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Take Your Taste Buds Out West With A Tex-Mex Pizza

Last week, I posted about recycling Pickle Juice; specifically about making your own Pickled Sweet Peppers. I promised you a recipe that spotlights them, and today is the day! Send your taste buds Out West with my easy, quirky, flavour-packed, irresistible Tex-Mex Pizza…

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I call it a Pizza, but it may be closer to something else from somewhere else which has little more than a Flatbread Crust in common with the Classic Pie.

What you need

1 recipe of my Quick Pizza Crust or 2 large store-bought Flat Breads
3 tbsp. / 45 ml of your favourite BBQ Sauce
1 cup / 250 ml of leftover Roast Beef, Steak or Deli Roast Beef, sliced thin in strips
1 tsp. / 5 ml (or more to taste) of your favourite Chili Powder
1/2 cup / 125 ml Slivered or Sliced Onions
1 cup / 250 ml of your own Pickled Sweet Peppers cut in strips or 1 in. / 2.5 cm pieces
1/4 cup / 60 ml of your own or store-bought Pickled Jalapeño Peppers
1 1/2 cup / 375 ml of grated or shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese

Optional:

a sprinkling of chopped Olives
a top-dressing of grated Parmesan or other hard, sharp Cheese
1/2 cup / 125 ml sliced Mushrooms (not a traditional Tex-Mex ingredient)

Serves 4.

What you do

Lay out the crust(s) on a Pizza pan covered with parchment paper and layer on the ingredients as follows…

Brush the BBQ Sauce onto the Crust(s) to form a thin, even layer. On top of that, scatter the Olives and Mushrooms if you’re using them.

Add a handful of the Cheese, then the Meat. Dust the Meat evenly with the Chili Powder.

Next comes the Sweet Peppers, Jalapeños and Onions, followed by the remainder of the Cheese and the top dressing if you’re using it.

Bake in a pre-heated 425 F to 450 F oven until the edge of the crust is browned and the Cheese is bubbling (about 10 minutes).

Serve as you would a Pizza or any other Flatbread-based treat.

You’re gonna love it!

The sweetish flavour of the Peppers nicely counterpoints the spicy reality of the Chili Powder and the Jalapeños, and the umami whammy of the Meat is amplified two-fold. You can use pre-cooked (leftover) Pulled Pork or Chicken if you don’t have Beef.

I guarantee you, once you’ve tasted this Tex-Mex ‘Pizza’, you’ll be making it several times a month. It’s easy, tasty and uses up leftovers. What more could you ask for?

~ Maggie J.