Fast Mediterranean

by Josh Luttrell / special to XYZ

As much as I love to cook complicated and involved dishes, I still really love simple but amazing recipes that I can make in a hurry and this is definitely one of them. It takes so little effort to make, and yet all the flavors work so perfectly together. It’s great for an appetizer, lunch or dinner, and it tastes wonderful with a glass of Riesling.

Mediterannean Pita Pizza (makes 2)

Ingredients:

• Flatbread (the pita that you use to make gyros, not the kind with pockets)

• 1 Tbsp minced garlic

• 8 basil leaves or enough to cover the flat bread (leaves vary in size)

• 1 Roma tomato sliced into 8 thin slices

• Can of quartered artichokes

• 1/4 cup of Olives (I prefer black but kalamata are okay too)

• 1/4 cup feta cheese (crumbles)

• Olive oil for brushing

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brush the pita bread with olive oil and spread the minced garlic on top.

Layer the basil, tomato and quartered artichokes. Be sure that the artichokes are well drained as the liquid can make the pita soggy as it cooks.

Sprinkle the feta and olives on top.

Bake on a cookie sheet for 30 minutes.

Slice into four pieces each and sprinkle with Parmesean or Romano if you have it around.

What is also great about the pita recipe is that when you are purchasing the ingredients, you are just a couple ingredients short of a really great Mediterranean pasta as well.

Mediterannean Pasta (serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 4 tsps minced garlic

• 1lb shrimp (uncooked medium, peeled deveined)

• 1 1/2 cups artichoke hearts (drained canned, chopped)

• 1 1/2 cups feta cheese (crumbled)

• 1/2 cup tomatoes (chopped seeded)

• 3 Tbsps fresh lemon juice

• 1/4 cup dry white wine

• 1/3 cup olives

• 3 Tbsps fresh parsley (chopped)

• 2 Tbsps fresh oregano (finely chopped, 1 1/2 teaspoons dried)

• 12 oz package angel hair pasta (or spaghetti or linguine)

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and sauté 30 seconds. Add shrimp and sauté until almost cooked through, about 2 minutes. Add artichokes, feta, tomatoes,olives, lemon juice, parsley and oregano and sauté until shrimp are cooked through, about 2 minutes. Add white wine and cook for about a minute or until wine cooks off. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain.

Transfer pasta to large bowl.

Add shrimp mixture to pasta and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

[ by Josh Luttrell | republished from Winter 2011-12 print issue XYZ ]

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