Elote Pizza

“My wife is Mexican, so I created the Elote pizza as a tribute to her and her heritage,” Uditi says. “I love that this pizza balances the smoky heat of chipotle in adobo with sweet corn and the salinity of fresh feta. While it’s an unexpected combination, to me it’s the perfect marriage of flavors.”

This recipe and others like it can be found in the article “This Is the Secret to Creating Perfect Neapolitan Pizza at Home,” and also in “Drink the Issue: Sunset Wine Club’s Perfect Pairings from the 2022 Travel Issue.”

Ranchero Sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced

1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

¼ tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 chipotle pepper from a can of chipotles in adobo

Chipotle Mayo

1 cup mayonnaise

2 chipotle peppers from chipotles in adobo

¼ cup loosely packed cilantro leaves

juice of 2 limes

¼ tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Pizza

1 ear fresh sweet corn

1 tbsp semolina or all-purpose flour, for dusting surface

1 Pizza Dough ball

½ cup Ranchero Sauce

½ cup Oaxaca cheese (provolone or a dry mozzarella also works)

¼ cup Chipotle Mayo

2 tbsp cotija cheese

juice of 1 lime

8 cilantro leaves

To make the ranchero sauce, heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the bell pepper and onion and cook until soft, stirring occasionally to avoid burning, about 7–9 minutes.  

Season the bell pepper and onion with salt and pepper and add the chipotle pepper and water to the pan. Continue to cook over medium heat, bringing the water to a boil, then lower the temperature and simmer about 5 minutes, until the water has reduced by half, leaving approximately 1⁄4 cup in the pan.  

Remove mixture from heat and transfer to a blender. Blend over high speed until creamy.

To make the chipotle mayo, combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

To make the pizza, first remove corn husk and all stray corn silk. Set a gas burner on medium-high heat. Using a pair of long kitchen tongs, sear corn over the flame, being careful to rotate so as not to burn the kernels. You want the surface to be lightly charred; this will take 1–2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool before cutting the kernels from the cob with a knife. Set aside.

An hour before cooking, place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 500°F.

While the oven preheats, prepare the dough. Dust a clean countertop with flour to prevent the dough from  sticking.

To stretch the dough, start by pressing down in the center of the ball, using your fingers to flatten the center. Gently push the dough out from the center to form the crust, leaving a 1 1⁄2-inch rim around the of the pizza. Stop when the pizza is approximately 12 inches in diameter. Transfer it from the countertop to a pizza peel.

Spoon the ranchero sauce over the dough, leaving 1 1⁄2 inches from the edge. Scatter the Oaxacan cheese and the roasted corn evenly over the pizza.

Transfer the pizza from the peel to the pizza stone. Bake at 500°F for 7–9 minutes. Remove the pizza from the oven.

Add teaspoon-size dollops of chipotle mayo across the pizza. Sprinkle evenly with cotija cheese. Squeeze the lime juice over the pizza. Garnish with cilantro.

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Elote Pizza