New Mexico Style Pizza

My husband and I fell in love with New Mexican food about 6 or 7 years ago while visiting my sister who was living outside of Albuquerque at the time. On the first morning of our visit my sister and her husband took us to the Village of Corrales, to the Calico Cafe where the waitress inquired whether we would like our eggs with green chile sauce, red chile sauce, or "Christmas" style (both sauces). One taste of those chile sauces and we were hooked. Corrales is a charming little village with some artsy shops (pottery, jewelry, copper, etc.) and good food. So if you're ever in Albuquerque....

A couple of years later we managed to find a New Mexico style restaurant by our townhouse in Columbus, Ohio. Of all the places to find New Mexican cuisine. I was pregnant with our first daughter at the time and I craved that stuff. Heartburn be damned!

Then, last weekend as we road-tripped back to Indiana, I lounged in the passenger seat perusing recipes for the meal plan. I was staring at this recipe, trying to make up my mind when I heard,"Oh. New Mexico-style pizza!" My husband was looking at the recipe (and driving) He sounded pretty excited about the possibility, so I added it to the "maybe" pile. I'm always happy to change up our Friday night pizza routine, and this recipe quickly went from "maybe" to "definitely". I am NOT sorry. This pizza was absolutely delicious. I am exercising a great deal of restraint to not get up for another piece as I sit here typing about it.

The recipe calls for a pre-baked thin Italian bread shell crust. I forgot to grab one of these at the store this afternoon, so I rolled out a tube of Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza dough onto a baking sheet and pre-baked it at 425 degrees for 6-8 minutes.


Next I mixed up the sauce. Actually, my daughter mixed up the sauce, I just measured the ingredients for her. Here they are: salsa verde, lime juice, cumin, oregano, and salt.



The recipe also calls for 2 cups of shredded, cooked chicken breast. At about 5 pm tonight, I was 3 aisles from finished with my big bi-monthly grocery shopping trip. I realized that by the time that I filled my list, waited in the Friday-night- before-Super Bowl check out lines, loaded the car, drove home, unloaded the car, and put all of those groceries away...there was no way I was going to have time to cook chicken breast, assemble and bake a pizza, and keep two small children happy. So I bee-lined for the deli and tossed this into my cart. That's right, a rotisserie chicken. And let me tell ya, the pizza was better for it. That rotisserie chicken was so flavorful and tender and juicy that it made an excellent topping for this pizza.

I shredded the breast for the pizza and saved the drumsticks and the thighs for any picky children who might decide that mommy's new take on Friday night pizza was "not her cup of tea"


I sliced 3 green onions.



Spread the salsa verde sauce onto the pizza crust


and topped the pizza with the chicken, green onions, 1/2 cup of corn, and cheddar cheese.


Bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of minced fresh cilantro.


Serve it up with some sour cream. Please. Try it. You will NOT be sorry.


New Mexico-Style Pizza from Light and Tasty Magazine

1 prebaked thin Italian bread shell crust (10 ounces)
1-1/2 cups salsa verde
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
6 tablespoons fat-free sour cream

Place crust on a pizza pan or baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine the salsa
verde, lime juice, cumin, salt and oregano; spread over crust. Top with chicken,
corn, onions and cheese. Bake at 450° for 8-10 minutes or until heated
through and cheese is melted. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve with sour cream.

Yield: 6 slices.

One serving: 1 slice with 1 tablespoon sour cream Calories: 285 Fat: 7 g Saturated Fat: 2 g Cholesterol: 45 mg Sodium: 923 mg Carbohydrate: 32 g Fiber: 2 g Protein: 23 g Diabetic Exchange: 2 starch, 2 very lean meat, 1 fat.
WW Points per serving: 6