Pizza puttanesca with smoked tomato sauce

Pizza was born in Italy and traditionally, it is cooked in a wood-burning oven. This is pizza the Raichlen way, cooked directly on the grill. The crust is crisp, the tomato sauce is smoky, and there’s a touch of heat.

Grilled pizza. Credit: Project Fire

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  35 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• ½ batch Basic Pizza Dough (recipe here) or your favourite pre-made dough (200-225 g / 7-8 oz, enough for 2 pizzas), rolled into 2 balls of equal size
• 3 cups Smoked Tomato Sauce (see below), or your favourite tomato sauce
• ⅓ cup pitted kalamata or other flavorful black olives
• ¼ cup drained capers
• 3 tsp dried hot red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1-2 diced jalapenos, red or green, diced (optional)
• 8 oil-packed anchovies, drained (optional)
• 2 tsp dried oregano flakes
• 85 g (3 oz) chunk of Pecorino Romano cheese, shaved or grated
• Extra virgin olive oil

Smoked tomato sauce

• 4 luscious ripe red tomatoes, cut in half widthwise
• ½ green capsicum (bell pepper) or poblano chilli (optional)
• 1 small onion, cut into 6 wedges
• 1 clove garlic or 1 shallot, peeled
• 1 stalk celery, washed, strings removed (optional)
• Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tsp tomato paste
• ¼ cup dry vermouth
• 6 basil leaves, thinly sliced (slivered)
• 2 sage leaves, thinly sliced (slivered) (or more basil)
• 1 tsp sugar, or to taste (optional)

If making the sauce, you will need hardwood chunks or chips for smoking (if using the latter, soak in water to cover for 30 minutes, then drain).

Instructions

1. For the sauce: Set up your grill for indirect grilling and heat to medium.
2. Arrange the tomatoes, capsicum or chilli, onion, garlic and celery in a large aluminum foil pan. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
3. Place the vegetables in their pan on the grill away from the heat. Add the wood chunks or chips. Smoke the veggies until the tomatoes are soft and smoky, 15 minutes. Note: you can also smoke the veggies low and slow in a smoker. This will take 40 to 60 minutes at 120°C (250°F).
4. Let the vegetables cool, then transfer to a cutting board. Some people like to remove the tomato skins – I don’t bother. Finely chop the capsicum or chilli (discard the core and seeds of the chilli, if using), onion, garlic and celery.
5. Heat 1½ tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the onions, capsicum or chilli, garlic, and celery and cook over medium-high heat until golden brown, 3 minutes. Add the tomato paste and fry until fragrant, 1 minute. Stir in the vermouth and boil until mostly evaporated, 1 minute.
6. Chop the tomatoes and add to the pan with their juices and the basil and sage and stir to combine. Gently simmer the sauce until richly flavored, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the sugar if you’d like to the sauce to be a little sweeter. Correct the seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste: the tomato sauce should be highly seasoned. For a smoother sauce, puree before using.
7. Form the pizza crust: Generously oil a rimless or low-sided sheet pan with olive oil. Put one of the dough balls on the pan (turn it a couple times to oil all sides). Oil your hands and stretch the dough into a rectangle about 23 cm x 38 cm (9 in x 15 inches) or an irregular shape.
8. Direct grill the pizza: Heat one side of your grill to medium-high. The other side should be set to medium or low. Brush or scrape the grill grate clean and oil it very well.
9. Carefully lift the pizza off the sheet pan by one side and drape it onto the grate over the hot part of the grill. Grill until the bottom of the crust is browned and blistered and the top starts to bubble, 2 to 4 minutes. Move the pizza around a few so it browns evenly.
10. Using tongs and a spatula, turn the crust over, moving it to the cooler part of the grill. Ladle some of the smoked tomato sauce on top, followed by half of the other toppings (including the cheese). Slide the pizza back over the hotter part of the grill. Lower the grill lid to hold in the heat. Continue grilling the pizza until the toppings are cooked (any cheese in the topping will be melted), 2 to 4 minutes more. If you have one, use a pizza peel or a rimless sheet pan to transfer the pizza to a cutting board. Cut into serving pieces.
11. Repeat with the remaining pizza.

Note

Sauce recipe makes 3½-4 cups. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight jar or container in the fridge for several days.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.