While at Barnes and Nobles last week, I couldn’t resist the July/August 2007 issue of Cooking With Paula Deen. Who knew she had a magazine? I love that woman!

I made her Carne Asada pizza with the Traditional crust and also the Whole Wheat Crust tonight (for a 6 cheese pizza). I also made her sauce – using it on the cheese pizza. The kids weren’t too crazy over the cheese pizza because “it tastes like Lasagna mom… and we don’t like Lasagna”. I love Lasagna, on the other hand – and I loved her sauce, but yes, it does taste like the Lasagna sauce and using 6 cheeses made it shout Lasagna. I’ll just have to save that one for me and Slo. Lesson learned kids -
I’ll stick to just mozarella for you finicky fingery eaters! On the upside – they all loved the Carne Asada pizza. Even my two ‘not so crazy about meat’ pizza lovers.

I HIGHLY recommend her pizza pages! Here’s the Traditional Crust and Carne Asada recipes.

These are also available on her website (discovered after Slobo typed it all in… oh well mom…lol)

Paula’s Traditional Pizza Crust

Ingredients:

1 (1/4-ounce) envelope active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1-1/4 cups warm water (105°-115°)
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Cornmeal

In a 2-cup liquid measuring cup, combine yeast, sugar, and water; let stand for 5 minutes. In the work bowl of a food processor, combine the flour and salt. Pulse several times to combine. With processor running slowly add the yeast mixture and oil. Continue running food processor until the mixture is combined and forms a ball.

On a lightly floured surface, turn the dough out and knead for 5 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees), free from drafts, for 1 hour or until doubled in bulk. Preheat oven to 450°.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into an 18-inch circle. Sprinkle a pizza stone evenly with cornmeal. Place the dough round on top of the stone, folding the edges over to form a crust. Prick dough with a fork. Top with the topping recipe below and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Note: Having no pizza stone, I always use the metal pans with a bowl of hot water on the bottom of the oven. Being that my oven is electric, I think it helps the temp stay a little more even. The cooking times was accurate to the recipe.

Also, the pizza dough is beautiful but cooks very thick (about 1″ thick) It was definitely bubbly and had a beautiful crumb – but I think I could easily divide the dough in half and use a jelly roll pan the next time for each half. Altho, I must say, the thick bubbly crust was the favorite part for my two ‘not too much meat and veggie’ eaters.

Paula’s Carne Asada Pizza Topping

Ingredients:

3/4 cup chopped cilantro
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons oilive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1-1/2 pounds top sirloin, cut into thin strips
1 cup mozarella cheese
2 poblano peppers, seeded, roasted, and chopped
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 Roma tomato, thinly sliced
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese

In the container of an electic blender, combine the cilantro, garlic, oil, and lime juice. Pulse untol pureed; set aside. In a large skillet, cook sirloin over medium-high heat until browned, for about 4 minutes; set aside.

Spread cilantro mixture over prepared crust (from above); sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Top evenly with sirloin, peppers, onion, and tomato. Sprinkle with Monterey Jack cheese.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the crust is lightly browned.

This pizza tastes just like and smells just like the Carne Asada we order at our favorite El Jalapeno (or as our 6yr. old used to call it, El Happenin’ El Nino). I used round steak instead of sirloin, just because that’s what I had. I sliced it as thin as I could get it, about 1/4 inch strips after a great deal of fat and ligament removal. Even after trimming, it was more than enough! I cooked it at about med-to med high heat, searing it first, in a cast iron pan (doused with a little olive oil). The flavor was really good.

The only thing I’ll do next time is make sure I’ve got some fresh guacamole and sour cream on hand next time! I loved this pizza, and from what Slobo wrote on his recipe site, Bits of Dust, he liked it too! Warning: If you go to his site – he has a typical ‘guy booby cleavage’ image!

The cost to make this dinner? approx. 7$ per pizza:
Cheeses (Mozarella, 6 cheese pre grated pkg, Monterey Jack: 8$
Pizza Sauce: 3$
Flour, Yeast, Salt: 1$
Tomato: Fresh from the garden $0
Lime: 30 cents
Cilantro: 60 cents
Garlic: 25 cents (The sauce and pizza)
Pablano Peppers: 60 cents
Onions: 25 cents

Total: 14.00 for two pizzas. Enough to feed about 8-10 adults.

One round XL pizza (the Carne Asada) and One rectangular Jelly Roll Pan cheese pizza.

Not a bad deal for a pizza 100 times better than anything PaPa John’s has to offer!

Oh Yes! I forgot to mention, from glazing the cast iron pan with some water after cooking the trimmings from the meat, I’ve now got 1 qt. of frozen beef broth for that vegetable stew I want to make on the next rainy day! Not too shabby, eh?

Bravo Paula!!!!!!

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