Carne Asada Pizza

We had a family feast last night: Carne Asada, Pollo Asada, Hasson's famous Pineapple-Orange-Mango salsa and homemade Pico de Gallo and guacamole. There were lots of leftovers to play with, so I decided to experiment a little.

to make the pizza, you can go with your own homemade dough or make it easy on yourself and go with a store bought ready-to-go pizza crust.For this pizza I decided to go with a jalapeno-cilantro-lime and spice sour cream base. See the recipe below.

To prep your crust:
brush lightly with Olive oil
Rub jalepeno peppers and or crushed garlic into the olive oil.

For the base:
Mix together sour cream, fresh chopped cilantro to taste, a squeeze of about a quarter lime, and a prepared spice mix such as the New Mexico Style Rub. (Sorry, I did this by eye so I don't have exact amounts).

Toppings:
In this case, I topped the base with a simple combination of sharp cheddar and pepper jack cheeses, then topped that with Carne Asada , homemade Pico de Gallo, a few extra chopped tomatoes. A little extra pepper jack cheese went on top to help prevent overcooking the already cooked Carne Asada.

To  serve -
Grab some of that guacamole and a few slices of lime on top. Makes a great day after meal that still has a nice spice kick.

Hasson's World Famous White Pizza with sausage and peppers

I have discussed the "pizza making process" in earlier posts.

This version is an alfredo sauce base topped with spicy italian sausage, Mozzerella, a mixture of small plum tomatoes off my vine and large vine ripened tomatoes, green peppers and red onions. The crust was lightly brushed with pesto. A great option if you have it is to crumble some goat cheese on top.

If you are wondering about the shape, well... I made it at the gallery after hours and the oven is one of those really small apartment style ovens... so I have to make the pizza oblong so the edges wont be too close to the sides of the oven and burn!

Mangia!

Pizza Recipes - Smoked Chicken Pesto Pizza

Ah the Smoked Chicken Pesto Pie!

Ingredients:

Basil Pesto

Mozerella

Smoked Chicken

Fresh Tomatoes

Red Onion

Artichoke hearts

Jalepeno/Garlic sautee for topping (See Below)

Below are a variety of ingredients ready to go...

...but for this pie we'll have to do a special topping of garlic and jalepenos too!

First, throw a few cloves in some Olive oil and let them start to infuse the oil...

then throw in your sliced fresh jalepenos... sautee until desired tenderness and then let cool and set aside.

Toss or roll your dough and place on a floured peel

Note: you do not need to oil the dough with this recipe! There is plenty of oil in the Pesto!Top with the Pesto, mozerella, tomato, red onion, smoked chicken, and artichoke hearts, you can add the jalepenos now or top the pizza with them later.

Slide er' in to that preheated 550 oven!

You may want to blot some of the excess oil with a paper towel...

Pizza Recipes -Basic Red Sauce

Nothing real hard here... basic red sauce. I make my own and am continuing to experiment. I like a tangy red sauce, little or no sugar, and I like to taste the oregano.

1 can (8 oz)Tomato paste

1 can tomato puree (29 oz?)

salt

Italian seasoning

oregano

Tomato Puree has no added salt or sugar. It is also fantastic to use a simple can of tomatoes, diced whole or crushed. You can mash them down or put them in a food processor. It will give you a nice fresh sauce. Everything I have read says if your oven is hot enough the sauce cooks on the pizza.

When you are done and you put the rest in the refrigerator in that washed out and recycled Bertolli sauce jar, it will thicken substantially. Use straight the first time and then expect you'll have to thin with water to use the next time.

Preheat your oven to 550. (See note below in red)

Toppings here are Mozerrella, Pepperoni, hot italian sausage that I smoked the night before, red onion, fresh tomato, and goat cheese.

Here she is slid into my little tiny gallery oven that has been preheating at 550 for about 40 minutes. I usually turn it on about 30 minutes before the dough is done.

Note!: Please look at my pizza stone below. I have heard of 2 different people having their stones crack in the oven at high temp. I think these are the thinner stones... mine is about 1/2" thick. With this type of stone you actually can put it in your self cleaning oven every couple of years and it comes out like new!

And here is the finished pie. I slide it onto a rack when fresh out of the oven so the bottom doesn't get soggy due to condensation... I then slide it onto a tray later or just the board for cutting!

Note: In this particualar case you'll see well done to burned edges on the sides that are too close to the oven wall. At my studio, I have a very small apartment oven. My pizza stone is 14 X 16, but won't even fit the wide way. I don't have these issues at home on a regular size oven.

Pizza Dough prep

For those of you purists out there... I am lazy but want to make my own pizza. I use bread flour purchased from my local store... seems to make a good crust for me! I will be experimenting with various recipes adding a more specialized gluten mix for a more authentic pizza crust... using flours such as the Italian Tipo 00 and the such... but for now this works!

I use a simple dough formula... and add them to the breadmaker in this order:

1Tbs olive oil

1 C warm water

2 1/2 c flour

1tsp salt (or heaping garlic salt)

1 tbs sugar

1 tsp active dry yeast

Note: you will see quite a variance in dough recipes... this one has a higher ratio of water to flour because we are in New Mexico at an altitude of about 7,000 feet. I need a little more water up here.

Ingredients all in, breadmaker set on the "dough" setting, and breadmaker just starting to mix...

90 minutes later, we are done

I usually divide this in half, then you can hand toss or roll your dough:


Take your wood or metal peel and flour it well,

then place the dough on the peel and re-shape it to your liking.

Spread a light coating of Olive Oil on your dough... go to the edges but DON'T get any on the peel! The dough will stick to it and you won't be able to slide it off into your oven!

"Oiled" dough. Some people LOVE to take garlic (minced) and rub it into the oil before the sauce. You can also use a garlic infused oil as well. If I want a spicier pizza I'll use the oil from sauteed garlic and jalepenos which is a fantastic topping for the Pesto Pizza recipe...

Note:It is a good idea as you work to give the peel a back and forth shake to make sure the dough is continuing to slide... if not you may have to lift a side and throw a bit of flour under it till is is sliding easily.

Cornmeal is also a good choice for keeping the dough moving... layer your peel with it instead of flour if you like. Just know that it will leave the meal grains on your Pizza stone that you have to clean off later. I have used both methods and they both work well...

Now your dough is ready for the next step...