Cast Iron Side Pizza

Just when you think you have run out of ideas/recipes and are ready to quit blogging altogether somebody gives you a iron clad reason to continue. More specifically, a cast iron skillet. What to do with this cooking relic? Could it still be useful in today's hard anodized society? Deciding to just roll with it, first things first, I had to rid it of its rust (steel wool) and season it (vegetable oil). Then I set out to find a recipe - with one catch: it had to be something for which I had all the ingredients on hand. I mean some days you just want to make do with what you have. I came across a lot of meat based dishes, but became intrigued when I hit upon pizza - especially since I had dough, sauce (pasta sauce, I never use pizza sauce), mozzarella cheese and some smoky ham at the ready. The hard part was transferring the prepared dough into the heated pan without losing too many toppings. Otherwise, it was pretty good, a little like a deep dish pizza appetizer and better than anything made at home in a conventional oven. I guess I'm going to sit back, relax, stop worrying and learn to love the blog.

Cut down by a sniper's bullet and condemned to life in a wheelchair, all the while fighting crime by the seat of his pants, retired San Francisco PD Chief, Robert Ironside (Raymond Burr of Perry Mason fame). lives up to his name. The series, Ironside, aired on NBC from 1967-75 featured a not-so mod  squad band of crime fighters. Burr, along side a straight-laced cop, a pretty blond socialite turned police woman and a reformed ex-con as his wheel man do their best to clean up the streets of San Francisco in a customized Econline van all set to groovy theme music by Quincy Jones. Proving that you can't keep a good man down, Ironside always cracked the case (with a guest star roster that included the likes of Harrison Ford, Robert Reed, Bill Bixby, Jack Lord, Norman Fell, Jodie Foster, Ricardo Montalbán,Gavin MacLeod, Burgess Meredith,Bruce Lee, and Ellen Corby) and rolled along for eight seasons as quite possibly the first major TV character with a disability.

The Recipe:

16 ounce pizza dough
cheese (mozzarella, fontina, gouda, whatever you have)
veg or meat toppings (or both)
sauce

Special Equipment: well-seasoned 10 in cast iron skillet

Pre-heat broiler on high. Heat the skillet on high for ten minutes. Meanwhile, on a well-floured surface, stretch out the dough, add sauce, cheese and toppings. When pan is hot (turn heat down a bit if pan begins to smoke) slide pizza in, being very careful as the handle will be HOT! Cook for one minute, then transfer pan to oven and broil 30 seconds. Turn 180 degrees and broil another 30 seconds. Remove from oven and transfer to a cutting board. I think you can do the rest.