"It's still too hot to cook," notes Raul. "That's why we bbq'ed burgers for lunch. And have been eating the same big, but delicious, batch of pasta fagiole for dinner every night. Comfort food for sure but . . . What do you feel like having?"
"I'm good with pasta fagiole," pipes up Drew with sincere enthusiasm.
"Let's see what we have," says Raul. "We're going north in a few days so I want to empty the fridge and make a dent in the freezer."
Drew walks the dog - despite the threatened round two of the storms - while Raul ponders and pores over the kitchen contents. By the time the duo, return the kitchen is a hive of activity. "Pantry pizza!" enthuses Raul.
A pita bread is split in half lengthwise and coated with a mixture of ketchup and anchovy paste to add a blast of umami. Raul then layers on a thick bed of shredded basil from the balcony garden - all the rain has turned the basil plants into huge leafy bushes - and mozzarella cheese grated in a brief blast in the mini-food processor. He briefly fries thinly sliced chorizo sausage to squeeze out the fat and they places the glistening discs on top. The pizzas are placed in the toaster oven until the cheese starts to bubble. The final touch is a sprinkling - or a smothering in Drew's case - of Onion Crunch which is a really versatile and useful flavouring R&D use frequently in salads or atop soups.
The result is light, delicious, cheap and easy. "Gourmet flavour for a bargain price," enthuses Raul. "Why go to an overpriced pizza place when you can use fresh ingredients, toss it in the toaster oven and it only costs 50 cents? Good taste should not be expensive."
"Well it was delicious," says a happy Drew while he sneaks a nibble of chorizo to the dog.
"It was fun," says Raul. "I like pulling stuff together and the cheese was a breeze with the mini-processor and now that we have the sharp knife I could get the chorizo really thin. Maybe we shouldn't admit that we just used ketchup?"
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