How necessary is it for you to be food compatible with your other? Would you break up (okay, too extreme, let’s say fight) with someone over pizza toppings? Would you truly be compatible with someone if they were an avid meat eater and you were a strict vegan? Luckily, Mike and I agree on most food things (aside from tofu: I love it, he pretty much doesn’t love it), but I think that I would be intrigued if he didn’t like eating the same things as me. We actually had a long discussion about it with a friend and he and Mike both agreed that they’d find it supremely difficult to be with someonewho didn’t share their basic taste in food.
I guess it’s possibly true, because a little while ago one of mygirlfriends started dating someone new and after her new man’strue food colors shone through, it was kind of sort of over. It went like this: after a couple of months of dates out, they planned a romantic dinner in, complete with a movie and delivery pizza. The dudeordered a shrimp pizza, which apparently was a no-no for my girlfriend. I didn’t really get it though — what’s wrong with shrimp on pizza?
Apparently there’s something very wrong with it. I guess people have food deal breakersbecause a couple of weeks after the shrimp pizza incident, my girlfriend ended it. She claims it had nothing to do with the shrimp pizza incident, but it seemed too coincidental to me. I actually liked the guy and thought he was a good fit for her – it was really too bad. And there’s nothing wrong with shrimp on pizza! To prove it to her, I came up with an awesomeshrimp pizza. It has a mix of spring flavours: crisp asparagus, lemon zest and flat leaf parsley. It’stotallydelicious and would bring anyone over to the shrimp pizza side!
Shrimp Asparagus Pizza Recipe
makes 1 pizza
- oil
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 12 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails left on if preferred
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 ball no-knead pizza dough
- 1/3-1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 3-4 stalks asparagus, ends trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
- crushed red pepper, to taste
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon parmesan
Arrange a rack in middle of oven and preheat to its hottest setting, 500°–550°.
Heat up a bit of oil over medium heat in a non-stick pan. Add the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 2 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook, 1-2 minutes per side, until slightly pink. Squeeze on 1/2 a lemon’s worth of juice, season with salt and pepper and set aside.
Gently shape dough into a rectangle on an oiled baking sheet. Spread on the shredded mozzarella and top with the asparagus pieces, a sprinkle of crushed red pepper, the lemon zest, the cooked shrimp and the chopped flat leaf parsley. Finish with the parmesan and bake pizza until bottom of crust is crisp and top is blistered, about 12-14 minutes. Slice and enjoy!
33 Comments
mandy@ladyandpups says:
April 29, 2014 at 3:04 am
I think I pretty much “converted” my then-boyfriend/now-husband to my food-likings… Ten years-plus can do that to a person.
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steph says:
May 6, 2014 at 11:05 pm
Hahahaa, well it isn’t *your* fault you have such great taste Mandy. Your man is lucky to have you!
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Libby says:
April 29, 2014 at 6:53 am
I don’t know if this is a normal conversation for people to have or not but last night my boyfriend was listing off girls that he knew and all the reasons he could never date them. So then I listed off all my guy friends and why I couldn’t date them. Think of it as a team-building exercise.
There’s one friend, I said, I could never ever ever break up with due to his #1 ranking in the picky eaters club.
The only cheese he ever eats is velveeta. And that’s just the very tip of an enormous iceberg.
All that to say, yeah, for me there are food deal breakers. :PI’d be down with a shrimp pizza, though. For sure.
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steph says:
May 6, 2014 at 11:06 pm
I love having not-normal conversations with Mike all the time, so I totally understand those weird tangents that people suddenly go off on :)
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Mari says:
April 29, 2014 at 7:31 am
This really resonates with me. I think it’s less about what types of food you like and more each person’s willingness to try new foods. I became a vegan about a year ago and my boyfriend is not even close to vegetarian. We have a lot of fun cooking together and trying new vegan recipes – we’re both pretty open-minded when it comes to trying things we’ve never had before. Granted, you go do this as a non-vegan couple too, but that’s how we make it work for us!
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steph says:
May 6, 2014 at 11:07 pm
Yes! That exactly why I think it could be so intriguing to have different tastes in food. You can open up new worlds for each other!
miss mochi says:
April 29, 2014 at 7:33 am
If you leave the tails on, are you eating the tails? I think it’d be hard to eat that way. I’m not very coordinated when it comes to pizza-eating, and even pepperoni gets messy.
Beautiful pie, makes me want to get messy :D
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cynthia says:
May 5, 2014 at 1:04 pm
you have to eat the tails, everything on your plate is edible! silly
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steph says:
May 6, 2014 at 11:08 pm
I eat the tails :P They’re all crunchy. But it’s optional because I know some people aren’t into that!
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Tom says:
April 29, 2014 at 8:44 am
this looks delicious and fun. love the look of the crust and can’t wait to try.
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steph says:
May 6, 2014 at 11:08 pm
Thanks Tom! You guys always have fabulous ideas – I can’t wait to see your no-knead pizzas!
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Matt Robinson says:
April 29, 2014 at 8:48 am
This is literally a work of art and I love the idea of shrimp on pizza. Can’t wait to try it one of these days!
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steph says:
May 6, 2014 at 11:08 pm
Thank you!! :D
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MB says:
April 29, 2014 at 5:18 pm
The beauty of pizza is that I could have my side with shrimp, and my husband who would never-ever eat anything that once swam in a body of water could have his side with pepperoni. Or sausage. Or bacon. I think your pizza looks absolutely divine, but my husband would find it appalling. (No offense.) He’s a great guy, but he’s never been a particularly adventurous eater. I will eat almost anything. Yet we’ve been happily together over 20 years :) I joke that’s why God created restaurants. Not a deal-breaker in our house… (We ended up with two kids that will eat anything and one seriously picky eater, BTW)
steph says:
May 6, 2014 at 11:09 pm
Yes, that is the beauty of pizza! I love doing half-half.
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Susan says:
April 29, 2014 at 8:05 pm
Yes, Yes, Yes! In our house we have a vegetarian, and a gluten intolerant person – and it is a never ending source of arguments! We are all pretty used to compromises in regards to food – but gee it would be a more harmonious house if we all ate the same stuff!
P.S. I’m sorry – but I’m not a fan of prawns (we call them in Australia) on Pizza. Probably not grounds for divorce, but we are a divided household in that respect too! When we make Pizzas, we put out every imaginable topping, and make individual bases :)
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steph says:
May 6, 2014 at 11:10 pm
Sometimes individual pizzas are the way to go. Then you can get as crazy or as simple as you like!
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Leah Davis says:
April 30, 2014 at 12:49 pm
It is really interesting that you wrote about different eating habits in the context of this post! My husband is allergic to shellfish and nuts, so he wouldn’t be able to eat this pizza :( I guess it is a different situation since it isn’t really a matter of his taste, but I would be all about this shrimp pizza if it weren’t for his allergy. I’ve really gotten to the point where I don’t even crave it anymore – but I love the idea of this recipe and I know I could certainly adapt it to our taste.
I haven’t really heard of a breakup over liking or disliking one particular item – but I can see how it might be a deal breaker if your habits were totally different from one another. For example, if you tend to eat on the healthier side – it might be tough to be with someone who hits up McDonald’s all the time. On the other hand, I think my husband and I have influenced each other a lot. I have even gotten him to try quinoa and brussels sprouts – which I don’t think were on the menu before I came along :) I see some other people above have had similar experiences with meeting in the middle.
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steph says:
May 6, 2014 at 11:12 pm
Ooh, I know how you feel. Mike is allergic to peanuts so I never touch them. :(
I think chicken and asparagus would be wonderful together as an alternative!I never even though of the healthy/unhealthy aspect. Good on you for introducing quinoa and brussel sprouts to your husband. They’re delicious!
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Imke says:
May 2, 2014 at 12:40 pm
First time I see this blog and this story is so funny.
Also I’m gonna save this recipe because it looks delicious, maybe even make it and put it on my blog, with credits to this post offcourse! :)
I’m looking forward to reading more over here!Reply
steph says:
May 6, 2014 at 11:12 pm
Glad you enjoyed it!
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Dirk says:
May 3, 2014 at 2:37 pm
We just tried this shrimp pizza and it is phantastic! We live near Germany’s asparagus capital and the asparagus season just started (in fact when Barack Obama visited Germany he was served our “Schwetzinger Meisterschuss” which is the Romanee Conti of asparagus.) what means that we have some kind of asparagus every day.
Instrad of yeast based dough I used the traditional french dough for french Alsacian “Flammkuechle” (= tarte flambé, the french version of pizza) which consists of 140g flour, (exactly) 5g lard and (exactly) 70ml water and a pinch of salt which results in a very thin and crispy type of pizza.Reply
steph says:
May 6, 2014 at 11:13 pm
Mmm, I LOVE tart flambe and these toppings would be fantastic on one. What a great idea! :D
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Rok Jurca says:
May 5, 2014 at 5:12 am
Great combination with asparagus and shrimp. I always make pizza dough with fresh yeast and leave it to rest for an hour. But now that i saw your no knead dough i will try that one also. Great recipes (the toppings for this pizza and the dough).
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Mary Baum says:
May 9, 2014 at 2:54 pm
Haven’t read through all the comments, but the line about finding it extremely difficult to be with someone who doesn’t share made me chuckle – that’s exactly what happens when you have children.
They’ll eat everything from six months to about two years. And then they won’t eat anything fun until they can vote!
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Kayla Howey says:
July 15, 2014 at 6:53 pm
Never tried shrimp on a pizza…but I must say I am now intrigued. Love the asparagus pairing. A must try!
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yessi says:
November 30, 2014 at 6:46 pm
yummy shrimps theyre so cute and little. This looks sooo good Ive never thought of ever using shrimp on a mini pizza it has never crossed my mine until this post… Yummy in my tummy just thinking about it :D
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robert says:
October 27, 2015 at 3:36 pm
Best pizza ever. Gourmet taste
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Tawni says:
September 7, 2016 at 4:54 pm
AWSOME!!!!
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