So, as Darius is aware, one of my favorite hobbies (next to game development / design) is cooking. Actually, I’ve wanted to combine those hobbies by making a cooking game, but I think someone beat me to it. At least in Japan.
Anyway, this evening I mad a fairly good dish that I wanted to share with people, and I figured who better than loyal blog readers? So in an effort to be more bloggy I’ve added a new category to my blog (which I might update when I make something particularly tasty) and starting it off with Mexican Pizza!
Mexican Pizza
- 8 Corn Tortillas (hard flat ones if you can find them, I couldn’t)<
- Fry Oil (I used peanut, Canola probably would have been better)
- 1 can refried beans
- ½ a pound of ground beef
- Shredded lettuce (or you can chop up some romaine hearts like I did)
- ½ Cup of cheese (I used a Mexican blend)
Preheat oven to 350.
If you couldn’t find hard corn tortillas, fill a medium skillet or sauté pan about 1 inch high with fry oil. Make sure there’s enough room at the top for oil to bubble and heat it to about 325 degrees. Drop your tortillas in the oil one at a time, frying them until golden brown, flipping half way through (about 30 seconds per side). Set aside.
In the mean time, open your can of refried beans and heat them in a small sauce pot over low heat, stirring occasionally (these are pretty much the instructions from the side of the can).
When finished frying the tortillas, empty the oil from the pan, or set it aside to cool before storing it for another fry session. Either way, you need an empty medium skillet or sauté pan.
Brown the ground beef in the sauté pan, seasoning however you like (you can use taco seasoning or whatever. I used salt, pepper, Maggie, and Chipotle Tabasco sauce). When done, empty into the refried beans.
Arrange 4 corn tortillas on a baking sheet (I lined mine with aluminum foil, you don’t have to, it just makes cleaning easier). Divide the beef/bean mixture between the for tortillas. There may be some left over. Just put it away for burritos later in the week. Put the other 4 tortillas on top and cover them each with lettuce, then cheese. Put in the oven until cheese is melted (only like 5 minutes at most. Just watch them.)
Serve with salsa.
That’s it! I do have some improvements. Instead of lettuce (or along with lettuce) you can grab some scallions (green onions) and put them on top, and if you like tomatoes those are also welcome. Some Cilantro either in the beef/bean mixture or chiffanade on top would also probably be good. Salsa before baking, on the other hand, would probably be bad since it tends to make the tortillas soggy.
Enjoy!