Nacho Bread Pizza

Tonight The Neighbor Wife offered to come help me work on the dining room, and I certainly wasn’t going to say no to that. We’re having a small get-together on Saturday and my goal was to get the dining room finished by then. I’m not sure I’m going to make it, but I’ll be close.

So that being said, I wanted to keep dinner simple. I turned to a tried-and-true this time, going with Rachael Ray’s Nacho Bread Pizza. Incredibly messy, so much so that she recommends eating it over a plate or the kitchen sink, but like most of her recipes, easy to pull together, healthy and tasty to boot. Even though Nicholas likes all the pieces of this separately, he still refuses to even try it. Kids.

P.S. Major improvement picture-wise over the last time I made this.

Nacho Bread Pizzas
Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

1 loaf baguette or semolina bread, day old is fine
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped or 1 pickled hot pepper of any kind, chopped (I skip)
1 (15-ounce) can black beans
2 teaspoons hot sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
Salt and pepper
1 cup prepared salsa, any variety
2 cups shredded Cheddar, smoked Cheddar, Monterey Jack or pepper Jack
1 heart romaine or 1/2 iceberg head, shredded
1/2 cup green olives with or without pimiento, chopped
1/4 red onion or 2 to 3 scallions, chopped
2 plum or vine tomatoes, seeded and diced

Split bread lengthwise. Hollow the bread out and cut each half in half across, making 4 boats. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat a small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add oil, 1 turn of the pan, garlic and hot peppers. Drain beans. Add half of the beans then mash the remainder of the beans in the can using a fork. Add mashed beans to the pan and combine with whole beans. Season beans with hot sauce, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. When the spicy beans are hot through, spread them evenly across all of the bread. Top with salsa and liberally sprinkle with cheese, covering bread to all edges. The boats will only be half-full. Melt cheese in the oven until it bubbles and begins to brown.

Top Nacho Bread Pizzas with lettuce, olives, onions and tomatoes and serve. You can pick it up with your hands, but eat over the plate (or the kitchen sink, like me).

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