Ok, first things first, let's get the obvious out of the way. It's Saturday and I'm posting an article for My Thursday Thing. But let's face it, life gets busy. Sometimes the best laid plans turn to crap and you have to just deal with the fact that you won't get everything done on your to-do list. Most weeks, that's what happens with my dinner menu for the week. The menu my wife and I come up with on the weekend rarely, IF EVER, goes exactly as planned. Sometimes, the grilled chicken turns into McDonald's drive thru, or the meatloaf turns into tacos because we ran out of time to wait for a meatloaf to cook.
So this week's post is the first in what is likely to be an ongoing series from time to time. I'm calling it "10 Minute Prep" because who's got the time for much more in the middle of the week? For clarity sake, the cooking might take a bit longer than 10 minutes, but the total effort time to prepare the ingredients will only take 10 minutes. The first installment is a quick grilled flatbread pizza topped with shrimp, pineapple, corn and bacon. Sounds complicated, right? Well, with the help of some prepared and canned foods, it's not. Let's get to it.
Ingredients
4 slices of bacon
1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (buy it that way)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon of your favorite all purpose seasoning, like my He Can Cook Spice Rub
1/4 cup pineapple chunks, from a can
1/4 cup corn, from a can
2 large pre-packaged flatbreads
8 oz. pre-packaged shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese
Your favorite BBQ sauce (I found a Hawaiian-flavored variety that's perfect for this pizza)
Handful of cilantro leaves
10 Minute Prep
Turn on your grill to medium heat. If you don't have a grill, you can make your pizza in the oven on a large cookie at 450 degrees.
Lay out the bacon on a baking sheet and place in a cold oven. Turn the oven on to 400 degrees. Flip the bacon after 8 minutes, then cook another 4- minutes until it reaches your desired crispiness. Remember, it will cook a little longer on the pizza so don't burn it to a crisp. Drain on a paper towel and cut into bite size pieces.
Cut each piece of shrimp into two pieces and toss the shrimp with the olive oil and all-purpose seasoning.
Drain the pineapple and corn and pat dry with a paper towel.
Rinse and dry the cilantro and give it a rough chop.
Lightly oil the bottom of the flatbreads.
Place the flatbreads on a large cutting board and top side that was NOT oiled with BBQ sauce, spreading to near the edge.
Then layer on the cheese, bacon, pineapple and corn.
When the grill is hot, put down a piece of tin foil and cook the shrimp quickly, just 2 minutes on each side. Remove the shrimp and place on top of the pizza. Get rid of the tin foil.
Place the pizza on the grill for about 5 minutes, until the cheese melts and the bottom of the pizza is crispy, but not burnt.
Top with the cilantro and dig in!
Customize this pizza any way you want. You can simplify the prep even more by using pre-cooked chicken, meatballs or pepperoni. Canned pickled jalapeños would add great heat with no extra prep. The flatbreads are a great canvas for so many yummy, pre-packaged flavors.
I'd love to see what you come up with. Post a picture in the comments or on Facebook or Instagram and tag me @hecancookusa. Use the hashtag #hecancook_10minuteprep. Bon Appetite!