Mexican Pizza

As promised, here's a recipe idea to top the Pizza Dough from yesterday. Not only will the spicy ingredients warm you up, but there's lots of oven time involved at high temperatures, which will keep you even warmer!

Take one prepared Pizza Dough (see post from 2/1/09) and roll into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Place on a baking sheet or pizza pan coated with cooking spray and sprinkled with 1 tablespoon of cornmeal. Crimp the edges to form a crust. Set aside.

Slice one large red onion vertically, and separate into rings. Place the onion rings in a large bowl; lightly coat with cooking spray and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. black pepper, tossing to coat. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray, and place in the oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, stirring halfway through. Cool completely.

Up the oven temperature to 'Broil'. Place one poblano chile on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Broil for 8 minutes, turning after 6 minutes, until charred. Place in a zip-top plastic bag and let stand 15 minutes, before removing the skin.

Slice the poblano in half, and discard the stem and seeds. Slice into thin strips. Place in a large bowl, and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. black pepper, tossing to coat. Set aside.

The cheeses used in the original pizza recipe were white cheddar and queso fresco. A vegan white cheddar actually exists, from a British company called Cheezly, but - alas - it is not currently available in the U.S. Instead, I shredded the orange 'cheddar' block from Galaxy Foods to equal 1/2 a cup. Queso fresco or "fresh cheese" crumbles similar to feta. So try the vegan feta from Sunergia, crumbling to equal 1/2 a cup. Combine the 'cheeses' in a bowl and set aside.

Pour one (7-ounce) can of chipotle chiles in adobo sauce into a food processor and process until smooth. I highly recommend the brand Casa Fiesta - unlike most other brands, sugar is not an ingredient in their adobo sauce, which means you don't have to worry about if the sugar was refined with bone char.

Spread a teaspoon and a half of the chipotle puree onto the pizza crust, spreading with the back of a wooden spoon. Reserve the rest for another use. Arrange the poblano strips in a single layer over the sauce. Top with the onions, 1/4 pound husked and coarsely chopped tomatillos (about 2 small ones), then sprinkle evenly with the 'cheese' mixture.

Bake at 500 degrees for 17 minutes - your crust should be golden. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro and one tablespoon of pumpkinseed kernals (these may be sold as 'pepitas' in the supermarket near other nuts and seeds).

One-sixth of the pie is 230 calories.

Full disclosure: I read a tiny section of the recipe wrong while making this for myself, as "spread 1/2 the chipotle puree over the pizza crust" not "1/2 a tablespoon of chipotle puree". This measured out to about 1/4 cup. Needeless to say, my pizza was s-p-i-c-y! I highly recommend sticking to the real amount called for, unless you really like a four-alarm fire when you eat.

Cost:
red onion $1.44
poblano chile $0.80
chipotle chiles in adobo sauce $3.49
tomatillos $1.20
'cheddar' $3.39
vegan feta $3.69
cilantro $1.99