Tex Mex Meatza

Hello. Nice to make your re-acquantance. After 3 months of not cooking O N E time and eating E V E R Y single meal out (Yes, it’s true.), our kitchen is finally cook-able. Thank you all for your continued comments (even the ‘sugar isn’t paleo‘ ones) and checking of the site. I know there must have been continual feelings of disappointment for the last 90 days…but alas, today, your patience has paid off. πŸ™‚

The kitchen was a complete gut job and we did all of the work ourselves (minus the countertop installation)–so it took some time, obviously. We’re about 95% done, still a few odds & ends to tie up. Expect some before & after (with the juicy details of materials used, where we purchased and how poor we are…I mean how much stuff cost) pictures of the kitchen once it’s completed.

This recipe was inspired by our chest freezer tripping–not “trip & fall” tripping, not “I’m so high I think I could fly” tripping, but “the electricity went out and the freezer never turned back on” tripping . So after we figured this out–days after it happened, we threw away about 40 pounds of meat and seafood. It was a very unpleasant experience (in more ways than one). We managed to salvage a few pounds of ground beef and well…viola, a meatza. I didn’t make this concept up, I don’t know who did or I’d give credit. If you’ve never heard of it before, it’s just ground meat as a pizza ‘crust’. Makes so much sense–especially with all the other ‘Paleo pizza’ options out there–cauliflower/coconut/eggplant concoctions. K.I.S.S.–that’s all I’m sayin’ about that. All I’ve done with this is mix in some salsa, because I’ve been too lazy to organize the spice cabinet, and top it with some other tex-mex stuff and well…viola.

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. ground beef
  • 1 egg
  • 1 16 oz. jar of salsa
  • 8 oz. raw cheese, shredded (optional)
  • handful of cilantro, chopped
  • 1/2 head crunchy lettuce (like romaine), chopped
  • 2 green onions, sliced

Method

Preheat your oven to 400ºF. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the beef, egg and 3/4 c of salsa with your hands. Spread the mixture out into a large oven-safe pan (something with high sides–we used cast iron), making sure to press the mixture all the way up the sides–think deep dish pizza. Bake this mammoth meat mass for 30 minutes* or until the meat is cooked through and is considerably brown.

While the mammoth meat mass is baking, chop and shred the rest of your ingredients.

You’ll see the mass has shrunk quite a bit, but has still maintained a nice crust/toppings boundary line. Pour the rest of the salsa into the ‘toppings’ part of the pie and top with cheese. Turn your oven on broil and pop the pie back in the oven. Let the cheese get to the desired level of bubbly, brown-ness, remove and let cool a bit.

Top with the chopped veggies** and serve…

*We have a new range (pardon the fingerprints…and me). It’s a convection oven with gas heat–so my timing may be off on this, if you have a different type of range. I’d be interested in hearing anyone else’s results…

**I made a boo-boo and threw all the lettuce on the top and then cut it into slices. Now we’ll be eating cold meatza tomorrow, as re-heated, wilted lettuce isn’t that appealing to me.


Comments

13 responses to “Tex Mex Meatza”

  1. Welcome back!

  2. Totally missed you guys!! Loving the new stove. Keep those recipes coming!

  3. Well this looks ridiculously good. Of course. When does your food not look good! I need to invest in a cast iron skillet. So excited you guys are back. Wish I could be creepy and peak in on your new kitchen. But that would be weird. And expensive, since I would have to fly out there. Hope you guys are doing great!!

  4. Rosemary

    After you bakes the meat crust how do you handle the fat that is pooled in the skillet? I’ve read so much about Meetzas I want to try one.

  5. Georgette

    I’ve made something similar before but to the meat I added chili powder, S&P, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika and smoked chipotle powder. My kids love it.

  6. YUM! Why haven’t I ever done this???

  7. …and sorry to hear about your freezer issue πŸ™

  8. thanks kristina. sh*t happens, i guess…

  9. Megan- Tried this last night and loved it. I’m going to experiment with some different toppings and seasonings in the meat but excellent idea for using the meat as a “crust”!

  10. Looks awesome!

    I’m gonna try it on the guys at the firehouse tomorrow. I bet we’ll all love it… meat-yum!

    Rob

  11. […] 11.07.28 Tex Mex Meatza […]

  12. Just found your website after searching for “Gourmet Paleo”! Ok… so I’m new to Paleo. Has anyone tried this recipe without the cheese or is there some sort of “Paleo cheese” I haven’t discovered? Thanks!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.