Tacos? Pizza? Or Taco Pizza!
Tuesday is our Saturday here in California. We spent all day in bed like total bums and it was absolutely glorious. Come dinner time, I knew I wanted to make something but I didn’t know what. I was kind of at a loss for inspiration, even after spending an inordinate amount of time looking at FoodGawker. So, I asked Facebook what I should make for dinner. Good lord I love the Internet.
One of the boy’s students, Katherine, is the executive chef at some super sweet restaurant in San Diego, so when I got the notification that she commented, I was super pumped. “Build your own pizza” was one of a handful of her suggestions. If you know the boy and I, you know that we already rock the pizza scene pretty hard. Our buddy DK said “tacos and margaritas”. We were “eh” about both. Then the boy remembered some ridiculously awesome taco pizza that he made once after having it in New York somewhere, with seasoned beef and ricotta cheese. My ears perked up at ricotta cheese.
Monterey Jack, Ricotta, Spicy Ass Salsa
So, not really having a recipe, we totally winged it. And it turned out ridiculously delicious. You know how ricotta gets a little crispy on the outside and all creamy and orgasmic on the inside? That totally happened with this pizza. We haven’t ventured into making our own dough yet, but we do buy fresh dough from the grocery store, local market, or a little pizza joint, depending on where we’re making the pizza (home, Austin, Illinois, etc).
Shallots, garlic, tomato, spicy ass ground beef.
Just whip it all up according to the recipe below, and it should turn out looking a little something like this:
Roasty toasty tomato on top there. Ricotta is just barely crusty. So. Good.
So, what are you guys up to for the Super Bowl? Last year, Hulu had all the ads online after they aired and we watched the ads in bed, sans football. If you’re going to a party, bring that Spinachy Garlicky Artichokey Super Bowl Dip. Your friends will thank you. They’ll smell like garlic for two days after consuming it, but they’ll thank you.
If you can't decide between tacos or pizza, give this taco pizza a shot. Creamy ricotta, spicy ground beef and fresh cilantro tie it all together for a ridiculously delicious dinner.
Ingredients
- Fresh (if possible) pizza dough (we buy ours at the store, or you can make your own)
- 1/2 quart grape tomatoes, halved
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/2 shallot, sliced thin
- 4 oz shredded monterey jack cheese
- 12 oz ricotta cheese
- 1 pound ground beef or turkey (we used beef)
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 3 oz of salsa
- Cilantro to taste
- Green onion to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
- Spray pizza pan with nonstick spray, roll out dough on to pizza pan.
- Brush edges of crust with olive oil (we use garlic-infused olive oil)
- Spread salsa on pizza dough. Depending on how saucy you want the pizza, use more or less than amount listed.
- Season ground beef according to the package directions.
- Make tablespoon-sized balls (or piles) of ground beef and ricotta cheese and distribute on the dough.
- Add garlic.
- Sprinkle monterey jack cheese over the top of the pizza (but not the ricotta if you can avoid it, because the ricotta gets crispy on the outside and orgasmic on the inside).
- Add shallots and tomatoes.
- Bake in the oven until the crust is lightly browned and you can lift the edge of the pizza with a spatula and see the bottom. Seriously, we never time this. If I had to guess, it'd be like 10-15 minutes.
- Let pizza cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. Top with thinly sliced green onions and/or cilantro.
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