was only five years ago that Clark Staub opened the Los Alamos building, which doubles as a pizza production facility by day and as the popular “Hearth in the Cottonwoods” restaurant on Friday and Saturday nights.
Staub’s initial goal was to champion American Flatbread beyond its native Vermont and East Coast markets, and “it’s now the No. 2 natural brand in the country,” he noted. “We brought it to all 50 states.”
Some might be willing to rest on such laurels, but Staub wanted to further celebrate the concept he was already doing full tilt at Hearth in the Cottonwoods—sourcing and serving high-quality, certified organic products from local producers.
The result: six flavors of 9- inch Full of Life Flatbread All- Natural Pizzas, which Staub describes as “food as an act of community rather than commodity.
“We’re getting everything from within 300 miles, we’re making the pizzas in-house, by hand, in small batches, and we’re bringing attention to our farmers and suppliers,” most of which are listed on the pizza packaging and/or the Full of Life Web site, he said. TO LEARN MORE ...
Full of Life Flatbread All Natural Pizzas are available at several local markets, including Spencer’s Fresh Markets, Scolari’s, Grande Health Foods, Soto’s Market and New Frontiers. More info call 344-4400 or visit www.fulloflifefoods.com.
b>MELON AND TOMATO SALAD
Clark Staub of Full of Life Flatbread and Heart in the Cottonwoods restaurant noted that his melon and tomato salad “is the perfect warm weather accompaniment to our pizzas.”
Makes: 4-6 servings
For the salad
• 1/2 sweet onion, Maui onion, or torpedo onion, peeled
• 1/4 cup champagne vinegar
• 5 heirloom tomatoes
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
• Sea salt
• 1 seedless watermelon
• 1 cantaloupe
• 1 honeydew melon
• 6 leaves basil
• 6 leaves purple basil
• Borage and other herb flowers (optional)
Slice the onion into very thin wedges lengthwise from root to top. Place the onion wedges in a small bowl, squeeze the other 1/2 a lemon over it, and then pour the champagne vinegar over the onion. Let it sit while you prepare the salad. (You can also save extra onions and they will continue to softly “pickle” to use in other dishes or on top of a pizza!)
Using a sharp knife, slice the heirloom tomatoes into 1/8- inch wedges, the cherry tomatoes in half, and place in a large bowl. Season with sea salt.
Cut a flat piece off each melon from one end, and stand it upright on a cutting board, and run the knife down the melon to remove the rind. Cut the melon in half and remove the seeds. Then slice the melon into chunks about the same size as the heirloom tomatoes and place in the bowl with the tomatoes.
Pour the dressing mix over the melons and tomatoes and gently toss with your open hand, trying to keep your fingers together like a spatula; the tomatoes and the melons are fragile and you want them to remain intact, so don't use metal or salad tongs.
Wash your hands and set out 4-6 chilled plates. Evenly distribute the dressed tomatoes and melons over the plates. (I like to have the tomato wedges facing upward and the small sweet cherry tomatoes cut side up.) Gently pour the rest of the dressing from the bottom of the bowl over the plates.
Scatter the “pickled” onions over the plates, then garnish with thinly sliced basil strips and any herb flowers from your garden—at Heart in the Cottonwoods we use borage, lemon verbena, oregano, and various edible flowers, scattered randomly over the plate to create a collage of color and flavors.
For the dressing
• 1/8 cup organic tamari
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 Meyer lemon (you’ll use the other half below in the salad)
• Black Pepper
Whisk the tamari, olive oil, juice from the 1/2 lemon, and black pepper together until it emulsifies. Set aside.
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