Pizza Verde

HBin5 strikes again! Only I didn't follow the assigned recipe which was to grill a pesto pizza with grilled chicken and to make an oven baked whole grain pizza with roasted red peppers and fontina cheese. Not that I had anything at all against either of those pizzas. They both sound wonderful and from what I've seen from the other bread braiders in Michelle's HBin5 group....they look wonderful.

You can check out the correct assignment versions at Big Black Dog. This happens to be our 13th HBin5 post...and I think we have about 30 plus more to go....plenty of time to join in :)

Anyways....my reasons for doing what I did? It was Laker night (game 6 to be exact). There was nooooo way in hell I'd be able to drag Sir Sportsalot away from the television. I'm lucky he noticed that I walked in the door. I'm wondering if his friend hadn't said "Hi" to me as I walked in, if it would have even registered in Sir Sportsalot's brain that there was anything going on outside of that HDTV of his.

My other reason? I had some stuff leftover from my Tortilla Soup night and I had some dough in the fridge. It was a very spur of the moment dinner decision that was made on my way home from work as I was on the phone with an old childhood friend. This is one of the wonderful things about the dough recipes from the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day cookbook. You mix up a batch, let it sit on the counter for a couple of hours and then stick it in the fridge for days and days and use it as needed / desired. Of course the number of days will vary depending on some of the ingredients in a particular dough....ie: eggs, the dough lasts 5 days. Basic whole wheat dough will last up to 2 weeks.

I had grilled chicken that had marinaded in mexican seasonings. And I had cheese. I didn't want to use marinara sauce. It's not my favorite thing on pizza. (is that weird?). I considered using the Tequila Crema that I had made for the Tortilla Soup...then remembered that there wasn't any left...damn! That would've been really good!! But.... I had some salsa verde. hmmm....how would that work? I thought. I wasn't too sure. So I hummed and hawed and gave it some deep thought. Then I spied the mexican crema that was in the fridge! Oooooh yes! Let's mix that together...making the salsa creamy and not so intense in flavor. Ok...now we've got a plan!

I rolled out the dough....spread the creamy salsa verde on, tossed on the grilled chicken (sliced)...added red onions, green chillies, jack cheese, cheddar cheese and queso fresco. Stuck it in a preheated very hot 550'F oven for about 8 - 10 minutes. Sprinkled on some cilantro and drizzled lime juice all over it....

OMG....incredible pizza. In less than 45 minutes I had 2 pizza's made and ready to serve.

Oh ya...and I had some fried tortilla strips left over that I threw on top too.

Now, I always feel bad that I can't share the recipe for the dough. So I try and have a recipe that I used with the dough for you. This time, it's my salsa verde that a very sweet lady of hispanic origin, shared with me several years ago.

Salsa Verde
Printable Version

1 lb of tomatillos
3 or 4 garlic cloves
3 jalapenos
3/4 cup of cilantro
1/2 sweet onion
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon salt

Tomatillos.....those funny little green things that resemble a tomato only different. They have these funny little paper like...I dunno....husks?

I like to use the small ones when I make my salsa. I was advised to do so by the farmer at the farmers market. I've used the larger ones as well, and can't really tell a huge difference. Maybe the small ones have more flavor? I think they're less tart. I know that they are in their prime, flavor wise, while they're still green. I dunno.....I just do what I'm told.

Remove the husks and rinse the tomatillos.

You'll notice that they are sticky. Don't worry too much about that. Cooking them will take care of that. I parboiled them until they changed color.

I've also grilled them....but these were tiny and there were a lot of them...and you really have to watch them. If you over cooked them, they start to leak.

If you can....grill the jalapenos and onions. It's a flavor thing...not mandatory.

If you're a wimp like I am....remove the seeds and ribs from the jalapeno. Throw everything into a blender

And whirl it around until its pureed....a minute or so.

Let chill for a little bit before serving. It's really cool cuz this stuff gels all on it's own. Must be something in the tomatillo. I tried looking it up but haven't found an answer yet. But it's great cuz the sauce doesn't drip off the end of your tortilla chip

Look at that color! Good stuff I tell ya!

Oh...one more thing!! Want a chance to win 2 lbs of Fresh Morels? I do!!! Just click on the Morel badge below and leave them a comment. You can do a couple of other things as well to give yourself more chances to win. But you need to hurry because the contest ends on Sunday, 6/20/10, at midnight.

Good luck!