Student life re-lived

So what does an impoverished Australian in the French Riviera live on, on a day to day basis? Surely it isn't possible to afford to buy lunch or dinner every day?

Indeed it isn't possible. While I have found a few asian 'restaurants' that have dishes for around 5 euro, I can't quite manage to stretch my finances that far on a daily basis. So my plat du jour is home made ham and pineapple pizzas!

So here is the breakdown

• 2 packets of mini pita breads (that will make 12 meals): 2 euro 80
• 1 tin of pineapple chunks 1 euro 10
• 1 brie 98centimes
• 1 small packet of grated cheese 1 euro 30
• 1 packet lardons fume (bacon bits by any other name) 2 euro 30
• 1 tiny tin of tomato paste 30 centimes

et voila, two weeks worth of simple hot lunches for 73 centimes a day.

In case you are a complete cooking newbie and really need to know how to make them, here are instructions for construction:

• Open the tin of tomato paste, and put into a small dish with about twice as much warm water (eg. for 20g paste, add 40 ml water) to make a thinnish paste. If you have some dried herbs, perhaps oregano, soak them in the warm water before mixing the tomato paste in.
  
• Spread on to pita bread
• Open the tin of pineapple chunks, drain off the liquid (mix it into whatever fruit juice you have in the fridge to add a bit of sparkle to it) and scatter on over the pita (slice them in half if you are feeling poor, or use whole chunks if you are feeling a bit more lavish).
  
• Thinly slice some brie and place on top
  
• Scatter a little of the grated cheese to fill in any corners not covered by the brie. You can just use brie, or just use the grated cheese if you like, but I rather like the different flavours from the different cheeses
• Scatter lardons on top
• Cook in an oven prewarmed to 200 degrees for about 10 minutes, until the cheese goes a lovely golden colour.
  
• Rest for 4 minutes to allow the cheese to set a little before slicing in half
• EAT! Of course you can add whatever other ingredients you prefer; sliced mushrooms for example.
  

Before cooking

Hot and golden fresh from the oven