Category Archives: Fun Food Finds

Spicy Shrimp & Feta Pizza

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Spicy Shrimp & Feta Pizza

I’ve been playing with the new pizza stone I got for my birthday — pizza on the grill is amazing and makes for such an easy dinner.  My daughter Samantha actually made the request for a shrimp pizza (yes, I was thrilled), so we decided on shrimp, feta, and grilled yellow bell peppers (for my half).  I’ve previously written about all the delicious ingredients I’ve picked up at Oil & Vinegar at Watters Creek, and this was the perfect opportunity to put my two latest purchases to use:  Peperoncini Oil, and the “Hot Shot” spice grinder.  The Peperoncini Oil is light and flavorful with just a bit of spice.  The Hot Shot spice grinder contains all kinds of wonderful things:  chili pepper flakes, sea salt, mustard seed, coriander, onion, garlic, and paprika, to name a few.

We brushed the pizza crust with the oil, then topped with a bit of tomato sauce.  Next we added cooked shrimp, grilled bell peppers, a little shredded cheese (a 4-cheese blend), and lots of feta cheese.  Finished it off with a generous amount of the Hot Shot spices (only on my half!).  Delicious.

Peperoncini Oil & Hot Shot

A Delicious Pantry Upgrade

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A Few Selections from Oil & Vinegar

I was recently out with my daughter Samantha at Watters Creek, our favorite outdoor shopping center.  I had heard about a new store that had dozens of oils and vinegars “on tap”, which sounded so intriguing.  Samantha was having a good time outside and resisted at first, but once I got her into the store, I couldn’t get her out.  We had so much fun sampling Oil & Vinegar‘s fares with the tiniest bits of bread on toothpicks; I could see I had a little seven-year old foodie in the making.

The concept is a lot of fun — you can pick from different sizes and shapes of glass bottles, which can be brought back to the store to be refilled (nice for the environment too).  You can try everything before you buy it.  In the end (literally, an hour later), Samantha chose the Rosemary Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which is great on its own, and also delicious mixed with the Parmesan Dipper mix she just had to have.  We also bought the Lime Riesling Grapeseed Oil (great for cooking fish at high temperatures), the Fig Balsam Creme Vinegar (so far we’ve just mixed it with Rosemary EVOO for dipping, but it will be perfect in salads and for vegetable dishes), and finally, the White Truffle Oil, which, as my friend Tara says, makes pretty much everything taste 1000 times better.

I want to go back to try a few more things, but I’ve told myself we have to finish at least one of these existing bottles first.  A fine excuse to keep on cooking.

Heavenly Tomatoes

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Heavenly Villagio Mini San Marzanos

San Marzano tomatoes are such a treat. More expensive than standard canned tomatoes, they are known for being very sweet. I had never seen fresh San Marzanos until this week, when I found these gorgeous Heavenly Villagio Mini San Marzanos at Central Market. They are bigger than grape tomatoes but smaller than plum tomatoes, in the shape of miniature pears.

While delicious raw, I didn’t find they tasted that different from my favorite cherub tomatoes, but they did have fewer seeds. Cooking the tomatoes definitely brought out the sweetness — I used them sliced on a pizza, and then tried roasting them in the oven with garlic and basil-infused olive oil before tossing with ravioli. I will be seeking these out again when it is time to make panzanella salad in the summer!

San Marzano & Chicken Pizza

Ravioli with Roasted San Marzanos & Garlic