Today I 'google'd' lavash pizzas and PING!!! Up comes Life's a Picnic blog with a great recommendation for Jacques Pépin's 'fast food my way'.
It really got me thinking! So today I made a couple of the lavash flatbread pizzas to go with our salad and gnocchi alla gorgonzola (all effort for the gnocchi compliments of Trader Joe's, my Pampered Chef Microcooker and my advantium microwave).
For the salad I used leftover french bread to make some homemade croutons ( a technique I learned A LONG LONG TIME AGO from watching a show called 'Caprial's Cafe' with Chef Caprial Pence). I would highly recommend making these croutons instead of buying them. Using day old french bread for this is a great way to avoid waste.) Simply cube the bread and heat some extra virgin olive oil in a skillet and drop the bread in, tossing quickly to evenly coat with olive oil. Be sure not to use too much oil, you are lightly coating, not soaking the cubes. I then sprinkle the cubes, once they are coated and starting to toast, with garlic powder and your choice of seasonings. I like basil, dried is absolutely fine in this case. A pinch of sea salt and you are done! Well worth the extra step and I always have to watch that someone is not having salad with their croutons :o) instead of the other way around!
For the dressing, I used the Pampered Chef Mix N Pour thingamabob. The one you use to mix dressing in and it neatly has the measurements on the side with the recipe. I made the Italian dressing using balsamic vinegar from Modena and added a little more garlic... you can never have too much garlic! Mix, mix, mix and you're done!
Back to the lavash pizza, I made a pepperoni one with fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella/parmegiano reggiano cheese. I was riveted when I saw Jacques Pépin's recipe for 'pico de gallo'. This is one of my favorite spanish condiments and I thought... if it's good alone as a condiment, then it would be AWESOME as a version of pizza :o) So I made some 'pico de gallo' per Jacques Pépin's website and used that to top the lavash along with some shredded colby jack cheese on one and pepper jack on the other. Can you say FANTASTICO!?!?! It was delicious and hubby was very impressed and it was pretty effortless! Genius! Here is the trio :o) Clockwise: Pico de gallo lavash with colby/jack, pepperoni lavash with fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella and pico de gallo lavash with pepper jack.
Here is a picture of the Pico de Gallo lavash pizza with pepper jack cheese.
You can find videos/recipes here http://www.kqed.org/w/jpfastfood/home.html for the lavash pizza and pico de gallo and some really delicious and simple fast food dishes! I have always enjoyed watching Jacques Pépin with Julia Childs but this takes cooking to a whole other level :o) Very delish!
Thanks 'Picnic Guy' (I realize this was a very old blog I stumbled upon but... thanks :o) ) It's people like you that keep the 'what's for dinner' train going :O)
Remember, if you like something a lot then chances are you are going to love it in other ways :o)
