No, I’m not talking about that nasty pizza that’s been left
out overnight. I know your hungover self doesn’t care about the grease that’s
congealed on the top or the fact that you aren’t sure if you just swallowed the
bit of cardboard that’s missing under the piece you just shoved into your
mouth.
No.
When I say “leftover pizza” I’m
referring to pizza made home fresh with leftovers you can find in your
[relatively] healthy collection.
I’ll leave the other kind of leftover pizza to be the weekend breakfast
of college students everywhere.
I just found a couple of flatbread pizza crusts on sale at
my co-op. Tonight is the night
before Easter, so I don’t want to burden myself with something elaborate, nor
do I want to stuff my people so they aren’t hungry for that amazing feast I’m
going to dream up for tomorrow.
The problem is, do I really have the ingredients for a pizza? My mind goes through the classic
list: pepperoni? Sausage? Mushrooms? Onions?
Nope. Neither do I have
some of the more “exotic” flavors:
ham and pineapple, barbecued chicken. [Ick.] I always
have some pizza sauce and some frozen shredded Italian cheese blend, so I could
stick with a classic cheese pizza, but I open my fridge and gaze in, looking
for inspiration. I see a
partially-used bag of wilting arugula (Blue Moon Farms), a swiss cheeseburger (Triple S Farms) left over from last
night, a sad unfinished jar of marinated artichoke hearts I had used for a
quiche. I just bought some dried
oregano in bulk, and I can smell it as I sweep the fridge door closed. I spread some pizza sauce on the crust,
then wash and throw on the arugula. Amazingly, my leftover cheeseburger patty cut
into little pieces is enough for a whole pizza topping. I cut up a few artichoke hearts, and
then throw on the Italian blend cheese.
I add more oregano, because it just smells so good I can’t resist. Fifteen minutes in the oven, and I’ve
got a “gourmet” pizza, and I’ve cleaned out the fridge. Now, if only my Easter menu would come
together so easily…
