grilled pizza
It's grilling season! After our last grill broke, we held out as long as we could (with dreams of an expansive deck and screened porch of course) before buying a new grill. Two weeks ago, we caved. Sure, we're out behind the cars on our driveway every evening, but it's summer and the Chipmans are grilling. Happy.
Earlier this week, we grilled plenty of extra eggplant, zucchini, red onions, and red pepper to save as toppings for a homemade pizza. With a few simple shortcut preparations, we were on our way to a grilled pizza in less than 30 minutes tonight. That's what grilling is all about.
The details of our successful grilled pizza experiment follow.
Shortcut prep:
Frozen whole wheat pizza crust from Whole Foods, thawed for about 6 hours
Quick pizza sauce:
1/4c good olive oil
1/2 can tomato paste
1/2 can diced tomatoes (with juice)
2t pizza seasoning or Italian seasoning
2 good pinches salt
Toppings:
1 1/2c grated mozzarella
Grilled veggies, chopped
Sprinkle feta cheese
Directions:
Heat the grill to 450 degrees.
Stretch and toss (if you dare) the pizza crust into a circle or rectangle as big as you like, but keeping it a bit thinner than you would normally. (It will shrink up on the grill. Ours was a little on the fat side.) Carefully brush the grates with olive oil and lay prepped pizza dough onto greased grill grates. Allow the crust to cook (without toppings) about 5 minutes, checking the bottom of the pizza for any hot spots and rotating so the crust doesn't burn. We used a spatula in each hand to pull that off.
When it looks nice and toasty on the bottom, remove the half-cooked pizza dough from the grill. Flip the crust over and lay it onto a greased or floured board, grilled side up. Top with sauce, veggies, and then cheese (on the grilled side).
Slide the pizza back onto the grill to cook the other side. Keep the lid down to retain the heat and cook until the cheese is completely melted and the bottom is toasty, too.
Enjoy!
Earlier this week, we grilled plenty of extra eggplant, zucchini, red onions, and red pepper to save as toppings for a homemade pizza. With a few simple shortcut preparations, we were on our way to a grilled pizza in less than 30 minutes tonight. That's what grilling is all about.
The details of our successful grilled pizza experiment follow.
Shortcut prep:
Frozen whole wheat pizza crust from Whole Foods, thawed for about 6 hours
Quick pizza sauce:
1/4c good olive oil
1/2 can tomato paste
1/2 can diced tomatoes (with juice)
2t pizza seasoning or Italian seasoning
2 good pinches salt
Toppings:
1 1/2c grated mozzarella
Grilled veggies, chopped
Sprinkle feta cheese
Directions:
Heat the grill to 450 degrees.
Stretch and toss (if you dare) the pizza crust into a circle or rectangle as big as you like, but keeping it a bit thinner than you would normally. (It will shrink up on the grill. Ours was a little on the fat side.) Carefully brush the grates with olive oil and lay prepped pizza dough onto greased grill grates. Allow the crust to cook (without toppings) about 5 minutes, checking the bottom of the pizza for any hot spots and rotating so the crust doesn't burn. We used a spatula in each hand to pull that off.
When it looks nice and toasty on the bottom, remove the half-cooked pizza dough from the grill. Flip the crust over and lay it onto a greased or floured board, grilled side up. Top with sauce, veggies, and then cheese (on the grilled side).
Slide the pizza back onto the grill to cook the other side. Keep the lid down to retain the heat and cook until the cheese is completely melted and the bottom is toasty, too.
Enjoy!