Thursday, December 29, 2011

Make Pizza at Home Part 2: Taco Pizza

Taco Pizza, hot from the oven, topped with seasoned burger and cheddar and Monteray Jack cheese
Here's a different take on making pizza at home, Taco Pizza. This is NOT the fat and calorie laden fast food one you may be familiar with, but something my sister and I came up with years ago, when we REALLY wanted tacos but had no taco shells or corn tortillas to fry.
FIRST, I made my usual pizza crust recipe but instead of using 1T. cornmeal, I removed 1 T. flour and used 2 T. cornmeal.  I also dusted the crust liberally with a little more cornmeal. Then, instead of tomato sauce, I spread salsa over the uncooked crust. We like Chi Chi's Original in the medium heat. Don't be too generous with the salsa, just spread it evenly and thinly.
Next, I added some leftover taco meat (made from 93% lean ground beef, but whatever your family likes is fine) from dinner a few nights before. If you don't have any leftover meat, try spreading some refried beans on the crust BEFORE the salsa, and then you'll have a vegetarian version of this, which is just as tasty! Next, the pizza gets sprinkled liberally with cheddar and monterey jack cheeses, black olives and some roasted red peppers, diced up, and pickled jalapeno peppers. Into a 400 degree oven for about 17 minutes, and the result you see above!
Now, here's the twist: When you serve this pizza, top it like you would a taco. We used shredded lettuce, a little sour cream, as well as more salsa, jalapenos and cheese, because you can NEVER have enough cheese!  And, voila, an original creation that is super tasty. See the completed slice below:
A perfect slice of Taco Pizza, topped with lettuce, salsa, black olives and a little more cheese
Doesn't that look good? I promise -- you will LOVE this take on pizza! You'll never want to go back to that fast food pizza thingie from the place with the bell! Happy Holidays!

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