Nothing is fresh or homemade in this recipeof Pizza with Anchovies & Capers, but that doesn't mean it's not one tasty bite.
I find cheap frozen individual Pizza at my local.Dollar Tree. Frozen Celeste Cheese Pizza is my canvas and canned Anchovies with Capers are my paint box.
You can use any favorite Pizza including one's topped with pepperoni, Italian sausage, bell pepper, onions, and olives - go for it.
My local Ralphs Grocers has a Monday special of large pizzas with premium ingredients for $6 each and they are loaded.
I like Anchovies on my Pizza, but many do not. The trick is not to add too many anchovies as they can overwhelm other ingredients.
For my individual Pizza, I added 2 whole Anchovies, and because the Capers were wrapped in Anchovies I added Capers, too.
The can of Anchovies were salty and slicked with olive oil, just the way I like them. They are messy to handle.
Once opened, this type of canned cooked Anchovies can be stored covered in the refrigerator for weeks, so you can unroll the deliciousness over a few Pizza Nights.
Celeste Pizza does the job. They are minimalist mini-masterpieces. The crust is thin, the tomato sauce is tangy, and the cheese melts fine. Nothing to complain about here.
I do sometimes add a few extras like sliced black olives and a little extra shaved parmesan - all frozen pizzas can do with a little more cheese.
For a regular large frozen Pizza, I would add 4 whole Anchovies. I break them in half and spread them around.
Follow the regular Frozen Pizza baking directions, as Anchovies do not cover too much real estate, so baking time is not affected.
I always have a Frozen Pizza in the freezer and a can of Anchovies in the kitchen cabinet. This is College Student, Bachelor, or Bachelorette Cuisine, nothing to it, and a no-brainer recipe for anyone, and done anytime.
Pizza with Anchovies & Capers - VIDEOPlay it here. Video runs 1 minute, 46 seconds.
My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.just click here.
Ingredients
1 Frozen Pizza - I used a single-serving pizza with cheese. Okay to use your favorite pizza.
Anchovies with Capers - 1 or 2 for a small Individual Pizza. I got mine from a can of anchovies with capers in olive oil.
Directions
Just add as many anchovies with capers as you like to your favorite frozen pizza. I added 2 anchovies and 2 capers to mine - it's okay to start with one (half the anchovie).
Follow the box directions. Usually, bake at 400 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes.
I like to bake mine at 350 degrees so it is easier to watch the browning and cheese melting. With very hot temperatures it's too easy to burn and dry out a frozen pizza. Just add a couple extra minutes of baking time.
For a large frozen pizza, I will add more anchovies and capers.
Oreo is the best-selling cookie brand in the U.S.A., and I loved it as a kid, and I still do. I get mine in 2 or 4 Packs at my local Dollar Tree for $1.25. I invite you to celebrate National Oreo Cookie Day with me.
Oreo Cookie Interloper
I like these cookies of crunchy sweetness in small packages, I mean, at my age, eating half a normal-sized package of 30 is a bit much (the cookie count continues to drop from 45 to 30).
While the crème filling is super-sweet, the chocolate cookie is dry and almost bitter, it's a great combination that is attractive to all ages.
The firstNabisco Oreo,consisting of two cookies with a crème filling, was introduced in New York City on March 6, 1912. They were originally called Oreo Biscuits.
The original crème center was made with animal lard, but now the filling is partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, so it's vegan (if you're a stickler it is said that there is a bit of dairy cross-contamination at the factory). The other main ingredients are sugar, flour, and cocoa.
I enjoy howNabisco continues to introduce different configurations of the Oreo that reflect the times. They seem to have fun with their brand, always tweaking the filling colors and packaging for the holidays, special events, and passing fads -- and why the heck not?
Oreo Cookie Cupcakes? I'm in!
I haven't seen Oreo Ice Cream at dollar stores yet, but they look pretty good, even at full price.
I especially like the Oreo Halloween skull design, totally kool.
I like the Oreo Halloween Pumpkin design, too.
I like the Oreo Olympics cookie, so I picked up a few packages during its last winter run.
All the colorful fillings taste the same, but there are editions with wild flavors you can read about here. I'll be on the lookout for any of them from now on.
Check back next year to see new editions of Oreo Cookies I find.
And the Best Oscar Entree goes to...YOU! Come and accept your award-winning chow and pass it around to your party guests so everyone has a taste of Oscar. Sit back and watch the Best Picture Oscar-nominated movie trailers below, paired with my Best Oscar Entrée, which is a feast for your eyes.
And click on any Best Oscar Entree nomineenames to be directed to the original blog post for all the award-winning recipe prose and cinematic culinary imagery.
The first Best Oscar Entree nominee is deliciously gruesome. The movie stars actress Demi Moore, who has never exposed so much of herself, and I don't mean just her acting chops. This body-horror flick is gross to the max and not for the faint-of-heart or, in my recipe's case, palate. Check out the trailer below.
1. "The Substance" Pork Carnitas- are made from a pork shoulder, which I skin, then slice and dice the flesh, then drench in Mexican Cola. Kind of appalling, but oh so tasty.
The second Best Oscar Entree is a brickhouse of a recipe. A Holocaust survivor architect, played by always captivating Adrien Brody, rebuilds his life with a move to Philadelphia and is given a second chance by renovating a library in neighboring Bucks County.
2. "The Brutalist" Hoagie- I was introduced to theHoagie Sandwich by my wife, Linda, who was raised in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. A Hoagie is a towering multi-level sandwich of cheese, deli meats, lettuce, onion, and tomato with an oil and vinegar dressing.
The third Best Oscar Entree pairs with a 1970's Brazilian political drama of a family's search for answers when their father is "disappeared" during a military dictatorship.
- Brazil is renowned for its cattle industry, and my Ribeye Steak & Potatoes answers the question "Where's the Beef?"
The fourth Best Oscar Entree featuring my cheap$kate Pasta recipe is as controversial as the selection process of a new Pope in this pulpy Papal feature.
4. "Conclave" Pasta alla Carbonara with Bacon Bits - will set Italian chef tongues wagging. Loaded with Papal intrigue after the Pope dies, finding a successor stirs up controversy, like my Italian recipe made with Bacon Bits, instead of guanciale, a rich, fatty cured pork jowl or cheek.
The fifth Best Oscar Entree is emblematic of NYC, and pizza is the right price for struggling artists, like Mr. Tambourine Man, making musical poetry in the Big Apple.
5. "A Complete Unknown" Anchovy Pizza - Down and out in NYC, the bio-film introduces a struggling Bob Dylan, couch-surfing and surviving on scraps, while ascending from coffehouse folk singer to electrified troubadour and voice of his generation.
The sixth Best Oscar Entree will have you clicking your shoe heels together and chanting, "There's no recipe like Homemade Chili and a Cinnamon Roll." A musical reimagining of the Wizard of Oz featuring the good and bad witches. You can call it a prequel before Dorothy leaves Kansas for Oz.
6. "Wicked" Chili with Beans- Kansas is known for Chili with Beans served with a Cinnamon Roll. Well, I have theHomemade Chili recipe covered; you'll have to come up with the Cinnamon Roll!
The seventh Best Oscar Entree could be served in the cafeteria of an oppressive reformatory school, like the one depicted below.
7. "Nickel Boys" Black-eyed Peas with Ham - Based on the 2019 novel by Colson Whitehead, the film takes place in a Jim Crow-era Florida reform school. Nickel Academy is outed for its cruelty to the main character, a studious African-American high school student.
The eighth Best Oscar Entree, Cajun Nachos, combines French Cajun Red Beans and Crawfish, with Mexican tortilla chips and cheese. This recipe co-production will be hard to beat in this Oscar race.
8. "Emelia Perez" Cajun Nachos - A dark and twisted Mexican musical, made by a French Director, is both praised and panned. Boorish tweets on X by one of the leads may sink the chances of bringing home more awards.
The ninth Best Oscar Entree recipe is hot and steamy like Anora, a stripper on the make with the son of a Russian oligarch.
9. "Anora" Rachel Sandwich - The sandwich is made with Russian Dressing. Winner of the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in France last year, this randy romance will have you eating out of their hands, feasting on my sexy pastrami Rachel Sandwich with Coleslaw, that is.
The final Best Oscar Entree is based on the movie Dune: Part Two. This sci-fi literary classic adaptation is a hero's journey on a desert planet full of sandstorms and fury.
10. "Dune: Part Two" Flying Burrito - Joshua Tree, a local desert, inspired my own tall tale that ends with the sighting of a Flying Burrito!
Do try any of my Oscar Party Entrees - you're sure to get a Standing O. So have your acceptance speech ready because the golden statuette for Best Entree at an Oscar Party belongs to you, the host with the most.
I'll leave you with a video I made a while ago when the Academy of Motion Pictures had an exhibit with a podium on which a real Oscar stood. All you had to do was stand in line and take a picture with it -- well, you can be sure I showed up for that! Just check out the video below:
You are in for a movable feastduring this Cajun holiday calledMardi Gras. The real partying is underway and continues throughFat Tuesday, March 4th. Usually, everyone lines the streets for the parades and floats with masked bead throwers. This is the time of year when New Orleans lets its freak flag fly -- almost all month long!
Hang out and I'll show you how locals have a tasty time. And click on any recipe name to see my original blog post for all the delicious details.
Click on any photo to see larger.
Mardi Gras is more than plastic beads and King's Cake. So read on and watch my videos to see some delish Cajun recipes, plus I'll even give you a personal Po'Boy Sandwich Tour of New Orleans. So scroll on down.
King Cake is similar to a Cinnamon Roll with pecans.
Alright, let's get this party started! Walking the French Quarter in New Orleans, revelers carry drinks spiked with knee-buckling Everclear spirits. For a boozy slushy beverage, our local drive-thru is New Orleans Original Daiquiris.
Yep, you heard right, that's the way we roll in Cajun country. Watch the video below to see how we get away without getting a ticket for an open container violation!
Daiquiri Drive-Thru - Video
Here's another of my patented GIF stories about aCajun Happy Hour that has a chilling finale featuring my wifeLinda.
A Cajun Happy Hour
If buzzy spirits are too much for you, then settle down within view of the Mississippi River in New Orleans for a chickory-flavored cup of Joe and sugar-powdered beignets at the world-famous Cafe du Monde. After the caffeine and sugar rush, you will be ready to take in New Orleans and the outrageous French Quarter, just a few steps away.
Cafe du Monde - Video
I lived in Gonzales, Louisiana, during my high school daze. I didn't know what to expect when our family moved there from Texas. I did some wild stuff over the next four years and ate a lot of down-home Cajun cooking. The video below takes place in a local flea market, so check it out to get the flavor of the place.
Cajun Flea Market Eats - Video
I hitchhiked with my high school buddy Marvin (featured in the Po'boy Sandwich Tour below) to New Orleans for Mardi Gras during the school break. Back then, it was all about grabbing a Muffaletta, listening to street Brass Bands and Rock and Roll, catching some beads thrown down by inebriated revelers perched behind French Quarter iron-wrought balconies and Mardi Gras parade floats, and getting a good buzz (we were underage, so no booze, but we found other natural ways).
Chef, Marvin & Dennis - high school buddies
We knew no fear, and locals were friendly enough - even picking up a couple of hitchhiking long-haired teenagers like us. One memorable ride was in a hand-painted hippie Volkswagen van where the college-aged, tie-dye-wearing driver, and cool chicks in tight bell-bottom jeans, on the backbench seat, passed around a doobie, before dropping us off in the city.
Looks like Red State Louisiana has agreed with Blue State California in legalizing marijuana for medical use. I guess we can all get along if there's a peace pipe to share.
I've kept in touch with my high school buddy Marvin and like to look him up when I land in New Orleans. Check out the video below to see how I (dinner) roll these days, when I tour the Crescent City in search of a delicious Po'Boy Sandwich with my high school bud - all the tasty details are in my original blog post here.
You will get a street-level experience of the Big Easy and the eccentric locals from my documentary short below.
New Orleans Po'Boy Tour - Video
Recently I met up with my long-lost brother from another.....daddy, aka the Swamp Chef! He showed up on Mom's doorstep one day, and she welcomed him back into the family. I must say he's a chip off the cypress tree block. He'd fit into a rockin' CajunZZ Top lineup, slinging a wooden stirring spoon instead of a guitar.
99 Cent Chef, Mom, and Swamp Chef
When the Swamp Chef shows up, there is always a delicious celebration -- and this time it's a BBQ Sausage Po-Boy Party!! Here in Gonzales, Louisiana, it's all about the bread when making a Po-Boy, or as it's also known, a Poor Boy (I can't figure out how to spell Po' boy as I've seen it all kinda ways!) Just watch the video below to see how the Swamp Chef grills locally made sausages by Ivderstine Farms Butchersand stuffs them into a loaf of Reisling's French bread.
Sausage Po-Boy Recipe - Video
The Swamp Chef & Zak get gooey and spicy with Cajun Nachos.
To quote Zak: "Uncle Swamp Chef for the win, these Cajun Nachos are lit."
Swamp Chef Cajun Nachos - Video
The Swamp Chef knows the lay of the land around here, and he recommends all you Mardi Gras tourists who need a pitstop, to park here in Gonzales, Lousiana for a big lunch plate of Jambalaya. Just check out the Swamp Chef giving you the lowdown in the video below. And it's dirt(y rice) cheap, of course!
Jambalaya Plate Lunch Review - Video
I know you are here for the recipes, too, and boy, do I have a pirogue boat full. Between Mom and my Cajun line-cooking nephews, Matt and Zak, I got that covered.
If you hang out in Louisiana for any amount of tim,e you will inevitably eat spicy steamed mudbugs, crayfish, or as the locals call them,Crawfish.
They are milder in seafood flavor than shrimp and are about the size of a small bay shrimp. If you've never had them, then watch my video below to learn how to eat one.
How to eat a Crawfish - Video
It quickly becomes a party when I visit Gonzales, Louisiana, to see my Cajun family with nieces, nephews, and their kids galore
And this first recipe is made with a beer-flavored sauce. Warning, in the video, we had to go through a Party Pack of Abita Beer to find just the right flavor!
My nephew, Chef Matt, has been cooking for years now and has some major culinary skillz. I'll let him give you the lowdown on a Southern classic, Shrimp and Grits video recipe (click here for recipe photos and text).
Chef Matt's Shrimp & Grits - Video
Shrimp and Corn Soup is a tasty spin on an East Coast Clam Chowder. Chef Matt has the recipe down pat, so check out how he does it, Cajun-style. Be sure to watch my video to the end to see my Cajun family put in their two cents.
Chef Matt's Shrimp & Corn Soup - Video
The cheapest Cajun entree is Red Beans and Rice -- made by my Southern friend Miss Patti. She is a vegetarian with a menagerie of critters she keeps on her property just outside the city of New Orleans.
For real New Orleans-style Red Beans, you should use the brand of beans called Camellia. But if you can't find them, it's okay to use any cheap red kidney beans.
We always have a good time together, and you will to,o watching us cook together. Recipe details are a click away, here.
Ms. Patti's Vegan Red Beans and Rice - Video
Mom knows Cajun cuisine best. And she is here to share a few with you right now.
It's best to start at the beginning, and here's the first recipe we did, Mom'sJambalaya.
I make this recipe the most. Nothing to it: just brown chicken pieces and sausage with a whole chopped onion. Finally, add rice and water to make the best comfort food ever. This is my Mom's version of Jambalaya (click here to read all about it).
Mom's Jambalaya - Video
Mom also makes a killer Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. The trick is all in the deep chocolate-colored roux - actually just flour that's slowly browned in oil.
Lately, when Mom makes hot and spicy Gumbo, she adds a scoop of cool Cajun Potato Salad. The last time she was here in Los Angeles, I got her to make some, and my cute niece Maranda dropped by to help. This recipe is a family affair; you can check it out below.
Mom's Cajun Potato Salad - Video
Next to Gumbo, a rich and creamy Étouffée made with local crawfish is another decadent stew. Check out local Chef Tony's take on Crawfish Étouffée.
Chef Tony's Crawfish Etouffee - Video
My other line-cooking nephew, Zak, knows how to blacken fish the Cajun way. And boy does he do a skillful job at it, as my video below will attest. He also throws in a mind-blowing side of Sweet Potato Hash, and yes, it's loaded with bacon.
Zak's recipe gets everyone in on the action, including his Mom and my sister, Brenda, who make noshing appearances. So do check out his delicious Cajun recipes below and click here for all the written details.
Zakk's Blackened Fish with Sweet Potato Hash - Video
The South's favorite nut, next to peanuts, is the pecan. And my nephew Chef Matt has the best Pecan Crusted Fish recipe this side of the Mississippi River. And he throws in a vegan Spinach Salad with a creamy Strawberry Vinaigrette. Now that's a mouthful.
Pecan Crusted Fish and Spinach Salad with a Strawberry Vinaigrette - Video
Seafood is king in Louisiana, and that includes sweet crabmeat. My nephew Matt is at the helm again, steering you through a cool and fresh Crab Salad recipe. His version uses fresh, peeled-and-picked crab clusters, but you can use a shortcut with a jar of lump crab meat. Hey, go the cheap$kate 99 Cent Chef way and substitute real crab meat with imitation Krab. Get out your favorite crackers and dig in!
Chef Matt's Crab Salad - Video
My most outrageous Cajun recipe is an Alligator Po'Boy sandwich made by my nephew Chef Matt. They say alligator tastes like chicken -- to me, it is close to the texture of a pork chop and tastes somewhere between chicken and shrimp. Just check out the recipe video and make sure to watch all the way to the end, where the relatives go hog wild over the Alligator Po'Boy.
Alligator Po'Boy - Video
How low can one recipe go? Well, check out the Swamp Chef and nephew Chef Matt's Deep-Fried Frog Legs...not for the faint of palate! This recipe goes from a swamp frog hunt to the deep fryer.
Frog Legs Recipe - Video
If you are not in New Orleans attending the glittery and debauched Mardi Gras festivities, you can still have a tasty good time - if you remember to bookmark this page and come back to make any of my Cajun Mardi Gras meals. So laissez les bons temps rouler!
New Orleans Po'Boy Dining: Short Stop Po-Boys - 119 Transcontinental Drive (near New Orleans Airport) Metairie, Louisiana 70001 Phone: (504) 885-4572 Website: http://www.shortstoppoboys.com
Mother's Restaurant - 401 Poydras New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
For a tasty local Los Angeles Po' Boy, try The Gumbo Pot in the Mid-City Farmer's Market. I ordered the Shrimp or Oyster Po' Boys for about $15. For the menu, click here. Warning, the seafood Po' Boys have a sour bite because of the inserted sliced lemon -- I usually take the slices out.
Another local food find for Cajun Cuisine is a restaurant and deli store called Little Jewel, in downtown LA's Chinatown. It's the real deal, too. Listen in as you get all the tasty details in my special Restaurant Nocturne arty video below. (BTW, the chef/owner drops an F-bomb at 1:53 minutes.)
