Psychics and Soup

So at the beginning of this month I participated in the Holistic and Healing Expo in Elk Grove, Ca. The theme for this year was the Caribbean and South America. It was fantastic! I had a booth and sold logoed hats and homemade pepper jelly. For those that had paid to hear the evenings speaker, they were treated with fare from my company. I had Creme de Calabaza y Cocoa Nib Soup, Skull Cake Lollipops (for Dia de Los Muertos) and homemade crackers.



I am not trying to brag, anybody that knows me knows that I am a pretty humble person. I don't work well with compliments, BUT people killed the food that I made for the expo. There was NOTHING left at the end of the day. Now the "Shug Avery" in me wants to say, "Oh hell ya I know what I'm doin! I can cook mama!" But the "Celie Johnson" wants to say, "Maybe everybody was just really hungry and they didn't care what they ate as long as it was hot." Anyways, I thought I would share the recipe for the lavash cracker because I got so many request for it. So enjoy this recipe, sorry everything else from the expo I'm keepin a secret. I am working with my design team that created my bistro's website to develop an online grocery store. We had talked about it a hella long time ago back in August, but as life gets in the way when you are the mother of a two year old, I put it on the back burner. Well now I've moved it to the front burner and turned that baby on high heat. So look for it soon. It should be gangster!

Lavash Seeded Cracker

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
• 3 teaspoons sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
• 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, pepper, and sesame seeds. Using two knives, cut the shortening and butter in the mixture until in forms large course pea size or larger crumbs. Pour in the cream and mix with a fork until a rough mass forms.
Using a plastic pastry scraper, scrape the dough onto a clean work surface and gently squeeze together. Add a few more drops of cream to the dough if it does not hold it's shape. Gently press into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 20 minutes or up to an hour.
Unwrap the dough and place on a lightly floured work surface. Cut the dough in half and taking one half at a time, roll the dough out with a rolling pin into a thin sheet. Be careful not to tear the sheets. You can trim the edges with a pizza wheel, I prefer a more rustic look and leave the edges as they are. Transfer to a sheet pan and bake at 350 degrees on the middle rack for 12-15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack for cooling. Once cooled break the sheets into shards and serve.