Dish of the Week: Mexican Meat-zza (Deep Dish Pan Pizza)

This weeks dish, Mexican Meat-zza, I found by accident on the Food Network's website. I was trying to decide what to make for dinner and found some ground beef in my freezer that needed to be used. I typed "ground beef" into the search engine and clicked on Rachael Ray, to narrow my search down. This was the first one on the list and since we love Mexican here, I decided to try it out.

Ingredients:
2 boxes corn muffin mix, 8 1/2 ounces each (recommended: Jiffy)
2 eggs
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup frozen corn kernels
Extra-virgin olive oil or, vegetable oil, for drizzling

Topping:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin or vegetable oil, 2 turns of the pan
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons cayenne sauce
Salt
2 1/2 cups (10-ounce sack from dairy aisle) shredded Cheddar or jack cheese
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 small can, 2 1/4 ounces sliced chillies or jalapenos, drained
2 scallions, chopped
2 small vine ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons drained sliced green olives (salad olives)
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves, optional garnish
Mild to medium taco sauce to pass at table, 1 cup

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix together 2 packages muffin mix with 2 eggs, 4 tablespoons melted butter (melt in microwave 30 seconds), 1 1/2 cups milk and frozen corn kernels. Wipe a nonstick skillet with a little extra or vegetable oil and pour in the muffin mix. Use a large skillet, 10 to 12 inch. Choose a pan with oven safe handle or, double-wrap handle with foil to protect it in the oven. Place pan in oven and bake 12 to 15 minutes in center of the oven until light golden in color.

Brown the meat over medium high heat in a second skillet in extra or vegetable oil, 2 turns of the pan. Add onions and spices and cook meat 5 minutes more.

Remove cornbread from oven and top with meat, cheese, and veggies. Add pan back to oven and cook 5 minutes more to melt cheese. Garnish with cilantro, optional. Cut into 8 wedges and serve the deep dish pan pizza from the skillet. Pass taco sauce at the table to sprinkle on top.

The Verdict:
This dish was a winner! I say this because I watched David gobble up his dinner, which he never does! The Doc enjoyed it too, except for the olives. Next time I'll omit them, since even though I like them, I didn't fell like they added anything to this dish. He also thought the cornbread crust was too thick. I used my Pampered Chef deep dish stoneware baker and the two packages of cornbread pretty much filled it to the top. There was not much room left for the toppings, so next time I will use one package of corn bread mix.

Give this one a try because it's a really easy dish to make and it's really, really yummy!