5/10/10

Avocado Beef Tortilla Pizza

When I was a sophmore in college I had a little revelation about food - that if I didn't make any, I didn't eat. And if I didn't make anything yummy, I didn't get to eat anything yummy. It was a little bit of a surprise because growing up my mom made something delicious and homemade every night, and my previous year of college I had been in the dorms and the friendly cafeteria staff always had some food ready when I wanted to eat. Moving into an apartment sophmore year meant a kitchen and groceries and the realization that I didn't know how to make ANYTHING. Luckily, there was my roommate Emily, the Food Network and our moms on speed dial. Emily was in the same predicament, and she was just as willing as I was to try, try, try things until we succeeded. I have great memories of some really salty enchiladas, soggy pierogis or our sad attempt at a galette de roi. (Hey, Emeril made one so we thought we should try.) Through the years we got more adventerous and more skilled, and we found some great recipes that I still use and love. One of those recipes is the Avocado Beef Tortilla Pizza I'm going to share today. It was from a little "Cooking For Two" recipe book that Emily's mom had given her. I remember using that book so much the binding broke and I have no idea if Emily still has it, but I still have a couple recipes from it in my recipe binder. I've modified it over the years to make enough for six since it works great as leftovers.

What you need:

1 lb lean ground beef (if you wanted to slice some flank steak super thin, that would also work well here. Leftover grilled steak is another delicious option. Just heat it in the first step until warm)
3-4T canned green chiles, undrained (green enchilada sauce works too)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 green pepper, diced
2 cups shredded monterey jack or mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 can sliced black olives, drained
sour cream
6 flour tortilla (taco size)
oil for brushing tortillas
2-3 ripe avocados

Directions:

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef until browned. Drain fat and add the salsa (or enchilada sauce) and garlic. Heat until warmed and most of the excess liquid from the salsa has cooked down.

Brush the tortillas on both sides with oil.


Assemble the pizzas, starting with a layer of the ground beef mixture, and then adding black olives and green peppers. Top with Monterey Jack and Parmesan.




Bake at 450 about 10 minutes, depending on your oven. You want the edges of the tortilla to start browning and the cheese to fully melt. Slice the pizzas in wedges, top with avocado and sour cream and enjoy.


If you want leftovers, make only the number of pizzas that you need and save the leftover beef mixture. You can assemble the tortilla pizzas with the leftover beef mixture straight from the fridge. If you are looking to save time in the evening, you can also make the entire beef mixture ahead of time so all you have to do is assemble the pizzas and bake them.

1 Click For Comments:

You are a woman after my own heart Nicole--MMMMM MEXICAN!!!!

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