my mother hates cilantro

.... but i love it!
i'm going to start posting recipes i use so i can keep a log of it! im making this tonight for dinner!


Cilantro Chili Pizza, ala Cafe Pesto

Preheat the oven to 500F, preferable with a pizza stone on the middle shelf. Allow the oven to heat 30 minutes or more.

Meanwhile, prep your favorite pizza dough. If using refrigerated pizza dough, allow it to come to room temperature before shaping. Preparation of the pesto and chili sauces can be accomplished in the time it takes for the pizza dough to rest:


Cilantro Pesto

This recipe makes more pesto than needed for pizza. Use the leftovers as a marinade for grilling, or go crazy making this pizza for all of your friends.

In a food processor or blender combine:

1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves
1 cup of cilantro leaves, stems and roots
1 Tbs of ground pepper
1 tsp of salt
with enough canola or olive oil to help grind the ingredients into a paste
Store in the refrigerator or freezer with a slight film of oil on the pesto surface to help maintain the bright green color.


Sweet Hot Garlic Sauce

This is my number one favorite ingredient, to always be found in my refrigerator. It is excellent paired with fried crispy foods, grilled meats, drizzled on curries, and on top of this pizza. Fortunately this tasty sauce is becoming increasingly common in grocery stores, often called Nahm Jeem Gratiem, or Tuong Ot Ngot.

In a sauce pan combine

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vinegar
2 Tbs minced garlic
1 tsp salt
Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low, simmering to reduce and thicken to a syrupy sauce approximately 20 minutes or more. When thickened, stir in 1 Tbs of chili garlic sauce and allow to cool to room temperture. Store in the refrigerator.


Shape your pizza dough in the size you want, stretching it out thin with your fingers and hands. Place it on a piece of waxed paper, trimmed to match the foot print of the pizza dough shape and transfer the dough to a pizza peel for easy sliding onto the pizza stone.

Spread several tablespoons of the cilantro pesto on the surface of the dough. Sprinkle with a slight pinch of salt. Continue to top the pizza with chopped sundried tomatoes,red onion slices and chopped red bell pepper.

Slide the pizza onto your hot pizza stone and cook until the bottom is crusty brown, approximately 5-8 minutes.

Immediately top the pizza with crumbled goat cheese upon removing it from the oven. And lastly, the most important step, drizzle the pizza with Sweet Hot Garlic Sauce.