Mangia!

Okay, I wanted to shout something Italian, and the first thing that came to mind was, “MANGIA!” which roughly translates to the English word EATS! It seemed appropriate enough. Eats, eats! To eat is what we wanted on Friday evening, as two skinny creatures who emerged from an Italian hibernation only to shout, “We wants to MANGIA!” And we wanted to "MANGIA" fast. Using lavish from our favorite Lebanese bakery and a few provisions I had in the fridge, I quickly assembled Friday night's fare. There was even enough time after supper for Shane and I to play Rummy, every game of which I graciously lost.

This time I did time how long it took me to prepare and serve our vittles :

5:45 p.m.: walk in door; greet Shane; change from work clothes into jeans and a sweater; take care of necessary “functions”; wash hands; preheat oven to 450-475 degrees.

6:00 p.m.: thaw lavish in microwave; wash, peel off skin, and thinly slice red onions; chop green olives; crumble feta cheese; wash and chop fresh thyme.

6:15: spread lavish onto cookie sheet; brush with olive oil; scatter feta cheese; scatter onions and olives; pop cookie sheet into oven.

6:16: sip some merlot.

6:20: chop pre-washed romaine lettuce and toss into bowl; throw in extra sliced onions; shred some Parmigianino over lettuce; slice one lemon in half; set lemon aside.

6:21: sip some merlot

6:25: check pizzas and notice they are browning along the edges and cheese is starting to brown and melt; turn off oven but keep pizzas in oven.

6:26: dress salad with juice from half the lemon, tablespoon olive oil, salt, and freshly ground pepper; toss salad.

6:30: remove pizza from oven and cut each piece in half.

6:32: toast dinner with Shane and tuck in.

Including preheating the oven, I had supper on the table in approximately 47 minutes. You too can enjoy a fast and tasty flat bread pizza! Additions such as roasted red peppers (patted dry if juicy), slices of cured beef or Prosciutto, and fresh basil (wait until the pizza comes from the oven to add fresh basil) would be wonderful variations.

Oh, oh, oh, I also think goat brie, sliced figs, and Serrano ham with fresh thyme would oh so divine…

Flat Bread Pizzas (serves 2 for a full meal, 4 to 6 for appetizers):

2 large pieces lavish bread (each almost 12 inches in length)
Olive oil
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
¼ red onion, thinly sliced
5 or 6 Spanish or Greek green olives, chopped
Handful chopped fresh thyme

Preheat oven to 450-475 degrees (I hit my dial somewhere in the middle).

Arrange lavish breads on cookie sheet and fold each in half lengthwise and crosswise. Brush with olive oil. Scatter over top feta cheese, onions, and green olives. Pop cookie sheet in oven, and bake pizzas for 10-15 minutes, or until brown on the edges and cheese begins to melt. Watch closely and check after 10 minutes so flat bread doesn’t burn. Remove pizzas from the oven and scatter thyme over the top. Cut in piece in 2-4 pieces. Serve with a crisp romaine salad. Shane and I even took some of our crispy edges from the pizza and threw them into the salad. What convenience – pizzas with built in croutons. After a few sips of merlot, I feel like a genius!

Tired and Saucy

I don’t want to think about chopping, simmering, or much less cleaning dirty dishes. I’m wiped. My limbs are molded from cast iron skillets. I am akin to the leashed Chihuahua whose owner is dragging it over ice and chill in all good intentions to make it doodle and potty Chihuahua-style. I’m shaking, I’m cowering from the cold, so just take me home and I can sleep in my sunbeam (only to growl at the occasional bug that walks across the floor, but that’s just a personality flaw).

And I still have to go grocery shopping.

Anticipating such days of laziness, I have started doubling sauce recipes that I can store in quart-size freezer bags. By squeezing out as much air as possible (without squirting the sauce out of the bag), and flattening the bag, I can stack my sauces in the freezer for lazy days’ quick bites. Of course there are times when I forget to label the bag, and I can’t always tell a beer-ready barbeque sauce from a wine laden Ragù, but what better way to set the stage for adventurous eating than by tossing silky and smooth pappardelle with a smoky barbeque sauce? Learn from me: take the time to label your bags. If your freezer has been around long enough to quote “Where’s the beef?” and you wonder the same as you root through its contents, I gently command you to include the date of freezing on your label.

Besides storing a basic, homemade tomato sauce, wonderful to keep on hand for last minute pizzas, I like to keep a variety of sauces within easy access. Over the past weeks, I have concocted batches of exotically inspired sauces that invite me to share their warmth and destinations. Ginger-infused spicy peanut sauce whose original intent was to dress a cold noodle salad works beautifully in an all vegetable stir-fry. South Indian curry hints of sweet coconut milk and beautifully picks up the briny goodness of shrimp. A scoop of rice (basmati optional) and sautéed green beans round out this light meal. An old favorite, tangy romesco sauce delivers a wallop of chile peppers, toasted nuts, and robust garlic. Two or three bites and I'm hankering for one sangria after another.

Romesco Sauce is a Shane and Emilie Favorite. Normally I toss whole wheat linguini with the sauce and serve with a dozen and a half of quickly sautéed shrimp. But Friday evenings call for something different and something casual – with pizzazz. And with a quart-size freezer bag not even a quarter full of romesco sauce and a smattering of shrimp neither are enough to feed 2 adults without a little stretching. My endeavor has to be creative in order to stretch the remains of both the shrimp and the sauce and make it so that Shane doesn’t need an after supper ice cream fix. Shane will want an ice cream fix, but, by golly, he won’t need an ice cream fix.

Thanks to my vivacious sourdough starter that gives more than I can take, earlier this week I prepared pizza dough, and it’s been sitting in my refrigerator begging for attention. After lugging home a week’s worth of groceries, I heated the oven to a cozy 450 degrees. Knowing the oven would continue to cook the shrimp to a succulent texture, 30 seconds was all it took to just sauté the shrimp. Over 10 inches of stretched pizza dough, I spread roughly a ½ cup of romesco sauce, scattered the sautéed shrimp, and to give the pizza one more depth of flavor (not to mention sustenance) a good dose of goat cheese completed my last minute nosh.

Twenty minutes crisped the bottom of the crust nicely while leaving the edges chewy, but not too soft. The goat cheese was a touch brown. I was afraid to leave it in longer for fear of overcooking the shrimp, but for those who prefer a browner crust and cheese, five more minutes should suffice. To down play the richness of the pizza, a crisp romaine salad dressed with a crumbles of goat cheese, sliced Kalamata olives, olive oil and red wine vinegar garnished the empty spots on our plates and perfectly complemented the flavors of the pizza.

The verdict?

Emilie: absolute bliss.

Shane: we’ve made it far into the evening, and no ice cream has been consumed.