i am a food blog

How necessary is it for you to be food compatible with your other? Would you break up (okay, too extreme, let’s say fight) with someone over pizza toppings? Would you truly be compatible with someone if they were an avid meat eater and you were a strict vegan? Luckily, Mike and I agree on most food things (aside from tofu: I love it, he pretty much doesn’t love it), but I think that I would be intrigued if he didn’t like eating the same things as me. We actually had a long discussion about it with a friend and he and Mike both agreed that they’d find it supremely difficult to be with someone who didn’t share their basic taste in food.

I guess it’s possibly true, because a little while ago one of my girlfriends started dating someone new and after her new man’s true food colors shone through, it was kind of sort of over. It went like this: after a couple of months of dates out, they planned a romantic dinner in, complete with a movie and delivery pizza. The dude ordered a shrimp pizza, which apparently was a no-no for my girlfriend. I didn’t really get it though — what’s wrong with shrimp on pizza?

Apparently there’s something very wrong with it. I guess people have food deal breakers because a couple of weeks after the shrimp pizza incident, my girlfriend ended it. She claims it had nothing to do with the shrimp pizza incident, but it seemed too coincidental to me. I actually liked the guy and thought he was a good fit for her – it was really too bad. And there’s nothing wrong with shrimp on pizza! To prove it to her, I came up with an awesome shrimp pizza. It has a mix of spring flavours: crisp asparagus, lemon zest and flat leaf parsley. It’s totally delicious and would bring anyone over to the shrimp pizza side!

Shrimp Asparagus Pizza Recipe
makes 1 pizza

• oil
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 12 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails left on if preferred
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 ball no-knead pizza dough
• 1/3-1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 3-4 stalks asparagus, ends trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
• crushed red pepper, to taste
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1 tablespoon parmesan

Arrange a rack in middle of oven and preheat to its hottest setting, 500°–550°.

Heat up a bit of oil over medium heat in a non-stick pan. Add the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 2 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook, 1-2 minutes per side, until slightly pink. Squeeze on 1/2 a lemon’s worth of juice, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Gently shape dough into a rectangle on an oiled baking sheet. Spread on the shredded mozzarella and top with the asparagus pieces, a sprinkle of crushed red pepper, the lemon zest, the cooked shrimp and the chopped flat leaf parsley. Finish with the parmesan and bake pizza until bottom of crust is crisp and top is blistered, about 12-14 minutes. Slice and enjoy!

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