Tortizzas

Tortizzas
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Total Time
15 minutes
Rating
4(862)
Notes
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Inspired by California Pizza Kitchen’s now-discontinued Greek pizza, as well as the Manhattan bar Our/New York’s also-discontinued tortilla pizzas (affectionately called “tortizzas” by the patrons who remember them), this quick lunch or light dinner builds on a sturdy base of crispy, cheesy flour tortillas. A fresh mix of cucumbers, tomatoes and avocado, mounded atop the tortillas, makes you feel like you’re eating a salad with your hands. Feta delivers sharpness and creaminess, as does the simple garlicky yogurt sauce that drapes each tortizza. A drizzle of honey at the end might sound out of place here, but it really brings together all the flavors, and is a popular dipping sauce for pizza in South Korea.

Featured in: Say Hello to the Tortizza, a Dinner Life Raft

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 3 to 4Persian or mini seedless cucumbers, scrubbed and cut into ½-inch dice (about 2 cups)
  • 2ripe medium tomatoes, cut into ½-inch dice (about 2 cups)
  • teaspoons kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)
  • 8(6-inch) soft flour tortillas
  • 2cups shredded low-moisture mozzarella
  • 2teaspoons dried oregano, za’atar or Italian seasoning
  • 1cup plain yogurt
  • 1large garlic clove, finely grated
  • 1tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 2teaspoons honey, plus more for drizzling
  • 1cup crumbled feta
  • 1ripe Hass avocado, halved and thinly sliced
  • ½cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves and tender stems
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

715 calories; 38 grams fat; 16 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 15 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 68 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams dietary fiber; 12 grams sugars; 30 grams protein; 1468 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and heat oven to 400 degrees. Line two large sheet pans with parchment paper.

  2. Step 2

    Toss the cucumbers, tomatoes and ½ teaspoon salt in a colander set in the sink and toss to combine. Let sit to drain excess liquid, about 10 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Meanwhile, arrange the tortillas on the sheet pans, four per pan, and sprinkle each with the mozzarella and dried oregano. Bake until the cheese is melted and lightly browned, and the tortillas’ edges are crispy but still pale, 8 to 10 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    While the tortillas are baking, make the yogurt sauce: In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, honey and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt.

  5. Step 5

    To serve, evenly divide the drained cucumbers and tomatoes among the tortillas. Top each with feta, avocado and parsley, and spoon the yogurt sauce over everything, leaving some back to serve on the side. As a final flourish, lightly drizzle the tortizzas with honey. You can eat these flat like mini pizzas or folded like tacos.

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4 out of 5
862 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

You can also turn flour tortillas into dessert. Jacques Pepin has a really simple recipe: butter and sugar on a flour tortilla. Put it butter side down on a silicone mat, put canned apricots on top. Roast in oven 25 mins. He calls it “apricot galette”.

I suggest "hot" honey. I heat up honey and add sliced jalapeno and then strain it. It is great on this and grilled pizza.

Now I want to make shrimp ceviche for a tortizza topping.

We make our alternative "pizzas" with naan. The frozen naan works great, just heat it up in a pan to brown on both sides, top it as you like, and bake it as above. Unlike a tortilla, it won't be crisp, but it will have a great chew similar to a pizza crust.

Replying to CK: From Pépin's book "More Fast Food my way". 1 7" flour tortilla 1 1/2 TBS soft butter 1 1/2 TBS sugar 1 can apricot halves in syrup 1 TBS crushed hazelnuts 400 degrees oven. Spread HALF the butter, sprinkle half the sugar on one side of tortilla. Put it butter side down on mat. Drain apricots, arrange them hollow side up on unbuttered side, put remaining butter/sugar on apricots, bake 25 mins. Reduce apricot syrup to make glaze, pour glaze on top, sprinkle with nuts. Easy + Good!

Mix some honey and siracha sauce for "hot honey" sauce. Easier than straining after adding jalapeno peppers.

Flour tortillas can also be brushed lightly with oil, cut into 6-8 wedges, dusted with cinnamon sugar and baked at 350 for about 6-10 minutes for a super quick "cookie".

This was so easy and good! I had zucchini, squash & fairytale eggplant so instead of cucumber I diced and sauteed them up with a little olive oil and garlic and then mixed that with the tomatoes for the topping. I imagine you can use just about any veggie!

In response to Shelley and Ann: End of third paragraph: "Though you can use corn tortillas for this dish, the moisture in flour tortillas will cause them to puff up in spots once baked in a hot oven, and those bites are the most fun to eat." So yes, but.

Also great with naan bread or pita bread.

Made these last night and they are delicious! I used bigger tortillas, one for each of us. I basically made the same amount of tomato/cucumber mix and yogurt mix that it called for 4 servings. I did accidentally add the feta to the yogurt mix and it was fine. We did not have parsley and did not add the honey at the end. And I used white cheddar instead of mozzarella.

Many moons ago Gourmet magazine had a Greek tortilla pizza which, if you took the time to assemble a few, quickly baked later and were delicious. You would lightly brush with butter, then sprinkle with Parmesan 3 tortillas for each pizza, pressing down a little on each layer. Top with wilted spinach, s&p, red onion, oregano, mint and feta. Drizzle with olive oil, bake til crisp and cut into wedges. Yum.

I’ve made pizza out of flour tortillas for at least 35 years. Usually with a tomato meat sauce, mozzarella cheese and a dusting of parm. Various toppings other times.

Oven temp??? Drain the fruit???

Year’s ago recipes appeared in Martha Stewart’s Everyday Foods that are very similar. I’ve been making them for years.

We have this regularly for supper but add shredded meat from a rotisserie chicken. It’s a good meal to have my teens learn to make.

In my 20's I was a strict vegetarian. Now in my 50's, revisiting the merits of more seriously limiting animal proteins, except now I have a partner I am trying to get on board with more vegetarian meals. This dish is perfect and we used whole wheat flour tortillas. Perfect mix of savory ingredients-- healthy vegetables, the satisfaction of cheese and the yogurt sauce provided a perfect way to tie it all together. I think my husband was as satisfied as if we ordered a meat-laden pizza. Perfect.

We love this, a perfect appetizer. Sometimes we take it south of the border, deleting the italian seasoning and add a bit of cumin, cilantro and lime juice. We use whatever we have on hand, black beans, grilled shrimp, anything that sounds good.

When you have no patience, flour tortillas make a great pizza crust. Top the tortilla with sauce, cheese, and your favorite ingredients. Bake at 425°F for 10 - 12 minutes or until the tortilla is crisp and the cheese is melted. I learned to make these in college. No, these aren't authentic and tortillas don't have the yeast flavor of pizza crust. But, they're fast.

This was excellent! My husband can’t eat avocado so I roasted 1/4 “ diced eggplant for the same umami and “ballast.” What a great idea to melt the mozzarella on the tortillas as a base for the toppings. Definitely a keeper.

I made the NYT recipe for Greek Chicken with Cucumber & Feta salad into a Greek Tortizza. Basically, I added some of the chicken (sliced) and Kalamata olives to the Tortizza recipe.

Delicious! I had some leftover grilled chicken that I warmed in the over, and sliced a few small pieces on top for a non-vegetarian option.

These look amazing. How would they be with a little bit of sliced red onion?

I made this exactly to the recipe and found it way too salty. I did a calculation based on all the added salt in the tortillas, feta, mozzarella, and yogurt, plus the 1 and a half teaspoons of salt listed. I came up with just under 7000 mg. Divide that by 8 and you get 875 mg per serving. Just too much salt.

Were you using Diamond Crystal salt? There is a significant difference in the intensity vs. Morton or other salts.

This was a good family weeknight recipe. Our toddler, as well as ourselves loved it. It was simple, but had a fresh, elevated taste with the toppings and sauce. Notes for next time: Liked using Cassava tortillas (it's all we had, but got nicely crisped); put some refried beans on at the same time as the cheese (for our toddler, but we liked it, too); could 1/2 the yogurt part of the recipe (made too much); added red onion as an additional topping. We'll make it again.

I ate 3. I loved the first one. The second and third were strange. Not sure if I'll make this again or not. Odd flavor combo.

These were easy and pretty good. One thing to note - the sauce doesn't keep - you need to make a new batch if you want to have these two nights in a row.

I made with corn tortillas and they were great. To avoid difficulty eating them, I sprayed with (avocado) oil and got them super crispy. 10 minutes at 400, wasn’t enough-added 2 minutes under broiler. I would definitely add a protein next time, as well as leave out the honey.

This was ridiculously good. I ended up omitting the avocado since I didn't have any, but I didn't feel it was missed. I sprinkled zaatar on top at the end which was a nice touch. I think you could also add chopped grilled chicken on there and it would be kind of like a gyro.

I just made this with home made tortillas (Peter Reign art's recipe from his book Crust and Crumb). I though it was good. But the raw garlic lends an almost hot flavor. Next time I am going to saute the garlic before I add it.

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