These days I find myself improvising recipes more and more. Not because of a lack of planning, but because sometimes when I am hungry and ready to eat, I don’t even want to be bothered with following a recipe. As a result, I wind up shopping for some recipe I found, and cooking something altogether (or in this case, somewhat) different than what I had planned.
This weekend, for example, I had planned on making Eggplant, Green Olive and Provolone Pizza. This time, my deviance began early. I didn’t buy pizza dough at the store because I know how easy it is to make. I didn’t buy any olives because I knew I had some kalamata olives in the cupboard.
I get home after work today ravenous. With February, I set a goal not to eat any snack food that I don’t make for myself. So, the handful of pretzels or goldfish crackers I might normally inhale while cooking dinner was out of the question. I had some dough in the fridge (with basil and red chili flakes) and decided that it would be a good enough crust. I threw a cast iron skillet in the oven and preheated it. While waiting for that to happen, I sauteed some garlic, my eggplant, a handful of cherry tomatoes, some mild pepper rings, some parsley, and some sliced “salad” olives. Then I pulled the hot pan out of the oven, sprinkled the pan with grits, and spread the dough into the pan, covered the bread with pre-sliced provolone, and put my sauteed mix on the dough and baked it until it was done. It turned out to be one thick pizza, hence the Mamma Jamma name. And it was good.