An extremely hearty and simple soup for a wintry day

 Making my Vaguely Italian Bean and Greens soup tonight! The contents are extremely variable, the results are always really good.

Start with browning some crumbled sausage in olive oil. Using Italian sausage tonight, but could be turkey sausage or plant-based (which I haven't used so can't advise). You can also omit the sausage and substitute diced onions or carrots.

Add minced garlic to taste, and a hearty dollop of basil pesto.

Add a can of diced tomatoes (fire-roasted, chilies added, whatever you like) and a can of beans (cannellini today, could be roman beans or navy beans or whatever you prefer).

Add enough broth or water to make consistency you prefer -- I like a nice dense soup. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer.

Then add shredded greens. Anything goes. Marcella Hazan's simpler cookbook version of this soup uses Swiss chard, which is excellent. I've used spinach, arugula, kale, escarole, whatever; tonight it's shredded Tuscan kale.

When the greens are done, serve forth! Enjoy with grated Parmesan cheese and lots of crusty bread, and a bottle of wine.

I'm pretty sure I first made this soup before I saw the Hazan version, but I've no idea where I got the idea from. Probably a food magazine? Hazan's version is much simpler, without the sausage and tomatoes, really a variation on classic escarole and white bean soup, which is also delicious.

Variations on a Tuna

Saw an interesting idea for lunch in a recent NYT Food newsletter, and tried it today. SUCCESS. We both loved it! 

 
Mix canned tuna (1 can for 2 people) with a little soy sauce, a little sesame oil, as much mayo as you like (I am using Kewpie these days), mix with chopped cucumber (I used 1 small seedless for 2 people) and chopped scallion. Put over hot rice. Add a few shakes of furikake (flaked nori and sesame seeds).

Not so much a recipe as a procedure, as all is to taste. Other ideas included were chopped radish, avocado and tomato. I'll definitely try those!

Previously, my fanciest tuna salad lunches were scallions, dill, olives, capers and mayo and olive oil, sometimes sliced grape tomatoes. Diced celery is good too, but I usually only buy celery in fall and winter. Other times too lazy, just use mayo, capers and lemon pepper or Italian herb blend. I'm going to try chili-lime spice blend too! 

You can use whatever canned tuna you like, of course, solid or light. We eat canned tuna once a week or so, alternating types. 

My tuna salad notions came about after many years of my being convinced I didn't like canned tuna, while my Spouse claims he practically lived on tuna sandwiches for years while a bachelor. I gradually came to appreciate it, now I even crave it sometimes. 

I started out ages ago making a "Tuscan Tuna Salad" we ate in pita pockets or over beds of lettuce. 

• Sauté in olive oil: sliced scallions, diced fennel, red bell pepper, 1 can small white beans until warmed. 
• Mixed with tuna, diced cucumber, chopped parsley and dill. 
• Chopped olives are optional. I like them. 
• Simple olive oil and lemon juice dressing. Lots of fresh ground pepper. Salt. 
• Again, not a real recipe, more a procedure. Spouse can't eat raw onion, for example, so I use scallions instead, but you could use diced red or sweet raw onion. 

Quantities vary. I literally never measure chopped or sliced veggies in any recipe. I go by what would serve the 2 of us, depending on whether we want leftovers or not. Tuscan Tuna Salad could absolutely become leftovers for lunch, so eyeball it. Quarter a fennel bulb for 2 servings, half for 4. Peppers come in all sizes, so maybe half a cup for 2 servings or 4. An entire small Persian cucumber for 2, or a few inches of a larger greenhouse cucumber. 

Then I started making several tuna-based toppings for pasta. My first version was: 

• Sauté shallot, garlic in olive oil; 
• Add petite diced canned tomatoes, basil pesto, chopped black olives, capers, flaked canned tuna, crushed red pepper and lots of black pepper. 
• Use whatever pasta you like. Curly pasta holds the topping really well. 

My delicious version of Pasta Puttanesca is really easy for a pantry dinner when I'm tired. Again, for 2 people:

• Sauté small chopped onion or large shallot in olive oil, with lots of garlic. 
• Add a generous heap of anchovies, 1 can of drained diced tomatoes and at least a heaping tablespoon of basil pesto. Cook down a bit. Stir a lot. 
• At the last minute, add the can of tuna, a handful of chopped olives and a few spoonfuls of capers. 
• Shake on some hot red pepper flakes, and plenty of grated Parmesan. 
• Serve with red wine! 

OF COURSE Salad Nicoise is still the king of tuna salad meals. I try not to make a huge production of it, as good tomatoes and green beans and baby potatoes are in the Greenmarket just when I don't want to heat up the house by cooking. So I cheat! 

• Cut the baby red potatoes in half. Boil. When they have boiled 5 minutes, add the green beans to the same pot. They will come out done at the same time. Drizzle with dressing while still warm. Let cool a bit. 
• Hard-boil eggs preferably some other time if it's hot in the kitchen. Peel and slice in half or quarters or whatever you like. 
• Meanwhile, prepare vinaigrette dressing (olive oil, lemon juice or red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard). I sometimes add some mayo. Lots of ground pepper. 
• Prepare the lettuce. Mix it with a bit of dressing. Slice tomatoes. 
• Break up the tuna you're using (the jarred filets are best but canned is fine). I like to pre-combine it with plenty of small olives and plenty of capers and plenty of drained anchovies. Fewer bowls to wash! Mix with a bit of dressing. 
• Serve however you like. I fill our bowls with lettuce, then we pick the rest. 

I have a David Rosengarten recipe for "Lemony Tuna and White Bean Antipasto Salad" that I still haven't tried, but it's pretty simple. Tuna, canned cannellini, olives, sliced celery, capers, parsley, roasted red pepper, all combined with a lemon juice & olive oil vinaigrette plus lemon zest. Maybe next week! 

Irish Seafood Chowder, a bit overdue

 We went to the World SF Convention in Dublin in 2019, little knowing it would be our last trip abroad...well, since then. Because freaking pandemic. 

Dublin was a new city for us, a new country, and we had an excellent time. The convention had some Issues, but the convention center is conveniently located just steps from the Samuel Beckett Bridge and one of the tram lines, and it's really easy to get to other desirable locations from there. So we did. 

Our hotel was also conveniently located. A stop for the other tram line was literally right under our window--so hitting the road every morning was simplicity itself. 

There were terrific gastro pubs nearby as well. We love a pub, and were not disappointed. Atmosphere in the nearest ones was maybe a bit touristy--hardly surprising, given the neighborhood--but the food was excellent. Do people actually complain about the food in Ireland the way they complain about the food in England? If so, they're not going to the right places. 

Dinner: chips (fried potatoes), a rare steak, some veggies

Look at that feast. Steak, chips, veggies...it was so ridiculously good! And I absolutely adore a good Irish breakfast. Our hotel featured a nice breakfast buffet and oh did I ever take advantage of all the white pudding and black pudding and Irish bacon and brown bread. Oh did I ever. 

Breakfast: Irish brown bread, black pudding, white pudding, Irish bacon, eggs

(I guess it helps if you like black pudding...which is just a firm blood sausage made with pork and oats. I like every variant of blood sausage I've ever had, including German blutwurst and Dominican morcilla. White pudding is the same thing without the blood. Also extremely tasty.)

Our favorite culinary discovery was Seafood Chowder. A chunkier, more satisfying version of comforting and familiar New England Clam Chowder, this ubiquitous soup really is a meal in a bowl, with a couple slices of delicious Irish brown bread. This one featured salmon, and peas.

Salmon seafood chowder, brown bread on the side

And in Temple Bar, I perused the cookbook created by the chef at a restaurant we lucked upon, and discovered the recipe for the delicious concoction we ordered for lunch.

Simplicity itself. Onions, potatoes, carrots, peas, herbs, butter, cream, white wine, fish. SO GOOD. 

So when we returned home, I decided to put my own versions of this soup into regular rotation. I already was making a summertime corn-tomato-fish chowder, so changing it up a bit was easy-peasy. 

This version has onion, celery, carrot, broccoli, peas and firm fish--bluefish in this case. Softened the veggies in a little butter first, added cream and milk, simmered, added the fish last and broke it up when it was cooked through. Similar results for shrimp, scallops, etc. Pretty much any fish will work if it doesn't get mushy when simmered in broth. 

Bluefish and veggie chowder, my own concoction

Vegetarian creamy chowder

As usual, I decided to make vegetarian versions besides fishy ones. Inspired by the tasty Cream of Broccoli soup served by our local diner, I added lots of broccoli to a chowder chunky with onion, carrot, potato, corn and frozen peas. Cauliflower is also an excellent addition. 

The vegetarian version has become a regular favorite of ours, as I nearly always have suitable veggies in the fridge, and cream and milk. Though I'm thinking of trying a cream soup trick Julia Child wrote about: you cook a suitable amount of white rice and puree it, having thinned it out a bit with broth. A vegetarian broth would work well, suitable to the flavors of the soup. The craze for cauliflower-in-everything is waning, but pureed cooked cauliflower would be good here too, added to the rice. 

Shelf-Stable Goods

I visited the NY Botanical Garden with my BFF yesterday, whose special-needs kids will likely be home for weeks so I won't get to see her for a while. They won't get educational therapy while they're at home, so she despairs of keeping them entertained while trying to get work done.

The orchids were very pretty. There weren't many people around. We had lunch in the sit-down restaurant, overpriced but tasty; the place was more than half full.

I went with my friend to the Aldi on Broadway in the Bronx. The lines wrapped up and down the aisles, and she later reported the shelves weren't being restocked because the cashiers are supposed to do that. I didn't need anything from there so I went home; I had a shopping list for my own neighborhood, as Spouse started working from home today.

The express bus passed the Met Museum, where fewer people than usual were lingering on the steps. I felt heartsick for the street vendors who won't have thousands of tourists thronging their carts for weeks and weeks. I hope they can survive.

As I rode a bus home, my iPod offered up, in a row:
The Weeping Song, Nick Drake
I Wanna Be Sedated, the Ramones
Bad Medicine, Bon Jovi

THEN the supermarket all-70s muzak offered up OH MY MY by Ringo Starr. "I called up my doctor to see what's the matter, He said come on over, I said do I haveta..."

THANKS UNIVERSE.

I bought a lot of durable groceries this week, to supplement the stuff we already had: rice, pasta, ramen, canned tomatoes, butter, cheese, potatoes, turnips, carrots, hummus, peanut butter, crackers, chocolate, cookies, frozen sausage, frozen veggies, matzoh, popcorn. Hot sauce for all the rice and beans in our future. WINE. Got a hunk of corned beef for the weekend and a head of cabbage, enough to share with Spouse's elderly aunt whom we are still planning to visit on Sunday.

(We already had beans, coconut milk, jam, canned soup & shelf-stable broth, corn chips, pumpkin, couscous, bulgur, cornmeal, coffee, tea, cereal, raisins, nuts, granola bars, chutney. Ordered more Birds & Beans coffee the 2 of us usually drink 3 cups a day total.)

Eggs keep for over a month in the fridge. We eat a lot of eggs. I bought a lot of eggs. There were plenty in the stores.

The supermarket has lines, as does the gourmet market, but I've seen worse on just regular weekends. Shelves were being restocked all week. The usual stuff was flying out: paper goods (we have plenty), bread (we have enough), Clorox wipes (we have LOTS). I did buy extra laundry detergent and dishwashing liquid. Gourmet market coffee was partly cleaned out today -- a lot of people won't be going to Starbucks next week as usual.

I got good at prepping due to 9/11, Hurricane Sandy and various big blizzards. I know how to cook meats and veg nobody else seems to bother with. Today I got oxtails that I can freeze, and make stew whenever, same as I did during Sandy when more popular fresh meats were scarce. The freezer also contains random sausages, a package of ground bison for chili, and a roast chicken carcass for soup.

Pretzels don't seem popular with food hoarders, while chips & popcorn go fast. Judging by what's gone first, I suspect a lot of the folks emptying the shelves don't actually cook very much, and aren't entirely sure what to buy or how much. They aren't buying things to eat NOW -- fresh fish or fresh produce, only fresh meat, so maybe they're freezing all that chicken? First rule of prepping, don't eat the storeable goods until all else is gone!

I should've bought fish for tonight's dinner but I forgot as soon as I had ground lamb in hand, so oh well, so much for my own advice...

Melodious Blend, the Bestest Blend!

HWAET! I come to inform you of the wonders of TJ Melodious Blend.

If you are a Trader Joe’s fan, or even an occasional shopper, you almost certainly have a wagon-load of favorite, staple items that you’ve come to love, depend on and feel bereft of when out of stock or out of season. I have a couple of dozen such favorites in my pantry and freezer.*

Melodious Blend is in the frozen foods, and like many TJ packaged goods it is a godsend when you don’t know what the f-word else to cook, want a leguminous meatless or nearly meatless meal that isn’t just opening a can of beans again. Not that I lack for recipes that include opening a can of beans of pretty much any variety. (Note: Spouse and I Do. Not. Like. Tofu. It is not part of our diet. It is not something we’ll ever heartily embrace unless every mammal, bird and fish on the planet goes extinct in our lifetimes—in which case soybeans and humans are probably doomed as well.) (Well, we are probably doomed, but it’s my fervent hope that enough vertebrates outlast us to kickstart evolutionary diversity again in a few hundred years.)

Anyway. Melodious Blend. As you see from the package, it’s pre-cooked and only needs heating to make it savory and delicious. You COULD choose to believe the TJ copywriters, or you could believe me instead. Without a bit of additional fuss, MB is tasty but bland. Not that some people don’t enjoy that. But it’s pretty easy to make it a bit more interesting. I will use today’s dinner as an example in several easy steps, as today was nasty and cold outside and I decided that cooking from the freezer and fridge veggie bin was better than going to the store. I mean, this is WHY I even have MB in the freezer.

First step: note that the ingredients of MB are primarily green lentils, red lentils and green chickpeas (which are just regular chickpeas cooked before being dried). It also includes olive oil and some tomato. This last part is technically accurate but honestly, a bit misleading. Cooked by itself, MB’s seasoning is barely barely detectable. Legumes are tasty but they do need significant seasoning--witness pretty much the entire world's cookery. So while I ordinarily go along with the vaguely Italian seasoning, you could in fact concoct Indian, Middle Eastern, French or pretty much any other flavoring you enjoy. Plan accordingly. 

Second step: decide which fresh or frozen veggies need to be used up. Canned are OK too if that’s what you have. Pretty much anything goes, at this step. Choose any two or up to six, at which point this becomes too much work and doesn’t get any tastier.

Possibilities: Bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, summer squash/zucchini, winter squash/butternut squash, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, bok choy, cabbage, kale, spinach or similar greens, carrot, turnip, parsnip, peas, potato, green beans, okra, leeks, fresh or sun-dried tomatoes, olives…you get the idea. The legumes in MB are bland enough to go with pretty much ANYTHING. Mix up whatever combo you like. Precook or parboil whatever you feel needs it, though my methodology includes that step and will work for most root veggies.

Third step: heat a large pan with a good glug of (olive) oil, and chop a medium-sized onion into coarse dice, and fling it into the pan. Add some smashed or minced garlic too. Add salt to get things started. Meanwhile, prep and chop your chosen veggies, and begin adding them in order of necessary cooking time. Tonight, I added the zucchini, butternut squash and eldritch (Romanesco) broccoli as the onions were starting to color a bit, along with some water, and covered the pan to get those veggies good and steamed. 

I also sometimes add diced sausage of one type or another. Picture above is a single link of (frozen) Aidell's Andouille. Pretty much anything goes. Crumbled Italian sausage is really good, as is BACON I mean, bacon, or ham. Any plant-based sausage you might prefer would also be good, or tofu, or tempeh. 

I have a  jar of Mystery Hotter than We Thought herb/spice seasoning (from an upstate NY supermarket no less) and it went great with the veggies and Andouille sausage. The vague ingredient mix has only the obvious items; someday I'll figure out what the heck else is in that mix. Hasn't killed us yet, though. 

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm pretty sure MB would be a good coconut curry base. Use coconut oil for sauteing, use Indian (curry powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric, etc.) or Thai (lemongrass, cilantro, lime, fish sauce) seasonings and add coconut milk to make a nice gooey sauce. 

Fourth step: it is optional but conventional to prepare a starchy side and turn your effort towards the Rice and Beans spectrum. We always do this, but you needn't. Pretty much any grain or pasta you like will go, with whatever veggies you've chosen: rice of any kind, bulgur wheat, quinoa, couscous, etc. You could also incorporate your starch into the dish and turn it into a kind of pilaf. Your dinner, your choice. 

Fifth step: Once the veggies are nearly cooked, add the MB. DO NOT THAW IT FIRST. DO NOT RINSE IT FIRST. Just open the package and dump the contents into the pan. There will be ice crystals. Don't worry. Just break up the lumps, add a bit of water (depending on how much liquid is already in the pan with the veggies), stir it all a bit, and cover. Stir it again after about 3-4 minutes. Add another glug of oil if you want, maybe more liquid. (Doesn't have to be water, could be broth or even a bit of wine.) Cover and cook another couple of minutes. Done! 

We added more hot sauce anyway. Hot sauce is yummy with legumes; there's a REASON most cultures that have both always combine them. Anyway, a nice Gewurtztraminer was also a nice accompaniment. 

Hope you're feeling more inspired on your What Do I Cook days! 

*Dark Chocolate Covered Cherries, Dark Chocolate Covered Blueberries, Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Chocolate Almond Spread, frozen Vegetable Masala burger patties, frozen Sweet Potato Gnocchi, frozen Palak Paneer and Vegetable Biryani, frozen Paratha bread, frozen Scallion Pancakes, various granola bars, Greek yogurt with almond butter, Greek yogurt with coconut, quick-cooking brown Basmati Rice, Inner Peas, Movie Popcorn, organic raisins...ETCETERA. 

Lamb: it's what's for dinner

Having grown up eating lots and lots of lamb, I'm happy to keep figuring out new ways of incorporating it into dinners. I'm lucky that Spouse also enjoys lamb any number of ways.

Lamb shanks are a favorite winter stew. They take 3 hours to cook properly, but it's worth all the trouble. My base recipe is onions, garlic and a few cups of durable chopped vegetables--turnips, carrots, parsnips, mushrooms, winter squash, cauliflower--plus either beer or wine as the cooking liquid, and generous amounts of whatever seasoning suits our fancy of the evening. I'm particularly fond of Herbes de Provence, Kofte Kebab spice, or sorta-kinda Italian herbs.

If you're lucky enough to find breast of lamb riblets, as I frequently am in my local supermarket, they are a bit of trouble but are absolutely delicious. They need VERY long roasting for such small amounts of meat, but it's nearly impossible to mess up. Just cut up the breast section into smaller pieces -- 3 or 4 ribs per piece -- season with salt & pepper and any spice mix you fancy with lamb, and lay them on a bed of onion, celery and carrots in a deep roasting pan. Roast at 350F for between 2 and 3 hours, which will seem ridiculous but honestly, it's necessary. The meat just won't be tender otherwise. The result is tender (but still slightly chewy) meat that falls of the tiny bones, with richly browned fat. Don't bother trimming before cooking: just be resigned to eating and ejecting some gristle. If there's enough meat to use a knife and fork, yay! Otherwise just pick up and nibble, same as any other ribs.

Roasted breast of lamb ribs with a lot of roasted veggies. 

My parents ate a lot of lamb mostly because it was cheap when I was a kid. My dad bought my mom a hacksaw JUST so she could cut up whole legs of lamb we bought on sale. Each leg fed us for over a week: steaks to broil or saute, hunks for stew, shanks to freeze until we had enough for another stew. Just roasting that leg entire was a treat for Easter. I still make roast leg of lamb if we're having company, but I usually buy a butt-half leg partially boned, or have the butcher bone the whole thing so I can stuff it with garlic and herbs. 

If I buy a supermarket boned leg, it usually comes wrapped in a string net, and is a royal mess that needs cleanup with a good sharp boning knife. All that lamb fat needs to come off. And that thick membrane, the fell, that covers muscle groups...you can't eat that, and the seasoning won't penetrate it, so you gotta use that knife and gently peel it all off. 

If roasting or stewing lamb is too much effort and the grocery budget allows, loin lamb chops are amazing. Tiny T-bone steaks! Thin ones can be pan-sauteed. Thicker ones can be pan-roasted (started on the stovetop, moved to the oven to finish).

But ground lamb is our favorite thing these days. There is so much you can do with it! I get that not everyone can easily find it, but if you have any kind of access to it, try it. It's mostly made from lamb shoulder meat. It's a bit fatty, that's unavoidable, but i

There are tons of lamb burger recipes all over the internet. ALL OF THEM ARE GOOD. You can't go wrong. I have settled on a simplified Ur-Lamb Burger -- ground lamb plus salt, pepper, seasoning of choice, 1 beaten egg per pound, 1/2 cup bread crumbs (either dry or fresh). I'm not fond of burgers stuffed with cheese bits, but YMMV. Bulgur and yogurt are nearly always good sides. Note that pan-fried burgers will end up swimming in their own grease. All you have to do is put them aside to drain them. Grilled burgers have no such problem, of course.

On days when seasoning and mixing and forming and cooking burgers is too much trouble, which is most days nowadays, I do what I've come to call a Lamb Scramble. You can call it whatever you like, and use ANY lamb stew, tagine or curry recipe as a starting point. Here's a mock-Moroccan dish I made with ground lamb, onions, garlic, butternut squash, olives and peas. (Probably a few other things I've forgotten.) Side here is mashed golden potatoes and golden cauliflower.

This lamb & butternut squash stew (from Cooking Light) is a great guide for experimentation. (Don't use beef stock! Use wine! Or beer! I don't care for so much liquid in this recipe anyway.) Use carrots instead of squash, use spinach instead of kale. When I made it, I used Kalustyan's KOFTE KEBAB seasoning in addition to the recommended spices, and the result really honestly tasted like kofte kebab, or doner kebab! (Oh, I also didn't bother to use the oven, I did it all stovetop.)

Pretty much any lamb curry recipe is faster to make using ground lamb. I tend to make what I consider Fake Curries, flinging a bunch of things in a saute pan after glancing at a recipe book. I gave up using lamb shoulder chops ages ago. The results my way are quicker and tenderer.

Tonight, I started with a pound of ground lamb and a bunch of Greenmarket veggies that needed to be cooked. Started by sauteing the lamb in olive oil, with lots of kebab seasoning. Added chopped onion and red bell pepper (a banana pepper or poblano would be awesome too), a coarsely chopped zucchini, green beans (big ones, broken in thirds), some butternut squash noodles (which dissolved and disappeared), a chopped tomato and a couple of handfuls of baby spinach. I also had some freshly cooked fresh cranberry beans on the stove, so I added a few spoonfuls. It was a glorious, delicious mess. Served it with bulgur wheat. Forgot to serve some yogurt on the side.

Try lamb scrambles with: winter root veggie medleys, a meat-and-mushroom mix, springtime greens, summer tomato and peppers, or any combo thereof. Beans are a terrific addition, especially lentils and chickpeas if you want a Middle Eastern, North African or Indian vibe.

And, of course, the same goes for ground beef, ground turkey and ground pork.. for which there are no shortage of recipes out there.

How to Rescue Wrinkly Grape Tomatoes

We like tomatoes. We like tomatoes A LOT. We mostly do without in the winter, except for sales on pints of organic grape tomatoes. If they're not tossed into a salad, they're delicious with hummus and cucumbers as a snack.

In summer, unused tomatoes tend to rot. I buy mostly heirloom tomatoes, and even when kept out in the open, treated tenderly (just short of being coddled in cotton batting), a few will over-ripen and split and ugh, the smell is usually my first warning that the bottom tomato has given up.

In winter, in our house, unused grape tomatoes tend to dry out. Weird. Kept in their plastic pint container, in cool temperatures and fairly low humidity, they slowly turn wrinkly and slightly leathery. When I notice this happening, I usually slice them in half and add them to a stir-fry or saute -- nice juicy little nuggets of faux summer in my otherwise (mostly) seasonal dishes.

I had an entire pint go wrinkly not long ago, as I simply forgot about them. It happens. The wrinkly tomatoes were still juicy inside. I was in an experimenting mood, so I sliced the lot, put them in a baking dish, sluiced them with olive oil and a bit of salt, and roasted them. I was baking a pie that day, anyway.

I think the oven was set to 350F or 375F. I stirred the tomatoes every fifteen minutes so they wouldn't stick. Forty-five minutes later, I had a baking dish full of what tasted very like sun-dried tomatoes, but much squishier. Sweet, savory, chewy, with charred notes that were beyond delicious.

A few days later, these little flavor bombs became a homemade pizza topping, Mushrooms, anchovies, lots of shredded mozzarella, and fresh-made dough from my local gourmet shop, and behold. A thing of wonky well-meaning and very tasty beauty.

BTW sliced chorizo -- another wonderful product of the same gourmet shop -- is another revelation when roasted. The next time I made pizza it was chorizo, roasted tomatoes and "Mexican cheese mix" from Trader Joe's. There was space around the edges of the foil-lined baking sheet (yeah, no pizza stone in this house) so I laid out six spare slices to cook. SPICY BACON BEST EVER THING OMG.

Seriously, do the tomatoes thing and also the chorizo thing. Totally worth the trouble.