Chorizo and Roasted Red Bell Pepper Pizza

I think you can pretty much put chorizo and cheddar cheese on anything and it will be delicious.  I hope someone writes that on my tombstone (perhaps next to a warning about heart disease?).

Ingredients:

Pizza dough (instructions to make it from scratch below, or purchase your fave kind)

1 package chorizo (cooked and drained)

1 roasted red bell pepper (roasted and cut into strips, or you can buy these in a jar)

1 6 oz can green chiles

2 cups cheddar and/or monterey jack cheese (I used a mixture of the two)

1 cup pizza sauce

Pizza Dough Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

1 pkg active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

 

Directions:

To make pizza dough, mix yeast, sugar, and 1/2 cup warm water.  Let sit for about 5 minutes for the yeast to activate.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, olive oil, and remaining 1/2 cup warm water.  Add the yeast mixture and stir until mixed. Dust a surface with flour and remove dough mixture from bowl.  Knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.  Place dough into a bowl and drizzle with olive oil.  Cover with a cloth and let the dough stand until it rises, this should take about 1/2 an hour.

When the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  Using a rolling pin, roll out dough.  At this point, you can decide which size you want your pizza(s).  This should make enough dough to make one large pizza, or you can make smaller ones.  For this recipe, I used a medium sized cookie cutter and made individual pizzas (ahem, because Kyle doesn't like vegetables...)

At this point, you can place the pizza dough on a pizza pan or baking sheet, and add your toppings.  For this recipe, I used tomato sauce, canned green chiles for a bit of additional spice, roasted red bell pepper, and a mixture of cheddar and monterey jack cheese.  I must say, this was a pretty delicious combination!  Spicy, slightly sweet, and very cheesy!

Add the desired amount of tomato sauce, meat and vegetables, and then sprinkle on the cheese.  In my opinion, you can never have too much cheese.

Bake in the oven until the crust is slightly brown and the cheese is melted on top, and serve immediately.  Enjoy!