Week #3: Arizona - Sausage & Avocado Pizza

Arizona Sausage & Avocado Pizza

State:  Arizona

I have never been to Arizona.  Shocker right?  Lol.  My idea of what the culture like is only based upon what I find after doing a Google search.  After researching Arizona, I found out a lot about the traditions and cultures of the state.  There is a large Mexican-American cooking tradition within the state and I wanted to focus in on these culinary cooking styles.  This pizza came out pretty good, but I would make an adjustment to the recipe for the next time.  See the learning moment's section. 

Ingredients Needed:
1 crust - store bought or from scratch
1 cup of refried beans - pre-made or from scratch
1 smoked sausage
1 chorizo sausage
1 avocado - sliced 
1 tbsp lime juice
1 cup of corn
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese or desired amount

Sauce:
1 tsp of cumin
1 tbsp of chopped cilantro
pepper and salt to taste
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp of cayenne, jalapeno, or red pepper
1 small can of sauce

Sauce:
For the pizza sauce, I made a tangy Mexican style sauce.  Mix the can of sauce, with the spices, lime juice, and cilantro.  Mix together and add salt/pepper to taste.  

Refried Beans:
In order to make the beans smooth, I added butter and milk to make a sauce like consistency.  Cook over low to medium heat in order to make the consistency.  

Meat:
Grill or cook sausages in oven at 400 degrees until temperature is 190 for pork.  I usually get them to 200 and then take them out of the oven.  Take out of oven and allow to cool.   Cut southern sausage into slices and cut the chorizo until little pieces, like ground beef.  

Pre-made crust from Publix

Pizza:
Preheat oven.  Coat pizza with tomato sauce until it covers the whole pizza.  Next, coat the pizza with the refried beans.  Then, add the sausage evenly along the pizza to ensure every slice has equal portions of meat.  Add the slices of avocado to the pizza and add the corn.  Again, space out to ensure that there are equal parts on the pizza.  Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes (depending on the crust) at 415.   Take out and allow pizza to cool before cutting/eating.  

Pairing:
When pairing wine or beer, I would do something to counter the taste of the beans and cheese.  I great Cervesa would be Sol, Pacifico, or a pale ale.  I would go with a light wine as well for the pizza.  


Learning Moments:  
Okay, so this is the first time I ever added refried beans or avocado to the pizza.  I learned that avocado does not cook that well in the oven for long periods of time and will get mushy.  I would continue to make the pizza as described above, but add the avocado on at the end after you take it out of the oven.  Maybe even making it little pieces of avocado, because I felt it was too much.  Overall, this pizza was pretty good, but the cooked avocado didn't help enrich the taste.  I may redo this again and make it an enchilada style sauce instead.