Makes two pizzas.

Ingredients:

1 recipe bread flour pizza dough
1/4 cup corn meal

Sauce Ingredients:

1 cup salsa, hot or mild
1 cup tomato puree
1 T chili powder
1 t cumin
Optional sauce ingredient: 2 t chopped cilantro

Pizza Toppings:

2 cups leftovers from Pork Carnitas
2 large poblano peppers, roasted (see below)
1 large onion, sliced
1 T vegetable oil
1 lb queso manchego, grated
2 cup Monterey jack, grated
2 t olive oil
Optional toppings: sliced jalapenos, pineapple chunks, or hot red pepper flakes

Spoon Mage™ Note:

The sauce and toppings are easily halved if you want the second pizza to be different.

Or, if you only need one pizza or want to make the dough in advance, proceed as directed until the dough has risen. Then divide the dough in half, punch it down, and shaped into rounds, flatten a bit, lightly coat with olive oil, wrap loosely in plastic wrap, place the wrapped dough in a freezer bag, push out the air, seal it tightly, date, identify, and freeze.

The dough will be good for three months.

To use, thaw the dough overnight, let it come to room temperature in a lightly oiled bowl (30-45 minutes), press it into shape on a greased pan, add toppings, and bake at 400°F.

The dough may also be thawed at room temperature in an oiled bowl, covered with a tea cloth. This will take about 5-6 hours.

The sauce freezes well too!

I recently discovered that wonderful Reynolds Wrap Non-Stick Foil. Place it on the pizza pan before adding the cornmeal if you love super crispy crusts.

Directions:

Make the dough and set to rise.

Combine the salsa, puree, chili powder, and cumin. Refrigerate until pizza assembling time.

Roast the Poblanos:

Preheat oven, or toaster oven, to 450°F (not the one that has the rising dough!). Spray non-stick spray on a small pan.

You can roast the poblanos whole and do the deseeding and stem removal afterwards, or prep the peppers first.

Cut off the tops of the poblanos. Deseed and slice lengthwise into quarters. Lay them splayed out on the sprayed pan with the skin facing up.

Whether the pepper is left whole or quartered, lightly brush the skin with olive oil.

Roast the poblanos in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the skin begins to blacken and pull away from the pepper meat. If you are roasting whole peppers, check them at 12 minutes to see if they should be turned over.

Remove the pan from the oven and place the peppers inside a brown paper bag, roll to seal, and set it on the counter.

Let the peppers steam in the bag for about 10 minutes, or until they are cool enough to handle by hand.

Remove the skin from the peppers, or as much of it that easily comes off, slice into 1 inch long pieces, and store in the refrigerator until pizza assemblage.

Prepare the Other Toppings:

Set a large skillet over a burner set to medium-high. When the burner is very hot, add the oil, swirling to coat the pan. Wait 30 seconds.

Add the sliced onion to the pan. Stir infrequently until the onions brown. They do not need to caramelize. Store in the refrigerator until pizza assemblage.

Prep all other toppings, grate or chop the cheese and store everything in the refrigerator.

Finishing the Pizza:

After the dough has risen, punch it down to deflate it.

Divide it into two roughly equally sized pieces and form into two rounds.

Place on a lightly corn meal dusted surface and cover with a cloth for 10 minutes.

Preheat the ovens to 400°F.

Depending upon the stick or non-stick nature of your pizza pans, you might want to either spray them with non-stick spray or brush them with olive oil. If you choose to do this, dust each pan lightly with a little more corn meal.

Take one round at a time and press out into a large 14” (check on this) round. You may toss it if you like, or just press it out. Pinch up the edges to form a bit of a rim.

Lightly prick the dough with a fork about 10-12 times and brush with the two teaspoons of olive oil.

Spread the sauce over the dough.

Sprinkle with the Monterey Jack cheese and half the queso manchego.

Spread the carnitas, poblanos, and onions evenly on top of the sauce.

Top it all off with the rest of the queso manchego.

Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the crust is brown, the bottom firm, and the rim sounds hollow when thumped.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing.