You will need: Fireclay bricks/extendable grill grate
Top heat: approx. 220-250°C/250-280°C
Preheating: approx. 15 minutes
Working hours: 45 minutes
Cooking time/baking time: approx. 40 minutes

Ingredients
(for 4 persons)

For the pizza bread lid:

• approx. 300 g pizza dough, for a pan size of 26 cm Ø

For the herb oil:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped

For the fish soup:

• 500 g fish fillets (e.g. char, trout, carp, pike)
• 2 tablespoons frying oil
• 1/2 onion, finely diced
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• some fresh chili, finely chopped
• 70 g leek, cut into half rings
• 70 g carrots, diced
• 70 g parsley root, diced
• 70 g celeriac, diced
• 250 ml dry white wine
• 500 ml fish stock
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ untreated lemon, zest and juice
• 250 g tomatoes
• 250 ml cream
• 2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
• Salt, pepper

In addition:

• Sea salt flakes

For the herb oil:
Mix the oil, garlic and parsley in a small bowl.

For the fish soup:
Heat the Merklinger to approx. 220-250°C.
Meanwhile, place a heavy, cast-iron pot on the firebricks to heat up.
Heat the oil in the pan directly over the fire on the pull-out grill rack and sauté the onions, garlic, chili and root vegetables.

Deglaze with white wine and simmer for a few minutes. Pour in the fish stock, add the bay leaf and simmer gently for about 20 minutes.

During this time, prepare the fish and tomatoes. Remove the skin from the fish fillets, cut into 3 cm pieces and sprinkle with lemon juice.

Halve the tomatoes, remove the seeds and cut out the stalk. Finely dice the flesh.

Remove the pan from the Merklinger and finely puree the stock. (Remove the bay leaf beforehand.)

Stir in the cream and lemon zest and season to taste with salt, pepper and a little lemon juice.
Heat the soup again on the pull-out grill over the fire.

Now increase the top heat to approx. 250-280°C. To do this, add a few logs of wood and push the fire in the combustion chamber all the way to the back.

Roll out the pizza dough on a lightly floured work surface slightly larger than the diameter of the pan.

Place the fish, tomatoes and parsley in the pan. Carefully place the pizza bread lid on top.

Now place the pot on the firebricks in the hot Merklinger.

It takes about 10-15 minutes until the pizza bread lid is golden brown and the fish is cooked through. 

Brush the pastry lid with the prepared herb oil while still hot and sprinkle with sea salt flakes.

Tip:

When you make pizza from the Merklinger again, put a few pieces of dough aside for the pizza crust and freeze them.