I don’t think of myself as a huge fan of fusion food, whatever that is.  I like a certain harmony in the flavors of a meal, and I think that can be harder to achieve when you bring wildly diverse cuisines onto the plate at once.  But every once in a while I go there.  And every once in a while it works.  Take this pizza.

I’ve got a constant supply of tomatillos at the moment, and after eating countless batches of our favorite tomatillo salsa I was finally ready for a change.  The kids wanted pizza, I wanted to use up a bunch of cilantro, and this pizza was born.  I loved it.

If you haven’t made this cilantro pesto yet, please consider it.  It’s an untraditional combination of flavors, but it’s just so good.  And you can even make it with just stems if you’ve got a plan for the leaves elsewhere.  And it’s great on pizza.  Just dollop it on after baking to ensure that its flavor isn’t dulled by the oven.

Tomatillo Pizza with Cilantro Pesto:  Turn your oven up as hot as it goes and put in your pizza stone, if you have one.  Roll your favorite pizza dough (I used about 1/3 whole wheat flour this time) quite thin and sprinkle with grated mozzarella.  (This first layer of cheese helps protect the crust from the moisture of the tomatillos.  You could rub a spoonful of olive oil onto the crust first, but I didn’t.)  Spread thinly-sliced tomatillos all over the pizza and top with another sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.  Wasn’t that easy?  Bake until the crust is lightly browned on the bottom (if you’re using a pizza stone; otherwise just make sure it’s crisp around the edges) and the cheese is lightly browned on the top.  Remove from the oven, drizzle with cilantro pesto, and serve.  We had this pizza with a Roasted Carrot and Avocado Salad, and it didn’t seem too fusion-y at all.