Mexican Pizza

Bapopik at AOL.COM Bapopik at AOL.COM
Fri Jun 2 00:52:08 UTC 2000


    "Mexican Pizza" is not in the OED (revising beginning with "M"?) and not
in Mariani's ENCYCLOPEDIA.  It's a standard item at Taco Bell, for example.
It's probably an "American" dish.
    I've now gone through GOURMET 1941-1974.
    From GOURMET, March 1974, pg. 100, col. 1:

Q: At El Rancho No. 1 in Austin, Texas, I enjoyed a dish called Mexican
pizza.  Could you get the recipe for me?
SANDRA BAKER
CARROLLTON, TEXAS
A: A happy blend of culinary traditions is this
     _Mexican Pizza El Rancho No. 1_
     Make the pizza dough: Into a bowl sift together 3 cups flour and 1/2
teaspoon each of sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Make a well in the center
and stir in 3/4 cup milk combined with 2 eggs.  Combine the mixture well and
form it into a ball.  Let the dough rest, covered, for at least 15 minutes.
     Make a meat topping: In a skillet saute 1 pound ground round steak in
1/2 stick or 1/4 cup butter for 5 minutes.  Add 1 stalk of celery, 1 small
green pepper, 1 tomato, and 1/2 onion, all diced, and salt and pepper to
taste.  Saute the mixture for 15 minutes, or until the meat and vegetables
are cooked.  Keep the mixture warm.
     Make El Rancho sauce: In a blender put 1 stalk of celery, 1 small green
pepper, 1 tomato, 1/2 onion, and 2 garlic cloves, all chopped, 1 tablespoon
tomato sauce, and 1/2 teaspoon each of oregano and ground cuminseed and blend
the mixture until it is smooth.  Transfer the mixture to a saucepan, add 1
3/4 cups chicken stock (January 1974) or chicken broth, and bring the mixture
to a boil.  Stir in 2 tablespoons flour mixed with 1/4 cup chicken stock, add
salt and pepper to taste, and simmer the sauce for 10 minutes.  Kepp the
sauce warm.
     Divide the dough into 6 pieces.  Roll out 1 of the pieces into an 8-inch
round on a lightly floured surface.  Fry the round in hot deep oil (360
degrees F), turning it once, until it is golden.  Transfer the round to paper
towels to drain.  Continue to roll out and fry the remaining dough in the
same manner.  Arrange the rounds on an ovenproof platter and top them with a
layer of the meat mixture and the sauce.  Sprinkle each round with 2
tablespoons grated Monterey Jack cheese and 1 tablespoon freshly grated
Parmesan cheese and top it with 1 teaspoon sour cream.  Heat the pizzas in a
preheated slow oven (300 degrees F) for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is
melted and the pizzas are hot.  Garnish each pizza with a thinly sliced onion
ring, a green olive, and sliced _jalapeno_ chili peppers.

   T.B. (Taco Bell, not tuberculosis) does it a little differently.



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