Tortillas...Another Secret Weapon of the Kitchen

Cheese Pizza.  Photo by Rob Robitaille

I think I must have taken a cue from Jacques Pepin for his enthusiastic embrace of the tortilla.  He points out that it is a ready to use crust for deserts and other things.  I can think of no better use (well, other than its normal use in Mexican cuisine) than for mini pizzas.  Whenever I am short on time, or just want something quick and easy for lunch or dinner, I make pizza.  As long as you don't pile it a mile high with toppings, these tortilla crust pizzas can be baked in 5-8 minutes.  I make these for lunch with plenty of time to spare during my lunch hour.

Sad story tangent.  I was taking out my cooling rack from my cupboard that has the dividers that you can store cookie sheets, cutting  boards, etc. and it hooked my favorite pizza stone that we got for a wedding present over 20 years ago.  It rolled out and as I tried to save it with my foot, which was my only free appendage at the time, it tipped and cracked in half.  Dammit!  I'm going somewhere with this, so bear with me.  So I started researching pizza stones.  Turns out the brand I had, which was perfectly smooth, is now rough and not near the quality it was.  In fact, it is a lot harder to find a really nice smooth stone.  Mario Batali makes a nice pizza stone, but there is no way I will spend $89 on one.  Then it hit me that I have a 10.5" lodge cast iron griddle pan.  Perfect.

So the way this works is that I put the griddle pan in the oven and turn it to 425 F.  While it is heating up, I mix a can of tomato past with some Italian herbs, and spread it on a tortilla.  Then I add my toppings, usually some kind of meat and Parmesan.  By that time the oven beeps at which time I wait another five minutes so that the pan can catch up in temperature.  Then, I slide the pizza onto the pan and set my timer for 5 minutes.  After 5 minutes I start to check on it until the cheese is golden and bubbly.  Then I remove it to a cooling rack and wait another 5 minutes until it is cool enough to not cause 3rd degree burns in my mouth.  During that time I rinse the griddle under hot water with a stiff brush (never use soap on a cast iron pan unless you plan to re-season it!).  Now it is time to enjoy a crispy flavorful pizza and it only took about 20 minutes from start to finish.

What makes this really fun is that you can buy any size tortilla for this and you can make several different styles of pizza for any one meal.  If you prefer a pizza with more toppings, go for it.  It will just take a bit longer to cook, but I prefer mine thin and crispy.  Next time you don't know what to cook for dinner or lunch, give this a try.  Chances are you will probably have all the ingredients on hand.  And to finish my sad story, I don't think I will bother replacing my pizza stone since the griddle pan works even better (and is harder to break).  If I decide I need some thing larger, Lodge makes a 14" baking pan with handles that would make a fantastic pizza pan.  See, things always seem to find a way of working out.