Za Kitchen's Awful Hot

After the matinee of Annie, I wasn't really even hungry, let alone in the mood to execute the original plan of pizza for dinner.



Mo and I had a pretty big lunch followed by sweets from the concession before the show, and three hours later we go home with Em who says she's starving.

So, the leftovers will make good brown bag lunches, and the dough has to be used sooner or later. Weather permitting I'm riding the next two nights, so I stripped to the waste and cranked the oven to 550ºF to get the stone ready.

Then I went and cleared the storm debris from the garden: a branch had fallen right in the middle of the Extension Office, and some tomatoes needed re-tying. I realized I was dripping sweat out in the garden, so what's the big deal about going inside and perspiring some more for chow?



I harvested some Thai Magic basil (or maybe it's Siam Queen, the labels faded out and I know the Italian and Purple Stem by sight, but the other two look nearly identical), and two jalapeños to make a sort of Thai Pie. If I'd had enough Padang sauce to cover a pie, I'd have used it as the sauce, but I didn't, and I was using Alfredo on the other pies, so it's not that Thai a pie, I guess.



I just diced up the jalapeños and covered the top with the Thai Magic leaves.

I made a plain cheese for Em since I found myself out of black olives and prosciutto. She must have been starved after all, because without her two favorite toppings, she was still good for three slices of that, crust and all. I can't remember her ever finishing three slices at a go.




And I made a hot Italian sausage with Sweet Italian basil to finish my little flat-bread triumvirate off.



I can't wait to have some ripe tomatoes and bell peppers to add to my pizza making arsenal. I normally slow down on the pizza making during the summer months because heating the oven to 550ºF makes the kitchen outrageously hot for hours after, but maybe with all the gardening and cycling I'm getting used to being slick with sweat.

Oh, and my protestations that I wasn't hungry. Smelling all that fresh basil melting together with all that cheese, I guess something came over me and I was good for a couple of delicious slices myself.