Making Traditions...and Pizza

I started making homemade pizza on Sunday nights.  It's the Aussie's first day of work for the week, and the night before my first day of work for the week.  It's also the night our favorite shows come on - Bob's Burgers and The Walking Dead.

We have a few traditions in my family that are related to food:  Mom's Sunday lunches, chestnut stuffing at Thanksgiving, seafood at Christmas, pork and cabbage at the New Year celebration.   Since I don't live at home anymore, I'm unable to participate in those traditions, but I can make my own.  I love to bake and knead dough, so I thought pizza would be nice.  It's a comfort food, and there are endless possibilities for toppings.

This weekend, I decided to experiment a bit more and do a crust that wasn't a yeast crust.  Yes, I know - the tradition is a couple of months old, and I'm already fucking with it!   Still, it's pizza, sort of.  

I made taco pizza tonight, with a cornmeal crust, and I have to tell you it was deeeeeelicious.  Oh. Yes.  It was very, very good. I only have one photo of the finished product, and it's truly terrible, of course, but I might as well go ahead and post it along with the crust recipe.

Cornmeal Crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tablespoons each cold butter and cold shortening
4-5 tablespoons ice water

I used my food processor to put this recipe together. I usually use it for crusts, as it keeps my hands out of the dough and keeps the temperature of the fat down.   It's really easy, too - just dump, whirr, and turn it out onto a piece of plastic wrap.  Form it into a ball, and chill it for at least 30 minutes.

You can roll it out, or you can press it into the pan.  I just pressed it in with my fingers.   I used my 10-inch pizza pan.

To top it, I heated 2 cups of Quorn meatless crumbles in my skillet with a little water.  I let the water evaporate some and then added a packet of taco seasoning (I'm lazy).  

Spread on 4-5 tablespoons of diced tomatoes and chilies, add the "meat", and top it with cheese.  I used 1 1/2 cups of grated Cheddar.

Bake at 450 for 17 minutes, and voila!  I topped it with some green onions and served it with a salad.  Simple and delicious for a Sunday night, especially a Sunday night on which I am supposed to be grading papers.   Speaking of which, I should get back to those.

Here's an ugly picture of a delicious pizza!