The meal at 8:01

My first post! Thanks so much for having me, girls. My kitchen and I feel honored. Here's a little photo by way of introduction: that's me trying to imitate a tomato, which was the inspiration for dinner that night.

Last week I began to lament the fact that the end of the tomato season is upon us (here on the east coast anyway), and so I wanted to take advantage while I still could. At the farmers' market, I picked up some colorful heirlooms, fennel, and basil. At Whole Foods I picked up some pre-made pizza dough because I was feeling lazy.

I decided to make a pizza with marinated heirloom tomatoes, pecorino, pancetta, and basil, as well as a side dish of roasted tomatoes with white beans and fennel. There was also an arugula salad for good measure.

First I chopped the tomatoes and put them in a bowl with some nice olive oil, salt, and pepper and let them marinate for about an hour while I rolled out the dough.

Once the dough was ready, I simply smothered it with the tomato mixture and all its juiciness, then added the cheese and chopped pancetta, which cooked right in the oven. Here's a trick that you may already know: if, like me, you don't have a pizza stone, you can use an upside down sheet pan instead. Anyway, I cooked the pizza for ten or twelve minutes at 500, then topped it with fresh oregano and basil.

The beans were super easy too. First you slow-cook the fennel in olive oil and salt for about ten minutes, then you just fold everything else in - tomatoes, garlic, red pepper flakes, herbs, etc. - and let it finish in the oven. The beans go in at the very end; follow the recipe here.

And voila! The meal at 8:01.

Happy cooking!