Spicy Mexican Pizza

Serves 6 to 10

Spicy Mexican Pizza

We couldn't resist adding this delicious and simple Mexican "pizza" to this chapter. If you can't get a fresh poblano chile substitute a fresh Anaheim chile or a fresh red bell pepper.

2 fresh poblano or Anaheim chiles
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 (10-inch) flour tortillas
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1/4 cup taco sauce, such as La Victoria Red Taco Sauce
2 jalapeño chiles, seeds included, minced
3/4 cup Monterey jack or Cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Roast the poblano chiles over a gas stove-top flame turned to high or under the broiler until lightly blackened on all sides. Seal in a zip-top bag for 15 minutes. Rub off the charred skin. Stem, seed, and cut the chiles into 1/4 inch-wide long strips. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Spread the pine nuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until golden, about 8 minutes. The recipe can be completed to this point up to 8 hours before cooking.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. (if you have a pizza stone, place in the oven before preheating the oven, then preheat the oven for 1 hour). If you have a gas stove top, lightly char the tortillas on both sides. Place the tortillas on a wooden pizza paddle lightly sprinkled with cornmeal. Spread the taco sauce evenly across the surface. Layer on the fresh jalapeño chiles and the cheese. Place the poblano chile strips on the pizza so they radiate outward from the center. Sprinkle with the pine nuts. Slide the pizzas onto the pizza stone, or place the pizzas on a baking sheet in the oven. Bake until the cheese bubbles, about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the cilantro. Cut into wedges and serve at once.

Buy the Book!

Fast Appetizers
By Hugh Carpenter & Teri Sandison
Ten Speed Press
Paperback, $17.95, 112 pages
Publication date: August 1999
ISBN: 1-58008-049-9
Recipe Reprinted by permission.