MAKE YOUR OWN FAST FOOD

After a couple of sunny days, it has been raining non stop in New York for the last two days. I wish it was really rain, but no, it's the continuous drizzle that makes you feel bad all over all the time. You don't really know if it is summer or winter, hot or cold. If you close the windows to stay dry, you'll suffocate; if you open them, it will be wet and chilly. With this kind of weather, it's hard to decide what to eat. Do we have a soup? It's too hot for that. A salad? It's not that bright to be happy with just a salad. It may be the perfect day to order out or have some good old, hearty fast food. So what can we have? Contrary to all predictions, my husband came out today with an answer, a very clear answer: let's have a pizza. But he made sure to immediately add: do we have all the ingredients? Probably, I said, but we'll have to defrost the dough. What if we just buy a fresh one? No problem, it will need less time to defrost. So we got a new package from the store. Still, I consider it home made. Hey I defrosted the dough, and did everything else.

PIZZA MARINARA

                                                     

I have to warn you from the start: I love my pizza over filled with goodies. I love the crust to be medium, not very thin or very thick, and sure no stuffed crusts or any other strange invention. I love a regular, real Italian pizza, just like the one I used to get in Rome, in the small alleys, not the touristy restaurants. I used to get the most delicious pizzas by the "etto" (100 grams rectangular slice) cut from a big baking sheet with different toppings, etto after etto, flavor after flavor. So my perfect pizza has to cover all these basic rules. You don't need a recipe for the pizza, just decide what do you want as toppings. You can have a pizza with lots of toppings and cheese, or one with less toppings, it all depends on what you really like. If you want to make one like mine, you'll need:

1 package pizza dough, thawed

7 or 8 white mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

1 (7 oz) can tuna in water, drained

1/2 can black olives, sliced

10 shrimps, cleaned, deveined

1 can tomato sauce

1 can anchovies, flat

Grated mozzarella and Parmigiano cheeses, the quantity again depends on your taste

A pinch of each oregano and salt.

Read the dough package carefully and use it according to the instructions. The one I got asked for drizzling the defrosted dough with some oil, then spread it on the baking sheet. It had two small balls of dough, and I used them both in a regular size baking sheet. Once the dough is in the pan, start preheating the oven to 450, according to my package instructions. Make sure to check yours. In a small sauce pan, preferably non stick, pour the can of tomato sauce plus half a can of water, add a pinch of salt and oregano, stir and cook over medium heat for about 4 minutes, until bubbly. Back to the dough: make sure that it is covering all the sheet, if not, push it again with your hands so it is well spread, covers all the baking sheet and is equally thick in all places. With the back of a big spoon, spread a thin layer of sauce over the dough, you don't have to use all the sauce, the leftover can be used later, then start piling up the toppings. Start with the mushrooms, the tuna, then the shrimps: if they are as big as the ones I used today, just slice them lengthwise, you'll have a thinner shrimp, but equally big, and they'll plump up when cooked. Top with the Parmigiano, then the olives and half of the mozzarella. Drain the anchovies and arrange them at regular intervals, in order to have enough salty bites all over your pizza. Sprinkle another round of mozzarella, and bake until golden brown. Serve with a green salad.

                                             

                                          

MIXING UP HOLIDAYS

This year Sham El Nessim came with the Cinqo de Mayo festivities. This is our first Spring  or Sham El Nessim without mom. I really wanted to keep the tradition alive, but a combination of absent friends, a mother of one of them recovering from surgery, and the weather not being really "springy" dissuaded me. I was not in the mood to make a big hoopla out of it this year as we usually do. So I called some friends, just to make sure, and we all decided that we'll do it later on, perhaps when real Spring would come to New York.

Still we have to eat. I asked my husband if he was up to having the usual dishes, eggs, herrings and all the trimmings. As expected, he was not very enthusiastic about it and gave me the dreaded answer: "anything will do". But you know me, this answer is not acceptable. So I decided to combine the two occasions in one meal: Cinqo de Mayo for appetizers and Sham El Nessim for the main course. Here's the result.

TEX MEX SHRIMP COCKTAIL

                                                        

I thought of this dish, simply because I had some leftover shrimp and I needed to do something with it. The occasion provided the inspiration. I will make something "Mexican", but not quite Mexican: a dish tweaked to our taste, but within the same general idea. I guess the original Tex Mex requires that you use hot peppers or hot sauce, but we don't eat hot food, so if you like the idea of this dish, you can go ahead and make it as hot as you like. Just add some hot sauce to the dish, according to your taste. All the other ingredients should be at hand in your kitchen. You can follow the recipe, or improvise depending on what you like and what you have around.

For the shrimp, I usually cook it beforehand, in a big pot, no water, but with some slices of carrot, celery, onion and garlic, plus cumin, celery salt, coriander, salt and pepper and lots of lime juice. Just cover the pot, and stir it once or twice until all shrimp turns pink, for about  10 minutes max. When the shrimp is cooled enough to handle, peel it. If you are going to serve it as a shrimp dish, just transfer to a serving dish, leaving the other ingredients in the pot. You may use them for stock later. You'll need:

About 1 lb shrimp, cooked and peeled

1 tomato

1 avocado

2 scallions, finely chopped, white and green parts

1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup lemon juice

In a glass bowl mix the ketchup with the lemon juice. Chop and seed the tomato. Add it to the bowl. Add the shrimp, scallions and cilantro. Mix to coat. Refrigerate for about one hour. When ready to serve, peel, seed and chop the avocado and add it to the bowl. Gently stir to incorporate. Arrange a red lettuce leaf on the side of a serving cup, add the shrimp mixture.

Note: you may use pre-cooked shrimp, but make sure that you dry it thoroughly with paper towels, so it doesn't become too soggy.

DECONSTRUCTED NICOISE SALAD

                                                  

Since salty dishes are out of the question, I decided to go for a Nicoise salad. But since my husband is becoming a very picky eater these days, I decided to make it in a way that will allow him to chose whatever he likes from the dish. I also know he doesn't like green beans, so I'll use asparagus, and no anchovies today, he has developed some kind of sensitivity to salt. You, on the other hand can add them to your dish. I made the potato salad the French way, no mayo, and used canned tuna. I had a couple of fresh tuna fillets, but again it was my husband's choice.

Be creative with the arrangement of the ingredients, you can mix everything together, or follow my example and serve the salad on a big platter allowing everyone to chose the things that he likes best. You'll need:

2 can tuna, packed in water, drained

5 to 6 medium boiled potatoes, chopped

1 tomato

3 cucumbers

4 hard boiled eggs

1 heart of lettuce, plus some mixed greens

1 lb asparagus, hard tips removed

2 to 3 scallions, finely chopped, white parts and little green

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp red wine vinegar

1 cup Kalamata olives

1 pinch cumin

3 to 4 tbsp lemon juice, more to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl, lightly mix the tuna with a drop of oil and lemon juice. Set aside. In another bowl mix the potatoes with a tbsp oil, a tbsp of scallions, the cumin, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Chop the tomato, peel and slice the cucumber, chop the lettuce and add them to a bowl. In a non stick skillet, cook some of the scallions, about a tbsp, in a drop of oil until tender. Add the asparagus, sprinkle salt and pepper, and cook for a couple of minutes. Add a tbsp of boiling water, to keep the vibrant green color. When the liquid is all absorbed remove from the fire. Just before serving, make the salad dressing with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, add it to the vegetable bowl and mix. In a large platter arrange some mixed greens on one side, add the tuna over them, then arrange the olives, followed by the potato salad, then the mixed salad. Slice the eggs in half and arrange over the salad. Arrange the asparagus on the sides of the dish. If you are using anchovies you can arrange them over the potato salad, for contrast.
You may also sprinkle some dried oregano over the tuna, it gives a nice flavor.