Leftover Corner: Meat Sauce to Pizza-dillas

Since my last blog post, my rustic tomato sauce has undergone an evolution. Basically, I turned it into a meat sauce by cooking up a pound of ground turkey and mixing it in. Now, that's all well and good, but not particularly tricky. I was, however, getting tired of the usual pasta iterations and tried to brainstorm a few new uses for my sauce.

Since my meat sauce usually winds up being more meat than sauce (It just happens that way; I think it's a character flaw of mine) it seemed to lend itself to less saucy applications. I looked through my refrigerator for additional inspiration, finding tortillas, shredded Mexican cheese, and little else.

That's when it occurred to me to marry food genres and create the Mex-Italian Pizza-dilla! (patent pending)

Ingredients:
Leftover Meat Sauce
1 Large Tortilla
Shredded Mexican Cheese
Olive Oil

Steps/Analysis:
First, brush a thin layer of olive oil on one side of the tortilla. Sprinkle on some salt if desired. Place the tortilla directly onto the top rack of a 375 degree oven. Let it crisp up a bit so that it will bear the weight of a substantial sauce. That should take between 5 and 10 minutes, but don't take your eyes off of it!

In the meantime, heat up the meat sauce on the stove top over low heat. You want it hot enough so that the cheese will melt on top of it.

When your tortilla is ready, spoon on a healthy amount of meat sauce, leaving some room around the edge. Sprinkle cheese over top and allow to melt.

Once melty and delicious, cut your pizza-dilla into quarters. I wouldn't recommend slicing it any thinner or the tortilla may not be able to support it's own weight.

Serving/Notes:
The Mex-Italian Pizza-dilla is quite the tasty culinary mutation. A fork is definitely a necessary accompaniment, though. Think of it as a life preserver in case you find yourself floating in a see of marinara.