I was wrong. There's more to it than that and what follows is offered so that other parents can avoid the mistake I made.

It happened during a recent trip to Maine to visit my mother. On night, after the crowd of cousins brothers, sisters nieces, nephews uncle and aunts left we found ourselves relaxing in front of the television. I don't know who was controlling the remote or if it was just chance, but we were watching Food Network. Specifically their cooking contest ala American Idol called Chopped.

The premise of the show is that four chefs are given a basket of ingredients and 20 minutes to make them into an appetizer. Their creations are judged and one chef is chopped. Repeat the process with new ingredients and 30 minutes to create an entrée. Another chef is chopped and the remaining two get new ingredients to make a desert. The winner gets $10,000.

If it sounds rather blah consider that in one recent episode the basket contained, carrot juice, beats, hominy and white chocolate chips. These were the ingredients for desert!

I think we saw three episodes that night until there was episode of Iron Chef America.

Life has never been the same since.

Tonight I asked the boy what he wanted to have for dinner and he said he wanted some of the left over pepperoni pizza from last night. "But do like Iron chef and add a little pizzaz."

There I was in my own kitchen stadium faced with the challenge of Iron Chef left over pizza.

I should point out that the judge in this case if a particularly picky eater, with a particularly narrow palette. When I asked what he meant bi pizzaz the only thing I was told was "just don't put hot sauce on it."

Here is what I created.

Take two slices of pizza out of the fridge and microwave them for about 30-45 seconds to warm them up and loosen up the oils in the crust.

Add some extra cheese to one slice then put the two slices together - toppings in the middle.

Put this assembly into a hot non stick frying pan. It shouldn't require and additional oil beyond what is in the pizza but if you added a little flavored olive oil or even a little butter it probably wouldn't do any harm!

By the time the first side had heated through, the crust will be nice and crisp, flip it over and do the other side. By the time the second side is heated through and the crust is nice and crisp the cheese will be all nice and meted and gooey.

Pour a glass of the beverage of your choice and enjoy a fried pizza sandwich.

I've been informed my next challenge is "Iron Chef Cheetos."

Posted by: T F Stern at January 23, 2010 11:18 PM (Ruh11)

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at January 24, 2010 12:17 AM (R7LgM)

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