Pizza on the Grill & Recipe

I recently saw an episode of Alton Brown's "Good Eats" where he grilled pizza.  I knew I had to try it.  He used a pretty specific pizza dough recipe but hubs just whipped up a batch of pizza dough in the bread machine, same formula we usually use. 

Recipe: 
1 1/4 cup warm water
2 cups white flour
1 cup wheat flour
2 T sugar
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t yeast
2 T oil

Place the ingredients in the bread machine in this order, put it on the dough setting.  Watch it to make sure that it mixes everything together properly.   (Course you can just go pick up a ball of ready made pizza dough at Wally's for 99 cents.)

After the machine was finished with the dough, I took it out, divided it and worked it into two balls and let them raise on the counter under a towel.  Then I stretched them out into pizza shapes.  I preheated the grill and put some olive oil on a paper towel to wipe the grill.  I used a bit of cornmeal between the dough and a cookie sheet so that it wouldn't stick and just slid the dough on to the hot grill.  I adjusted it a tiny bit once it was on, but for the most part the heat of the grill will start to make the dough into crust pretty quickly.

I poured on some olive oil and brushed it out into a nice even coat.  I flipped it over and while the fire was browning the other side, I put olive oil on the baked side and brushed it around to an even coat.  I put some garlic through the garlic press and tried to evenly distribute that over the surface, I followed that with thin sliced onions, peppers and fresh chopped basil.  Then some cheese, mozzarella and some extra sharp cheddar.  I had to work quickly because the fire was browning the other side of the crust in a hurry.   


Then I closed the lid for a bit for the cheese to get a chance to melt.  When I decided it was done, I slid my cookie sheet under it and took it off the fire.  I cut it with scissors and got a very satisfying sound of crunchy crust along with the melted stringy cheese.  Yum!

I'm looking pretty pleased with myself, I'll tell ya.. I hadn't tasted it at that point but I had certainly smelled it!  I helped myself to a slice while I started the second one - YUM!

Believe me, you want to have everything you need right there beside you because it doesn't take long to put this together and you don't want it to burn while you're running back to the kitchen to get the cheese.

The second one was more of a rectangle... a very ugly rectangle... but I added some pizza sauce (highly over rated) and pepperoni to this one.  It took a little longer for the cheese and pepperoni to warm so I ended up getting it a little dark on the under side.  Oops... but still yummy!

It had a very satisfying crunchy crust and the kiss of the flames had worked their magic on the flavors.  The crust cooks quickly and it can't be over loaded with toppings.  It's all about texture and flavors!  It was thin, crunchy and smokey... yum yum yum!

You have got to try this!!  Make sure to gather everything you need around you while the grill is heating.  Here's a list,
Hmmm... let me see:
Pizza dough.
Olive oil and a pastry brush to distribute it all over the crust.
Tongs for flipping the crust when it's half way done.
All the toppings, thin sliced veggies, pressed garlic, basil, good cheese, salt and pepper.
Cookie sheet or a pizza peel.
Scissors or pizza cutter.
Plates,and or napkins.
Something cold to drink.

Is there anything I missed? 

With the size of my grill and the size of the recipe of dough, next time I think I'll divide it into three instead of two.  That way maybe I can have two side by side on the grill and just do them one right after the other.  That may work to serve more people at once, can't you just see grilling up a bunch of these for guests?  I can, that would be FUN!

We may never make pizza indoors again.

Fire up the grill and let me know how it goes, ok? 

Yummm....

Savor the flavors,

-Carmen Rose

While Waiting for the Paint to Dry

I decided to try something a little different for dinner. I pulled a pork tenderloin out of the freezer and put it straight on the grill, seasoning it with garlic olive oil and lemon. I turned it very slowly so that each side got nice and brown.

As that was cooking we sliced up some potatoes thin, set them to rest in balsamic vinegar for a bit and then put them on the grill. I turned them once, brought them out and dusted them with sea salt and a little more balsamic vinegar. We ate those rather quickly while waiting for the pork to finish cooking. They were Good!

I cut into a pineapple and it was a good one. The first two slices were devoured on the spot before I realized that it might be good on the grill. I love serving fresh pineapple with a strawberry lime yogurt sauce, I love that. I cook with canned pineapple some, on pizza, in quiche and sweet and sour dishes, but I’ve never grilled fresh pineapple before. So I got some ideas from friends on Facebook and couldn’t make up my mind between sweet or savory, so I did both. First was a lime, jalapeño oil and fresh basil combination. The second was vanilla bean paste, brown sugar and fresh mint combo. A soon as we took the pork loin off the grill I popped the pineapple on. While the cheddar garlic bread was toasting the pineapple cooked, a few minutes per side.

I cut into that pork roast and sliced it up. Hubby wandered by and helped himself. “Da-Yum!” LOL! I think THAT is a compliment! =) The pineapple came off the grill and the toast came off at about the same time and we started in. Hubby liked the sweet one with the vanilla and brown sugar, I think I liked the one with the jalapeno kick a little better. I was really surprised how good it was. I would do the sweet version again with a desert, maybe served with something creamy plus something crispy. And I would do the spicy one again and figure out a way to ratchet up the heat a little more, it was a bit on the mild side for me but still lovely. Both were wonderful paired with the pork. And the crispy edges to the bread were nice also.

I looked at my plate and had to laugh, it was all kind of beigy yellow, which is totally not my thing. A meal should have color, but what this one lacked in color it more than made up in flavor. That was fun!