During the Ragu Brand Immersion Weekend in New York City back in September, I and the other Ragu Mom’s the Word on Dinner ambassadors were treated to a delicious lunch prepared by the Unilever chefs. We were able to try a variety of dishes, each one created specifically for Ragu using their line of sauces, all of which you can find on the Ragu website. Accompanying each dish was a recipe card; I brought home several, along with a whole lot of motivation to prepare them myself at home.

The first dish I made was Chicken Fajita Grilled Pizzas.

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 large poblano or medium green bell peppers
• 1 large red onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• 2 (12-inch) pre-baked pizza crusts
• 1 1/2 cups Ragu Old World Style Pasta Sauce
• 3 cups shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese (about 12 oz.)
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil

This pizza is meant to be grilled; the toppings, how you cook the pizza, it is all supposed to be grilled. I don’t own a grill, so I put all of the ingredients in a pan and cooked them on the stove top and then baked the pizza in the oven. This didn’t change the integrity of the pizza too much and it was still good, so if you don’t have a grill, don’t let that stop you.

When I tried a slice of this pizza at the Unilever kitchen, I really liked certain elements of it; peppers as a pizza topping is something I really enjoy and they go very well with chicken. I also liked how the pizza crust was just crispy enough where you hold the slice, but still soft everywhere else. I have very sensitive teeth so I don’t do well with very crispy pizza crust, or very crispy anything for that matter. What I didn’t like about this pizza originally was the amount of onion it was topped with. Generally, I don’t like the taste of onion, and while I can appreciate it as a very subtle, barely there flavor mixed into something else, eating chunks of it isn’t appetizing to me. So, when I made this pizza at home, I omitted most of the onion and used a very small amount just to add to the flavors of the chicken and peppers.

I coated the chicken, green bell peppers, and onions with 2 tbsp. of vegetable oil and cooked them on top of the stove. While they were cooking, I put the pre-baked pizza crust in the oven at 375° just until it was a light golden brown.

I decided to use a packaged crust instead of taking the enormous risk of making my own dough or attempting to evenly roll out a ball of pre-packaged dough. The way I see it, if your skills in the kitchen aren’t that great to begin with, don’t give yourself more room to make mistakes that could very well ruin your entire meal.

After the crust was brown and the toppings were finished cooking, I added them to the pizza that had already been spread with Ragu Old World Style Pasta Sauce.

Next, I added 1 1/2 cups of shredded Monterey Jack cheese to half of the pizza. On the other half, I added 1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese. This was my own addition as the original Ragu recipe calls for 3 cups of Monterey Jack cheese, but I like mozzarella more on my pizza, so I went with half of the pizza being made to the Ragu recipe and the other half being more of what I know I like. You can feel free to use whichever cheese you enjoy most.

Still heated to 375°, I put the pizza back in the oven. I don’t know how long it was in there exactly, but it was done once the cheese was melted completely.

The pizza came out great, and not just because it was the first pizza I made on my own. My omission of most of the onion and addition of mozzarella cheese were good decisions for me and it was fun being able to take this recipe and make a little more my own.

This post was created in connection with my appointment as an Ambassador in the Ragú® Mom’s the Word on Dinner Program. Visit www.facebook.com/ragusauce to join the conversation.