Carne Asada Pizza

I love fun pizzas. Pepperoni is boring. Combos like Thai Chicken Pizza, Tostada Pizza, and Apple, Bacon & Gouda Pizza are more my style.

Nick made his famous Carne Asada and we had a bunch leftover. Pizza is one of the best ways to transform leftovers, and since I hadn’t made pizza in a while, I figured why not try!

Carne Asada Pizza

(adapted from Paula Deen)

makes 1 pizza

• 1/2 batch homemade pizza dough (or 1 store-bought dough)
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 2 poblano peppers
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup sliced green onions
• 1 cup chopped leftover Carne Asada
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat broiler.

In a food processor, combine cilantro, garlic, olive oil and lime juice. Process until smooth.

Broil the peppers, turning every few minutes, until charred on all sides. Remove the peppers from the oven and in paper lunch bags (or in a bowl covered with plastic wrap) to steam for 10 minutes. Remove the peppers from the bags. Peel off skin, then remove stem and seeds and dice.

Preheat oven (and pizza stone, if using one) to 400 degrees.

Stretch out the dough and spread cilantro paste over top. Sprinkle on mozzarella cheese, then top with carne asada, onions and peppers. Finally, sprinkle on monterey jack cheese.

Bake until crust is crisp and cheese is lightly browned, about 30 minutes.

The pizza came out great. The cilantro spread on the pizza was very different and worked well with the other flavors. The poblanos were nice and mild, but I might try jalapenos next time to kick up the heat a bit!