Roasted Garlic and Bell Pepper Pizza

Before Adrian left home, I told him we were having pizza for dinner - it's my way of saying "have-anything-in-between-as-long-as-it's-not-the-same-as-dinner". He came home, told me he watched the guy tossed pizza at the Food Loft. He may have guessed I was trusting him with the crust rolling responsibility. Look what he did. Instead of the conventional circle, he made a country map. Australia?

Look aside, it's a good pizza. I prepared most of the ingredients a day ahead. It was all about putting things together come dinner time. You can use store bought sun-dried tomatoes instead of roasting your own. I just wanted to make sure those cherry tomatoes went for good use before they turned bad.

I loved the smell of the garlic as it was roasting. It kind of became obscure when mashed into paste with the roasted tomatoes. It was fun squeezing them out of the garlic cloves; they were so soft I didn't even have to use blender - just a few good mash. If I ever make this again, I'd be sure to use more onions: it didn't matter when I wasn't aware of it, but once I tasted how good it was, I wished there were more in every bite.

Ingredients:

• 1 pizza crust
  
• 1 head garlic, unpeeled, head sliced
  
• 1 yellow onion, sliced into rings
• olive oil
• 1/2 cup Oven-roasted herbed cherry tomatoes
• 1 roasted red bell pepper, cut into strips
  
• 6 ounces Mozzarella, grated
• 2 1/2 ounce Feta, crumbled
  
• 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
• 4 tablespoons basil, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 150C. Place garlic onto a baking dish and drizzle with one tablespoon of olive oil. Place onion rings to a separate baking dish and coat with one tablespoon of olive oil. Bake in the oven until garlic is brown and soft; onions are tender - about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
2. Set oven to 250C. Using fingers, squeeze out roasted garlic cloves into a bowl; add tomatoes and mash into paste. Set aside.
3. Roll out pizza crust. Spread garlic paste evenly over crust. Layer with onions, bell pepper, Mozzarella and feta. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoons parsley and 2 tablespoons basil. Bake for 10 minutes; until cheeses turn golden brown and bubbly.
   
4. Remove from oven, top with the remaining parsley and basil.
   

Corn Casserole and Chickpea Salad

I love corns. I can smell the sweetness of boiled crisp corn on the cob splashed generously with butter as I think about it *drool* I remember someone once regarded corn being a useless food - nothing but starch. He was an Atkin's. I wish I had known better then; I was totally ashamed to stand up for my love for corn. I wish I could have educated him about the high fiber content and B Vitamins (B1 and B5) of corn that could help lower blood sugar level in diabetics, prevent colon cancer and heart disease, as well as to improve memory! There, I said it.

Corn Casserole

This is hearty corn casserole comes with onions, celery, bell pepper and green beans mixed and baked with cream of celery soup and cheese. Good way to get rid of frozen celery soup sitting in the freezer. The sweetness of the corn would go well with something tart, such as the following Chickpea Salad. I was surprised that it gave no hint of celery at all! Did the cooking rid it of its taste?

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup shredded mild Cheddar cheese
1 (11 ounce) can white corn, drained (I used frozen)
1 (14.5 ounce) can French cut green beans, drained (Frozen bean for me)
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of celery soup (leftover homemade)
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream (1 cup cream + 1 tablespoon lemon juice)
1/4 (16 ounce) package buttery round crackers, crushed (digestive biscuits)
1/2 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C.
2. In a large bowl, combine onion, celery, green pepper, cheese, corn, green beans, soup and sour cream. Spoon into a 2-quart casserole dish.
3. Combine crushed crackers with melted butter and sprinkle on top of vegetables.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Chickpea Salad
Serve 2

The sourness imparted by the lemon juice in this unassuming salad went extremely well with the sweetness in the corn casserole. Although dried chickpeas take more time to prepare than canned, they do taste different and dried chickpeas hold up very well after cooking.
PS: I thought the corn casserole looks rather like chicken chop on the plate.

Ingredients:
1 Roasted red bell pepper (go here if you are new to this, just don't puree), peeled and sliced
1/2 cup dried chickpeas, cooked per instructed and let drained. Or 1/2 canned.
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 Tablespoon chopped mint
1 clove garlic, chopped
4 Tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
2 Tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large bowl, toss together cooked chickpeas, roasted red pepper, chopped parsley and mint.
2. In another bowl, mix chopped garlic, lemon juice and olive oil together. Taste and adjust with seasoning.
3. Pour dressing over the chickpea mix. Either serve warm or let chill in refrigerator for the flavor to develop.