So given that Burrito Radar comes from a love of Mexican food in the US, sometimes cooking is required to get certain Mexican items in the UK. Along those lines, the “Radar@Home” entries are going to track efforts to replicate well known Mexican food items at home here in the UK. Given that I don’t have any real culinary experience, these entries are rather in exact and should be treated more as a guide about difficulty than a specific ‘how to’ recipe.

For the first ‘Radar@Home’ we’ve chosen a rather unauthentic but widely known Mexican dish, Taco Bell’s Mexican pizza. By definition, pizza is entirely Italian, but Taco Bell has offered a Mexican variety in the US for many years. Utilizing two crispy tortilla bases, with beans & beef in between, the Mexican pizza creates a platform for sauce and cheese. The traditional Mexican pizza has always had some short comings for me, as I dislike pinto beans, so we’ve modified the structure slightly.

For our Mexican Pizza, we’ve gone with a purely beef base, sandwiched between two soft shell tortillas that bake to a firmness during cooking. Our modified toppings include cheese, salsa, diced peppers (green, yellow, red, roquette & jalapeno), a dollop of guacamole  & onions.

As our culinary adventure begins, we obtained all the ingredients from a local corner Sainsbury, showing that, in theory, the Mexican pizza can be easily made with little trouble to get ingredients. Our exact ingredient includes: Old EL Paso Nachos, ‘Be Good’ Guacamole, Discovery Spice & Con Carne seasoning, Sainsbury pepper & chili assortments, medium strength onions, Discovery tortillas, ground mince & shredded mozzarella cheese. While some ingredients are only partially used, these stock a complete assortment for making our pizza.The ingredients came to a total of £21, but as the food is being used to make 3 pizzas, as well as other meals, it is pretty cost effective.

Starting off, we dice our peppers, chilis & onions on a cutting board while pre-heating a large pan on the stove (set to medium heat). Once the pan is hot enough, we brown the ground beef until moderately cooked. Then add a portion of the peppers, spices, onions & chilis to the browned beef, using a spoon or spatula to stir the beef & veg.

While the stove is still browning the beef, take out the Discovery tortilla shells and, after getting two for each pizza you want to make, brush olive oil lightly on both sides of the tortilla. This will allow for it to become crispy once we place it in the oven later on. Pay special attention to the outer parts of the tortilla, as these need to be crispy enough to hold up the top layer. As the olive oil is being applied, preheat the oven to 175 degrees.

Using aluminum foil as a base tray, place one tortilla on the foil and put ground beef on the around the shell. Make sure to push the beef down and compact it using a spatula or spoon, as this provides a stable base for the top layer. Once the beef is compressed, place the top tortilla shell on and proceed to spread salsa around evenly using a spoon. Afterwards, liberally place cheese and the subsequent toppings on the pizza. Once the oven is pre-heated, place in the pizza, allowing for a cooking time of 8-12 minutes. Cooking time can vary, but the goal is to make sure that the shells have hardened enough to support the pizza as it is cut up. Once the pizza is out of the oven, we can finish it off by placing a dollop of guacamole in the center.

Trying one of the 3 versions of the pizza that was made, I found a varying degree of success. A longer cooking time is definitely necessary, as the crispier the shell becomes, the easier the pizza is to eat. Rating the pizza on the normal Burrito Radar scale places it between a 2 & 3 with work on crispiness and ease of eating as areas of improvement. Comparing it to the original Taco Bell product, it seems that the current recipe misses the mark a bit. However, given that this Mexican pizza might be the only option in the UK (outside of the one current TB location in Lakeside Shopping Centre), it may warrant a repeat attempt.

If you fancy trying to make the Mexican Pizza, email the radar and let me know us know how it turned out. We’ll put it down here and update with any tips or advice you found!