MEXICAN PIZZA WITH POBLANO RAJAS, CORN, AND ZUCCHINI - Mexican Today
Pizza is a go-to dinner for me when I’m super busy. It takes time to make the crust, but it’s mostly hands off. I make my flour mix in big batches, so prepping the dough goes really fast. This recipe looked like a good way to shake up my pizza with some new flavors. I didn’t look at the crust recipe at all, and instead used my own gluten-free formula. So this write up is just about the sauce and toppings. The sauce is the basic pizza sauce from page 200. You sauté some onion until it starts to brown, stir in garlic, then add tomatoes (I used canned, pulsed in the blender). Add some Mexican oregano and salt. You are supposed to simmer covered, until the sauce is thick and dark red. Once again, I ask myself how a sauce is supposed to reduce with a lid on the pot, especially in 5 minutes?! I cooked uncovered for longer, and in hindsight, wish I’d let it reduce a bit more. The sauce was very tasty, though, would have been great on enchiladas as is, just needed to be more concentrated for pizza.
For your toppings, you char the skin off a poblano and cut it into strips. Shave ribbons of zucchini. Cut some corn kernels or thaw frozen. Slice some red onion. Put the veg in a bowl with some salt, olive oil, and lemon juice and let sit for a while. When it is time to put the toppings on the pizza, you will remove any liquid that has accumulated in the bowl.
You are supposed to par-bake the crust, then add the toppings. I have to admit I stopped reading the recipe after I prepared the toppings, so I didn’t see that instruction until later. It’s not a bad idea given the thin sauce and the vegetables that will sweat out water, but I didn’t do it. I sauced and topped the raw dough, and baked for 27 minutes in my Breville convection oven. This worked fine, and the crust was not soggy as I was afraid it might be.
I liked this pizza and will do some kind of variation on it again. The sauce, being thinner than ideal for a pizza, got a little lost between the crust and the toppings, so I definitely want a more concentrated sauce next time.