Southwestern Pizza

CountryLady's Note:

Credit goes to Caroline Grooms from Dickinson, North Dakota - Blue ribbon winner of the 2003 Country Woman Cooking Contest!

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 12 pieces

CRUST

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup cornmeal
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg , beaten
• ¾ cup cheddar cheese , shredded
• ¾ cup monterey jack cheese , shredded

TOPPING

• 1 ½ lbs ground beef
• 2⁄3; cup water
• 2 (1 ¼ ounce) envelopes taco seasoning , divided
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 ¾ cups cheddar cheese , shredded
• 1 ¾ cups monterey jack cheese , shredded
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn , drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans , rinsed & drained
• 1 cup salsa

Directions:

1. Combine dry ingredients for crust in a large bowl.
2. Combine milk, oil& egg in a separate bowl; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
3. Stir in the cheeses.
4. Spread into a greased 15 x 10 x 1 inch baking pan and bake in a preheated 400F for 10- 12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Cook beef in a large skillet, over medium heat until no longer pink, about 10 minutes; drain off fat.
6. Stir in water& 1 envelope of taco seasoning.
7. Bring to a boil, reduce heat& simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
8. Set aside.
9. Combine sour cream& 2nd package of taco seasoning in a small bowl; mix well.
10. Spread over crust.
11. Sprinkle beef mixture over top, followed by half of the cheese mixture.
12. Combine the corn, beans& salsa in a small bowl; spoon over pizza top, followed by the other half of the cheese mixture.
13. Broil 5- 6 inches from the heat for 5- 10 minutes or until the cheeses are melted.
14. Watch Carefully!

Reviews

[Queen Roachie]

I am enjoying my third square of this right now! I LOVE the sour cream with taco seasoning combo. Next time I will use a larger pan, as the one I used was a bit small, so the crust was a bit thicker than I planned on. This has a fantastic combination of flavors. We used a fresh salsa so ended up having to drain it before putting that layer on. I didn't have corn, so had to leave it out, and we topped this with cilantro. Corn will be used next time, as I can imagine how good it would be... Thanks for sharing a great recipe! To the reviewer who used corn starch, I agree with jshaffer: corn starch is not a good sub for cornmeal at all. I think if you tried it with the coarser corn meal, you would enjoy this quite a bit more.

[Chef jshaffer]

I would not recommend to anybody that they substitute cornstarch for cornmeal. The texture would be entirely different and cornstarch is very funny about absorbing water.

[vadapao]

Good recipe. I 1/2ed it. The recipe does not mention how many eggs, etc. I used one egg. The crust was very soft--somewhat like corn bread. Also, I didnt have any cornmeal so I just tried cornstarch instead. The crust was new to me but the rest is good! Cheese makes it all good. I used pinto beans instead of beef and didn't use any taco seasoning throughout. So, without all that--this pizza was good--I can just imagine how good it will be with everything. Thanks for posting this recipe :)