Irish Pizza
Irish Pizza
There's really no such thing as Irish pizza, of course — not in any traditional sense, at least. The historic Kitchen Bar in Belfast does serve what they've dubbed "Paddy Pizza", ham or chicken and sliced tomatoes on a soda bread crust with Irish Cheddar melted on top, however, and in the late 1980s, Bernadette O'Shea introduced Sligo to real Mediterranean-style pizza at her Truffles restaurant, and later developed a pizza topped with black pudding (Irish blood sausage) and leeks. The pizza created by this recipe, which is my invention, might be said to be the illegitimate spawn of those two preparations.
For 7 Cheesy Ways to Enjoy Irish Cheddar.
Servings
2
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon butter, preferably irish (see note)
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
- 4 leaves of kale, julienned
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- flour, for dusting
- 12 ounce pizza dough, homemade or store-bought
- 8 ounce black pudding (see note), thinly sliced
- 6 ounce kerrygold vintage or other sharp cheddar, shredded
Directions
- Put a large pizza stone into the oven and preheat the oven to 550 degrees.
- Melt the butter with the oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions and kale and season generously with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are soft and translucent, 8-10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, flour a work surface. Stretch the pizza dough out to a circle 14 or 15 inches in diameter and place it on the floured surface. Scatter the onion and kale mixture over the surface of the dough, distributing it equally. Arrange the black pudding slices evenly on top of the vegetables. Scatter the cheese over the top of the pizza, lightly covering all the ingredients.
- Carefully transfer the pizza from the work surface to the pizza stone and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until crust is well browned. Season to taste with salt and pepper.