Blacksmith Pizza

Many, many years ago before Maisie and even before Eammon, I remember visiting right around Christmas time (because it was wicked cold up in Massachusetts) with my Blacksmith friend George Martell and his family.  George made a wonderful dinner of grilled pizzas and I fell head-over-heels in love with them and dubbed them Blacksmith pizzas in his honor.  Grilled pizzas in this country are said to have started at Al Forno restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island and while I have enjoyed them there many, many times, I honestly like my own better as I tailor them to whatever flavor profile strikes my fancy.  I have been making these pizzas ever since George introduced me to them and they really are quite easy to make.  Because a lot of the preparation can be done in advance and because they are individual portions that can be customized, they are perfect for when we entertain or have guests, both those who love and are willing to try anything as well as those that are fussy with their food.

Maisie adores Blacksmith pizza and this day she was eating one with tomato sauce and because it’s what I had on hand, Fiesta blend cheese. (That’s why it looks so orange)

One pound of pizza dough (homemade or store bought) portioned and rolled into eight balls.  Place a few tablespoons of olive oil in a 9x13-inch baking dish,.  Make sure to roll each ball of dough around in the oil to coat it completely.  Cover the dish with plastic wrap and then a dish towel and place in a warm area allowing the dough to rise.

Once the dough has risen, working one dough ball at a time, gently separate a dough ball and roll it in the excess oil in the bottom of the dish to coat and then with your hands, gently spread and flatten the pizza dough into an 8-inch free form circle or what ever shape it turns into.  I make sure that there is a good amount of oil on my dough so I just stack my flattened dough one on top of another on a plate.

Have your grill blazing hot and quickly place your flattened dough on the grill.  Cover and cook for 30-45 seconds, just until the dough starts to bubble and the raw sheen of the dough disappears.  You will only be cooking one side of the dough at this time so remove the dough to a plate with the cooked side up.

Dough fresh from the grill with the one cooked side up.  At this point you can either continue making your pizzas or cool the half cooked dough and place in a zipper bag in the refrigerator for later use.  The partially cooked dough will stay for up to a week.

If you’ve refrigerated the partially cooked dough, bring it to room temperature before continuing.  To finish the pizzas, place the partially cooked dough raw side down and to the cooked side add your favorite toppings.  The pizza will only be on the grill for a minute or less to finish the cooking process so the pizza can’t be loaded down with toppings and all meats need to be cooked completely before putting them on the pizza along with any veggies that you may want cooked.  I often cook pepperoni and roast or sauté veggies such as peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes and mushrooms to use as toppings.  If you’re making these pizzas for a party you can have all your cooked and raw toppings as well as cheese set out as a pizza buffet and have each person customize their pizza.

Once you’ve added your favorite toppings, gently but quickly transfer your pizzas to an extremely hot grill.  I find using my favorite tongs and a spatula works the best for this process. 

Close the lid on the grill and cook for 30-60 seconds just until the once raw bottom is cooked and crispy and the cheese has melted. 

What’s great about these pizzas is that you can really use whatever you have on hand which was what happened this time as I didn’t plan so I hadn’t picked up a lot of our usual toppings.  This tray contains pizzas for Maisie and I.  Mine are in the top row and have a light coating of Roasted Garlic Onion Jam, very thinly sliced prosciutto and a light sprinkle of Fiesta blend cheese.  Maisie likes basic pizza so I reduced the juice from a can of fire roasted tomatoes (I used the tomatoes on Eammon's pizza) until it was thickened enough to spread on the dough and then Maisie topped her pizzas with a good amount of the Fiesta blend cheese. 

This tray was Eammon’s with all his pizzas being topped with Roasted Garlic Onion Jam, some very thinly sliced prosciutto and a light sprinkle of Fiesta blend cheese.  The top row pizzas also have the drained diced fire roasted tomatoes, thinly slice red, orange & yellow sweet peppers and diced Vidalia onion.  Because I was leaving the veggies raw I made sure to cut them very thin.

Maisie gives Blacksmith pizza a big thumbs up…as do Eammon and I.  Give them a try, they’re easy and pretty darn awesome.

Here’s some food p@rn of the grilled pizzas that I’ve blogged about in the past.Maisie’s favorite, tomato sauce and cheese.

My all time favorite pizza...Ever!  Roasted Garlic Onion Jam, figs picked fresh off my neighbor's tree (with their permission of course) and goat cheese.

One of my longtime go-to pizzas, pesto, caramelized onions, goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes.

Eammon likes more ingredients and this is one of his favorites, tomato sauce, olive tapenade, caramelized onions, prosciutto, sun dried tomatoes and cheese.

The always delicious Roasted Garlic Onion Jam, prosciutto, caramelized onion and cheese

And just because I love her and think she’s stinkin’ adorable, Maisie eating her Blacksmith pizza way back in August 2009.

No real recipe, just some pizza dough, olive oil and your favorite sauces and toppings.  For planning serving sizes, Maisie and I will eat one pizza with a side or salad or maybe two pizzas by themselves.  Eammon can easily finish four pizzas as a meal. 

Enjoy!!

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