I could be the Next Iron Chef. Why? Because I just passed the “improvise” test in my own kitchen. That’s right. I wanted to make pizza for dinner but all I had was instant yeast, brown rice flour, and cheese. I had no real toppings, no sauce, and I wasn’t able to use garlic or onion because they contain the dreaded FODMAPs. What did I do? I improvised!
No sauce? No garlic? No problem! Take a jar of fire roasted tomatoes, add about 2 tsp. garlic olive oil (or regular olive oil and 1/2 clove whole garlic, if you’re lucky and you can have garlic!), and puree.
Voila…pizza sauce!
I followed this recipe for the crust, but used my “homemade pizza sauce” for the sauce, and infused more garlic into the pizza by using garlic olive oil in the dough, instead of plain olive oil. This pizza was my best one yet.
I think the garlic in the crust and in the sauce really elevated the flavor. Plus, I’ll admit, I went a little crazy on the cheese. I did end up finding a jar of banana peppers in the fridge, and that was our only topping.
And, I had some sauce leftover for my spaghetti squash dish the next night. Below is a bowl of spaghetti squash topped with steamed vegetables, ground turkey, and my sauce. I also added grated parmesan cheese and pepper.
So long story short, my can of fire roasted tomatoes and my garlic olive oil turned into the perfect pizza sauce and spaghetti sauce. Not bad for my improvisation test, right?!
And on a completely different note, I just finished reading a fantastic book called The Art of Racing in the Rain. I know I read about this on someone’s blog, but I can’t remember who. Whoever it was, thanks for the great recommendation!!!
QUESTION: When was the last time you had to improvise in the kitchen? What was the last great book you read? I’ll take suggestions anytime!
Enjoy your week everyone! Can you believe Christmas is SUNDAY?! And to those who celebrate, Happy (almost) Hanukkah!
