pizza

Pizza on grill

Grilling pizza seems an odd concept to grasp at first, but once you do it, there’s no going back. Rachel whipped up some lovely pizza. Here are the bits and pieces she laid down.

Figgy one

Pizza One:
Figgy, Cheesy, Hamness
This was the best pizza of the three. Maybe even the best pizza I’ve ever had. I don’t even like figs unless they’ve been Newtoned and still it was yummy. It was more complicated than the other two only in that you had to mix stuff into the Ricotta, no biggie.

bring me some figgy

You need:
Some ripe figs
Blue Cheese
Ricotta
Fresh basil
One little bit of a Garlic bulb
Prosciutto

Fold and pile leaves chop girl

Cut the figs in half. Done with figs.
Chiffinade the basil ( or “Bah-zil” for the commonwealth ). Itsy bitsy the Garlic. Then, smoosh the Garlic with the basil with a bit of salt. Mix the pasty stuff in with the Ricotta. That’s your sauce. Put that on first and pile the rest on top.

premelty pizza

Pizza Two:
Simple, basic pizza with a little punch.

You need:
Fresh mozzerella
Basil
Tomato Sauce
Cappicola (this is the punch)

Nothing fancy here. Lay down the sauced. Invite the ham to join in. Pop on the mozz and basil, presto.

simple pizza

yummmmmmm

Pizza Three:

A little something for the veg heads. Rachel took advantage of the heat and grilled up the veggies first, then readied the dough.

grilled veg

You need:
Eggplant
Some pretty looking pepper (or capsicum. We’re here for you Australia)
Pesto
Balsamic vinegar
Fresh mozzerella

soft and grill like

Debitter the eggplant with a little salt, pepper (or “salper” as an old friend used to say) and vinegar. Rachel got a little carried away with the quick pour vinegar and still it was lovely. Grill ‘em up and set aside. When you’re ready to top, pesto first, veg then cheese. The grilled veggies were AMAZING. I thought it would take awhile to get soft and flavored, but oh no, it was quick. I love heat.

Salper the eggplant hot hot hot eating pizza

This is Rachel

Pizza on the grill, that’s right. You’ve heard it at parties. It sounds fancy. It sounds fun. More importantly, it’s EASY. Amaze and dazzle your friends and give them an anecdote for the water cooler (or dentist or proctologist whatever). Rachel did it. She bought a pile of stuff that sounds good, a wad of pre-made dough and let impulsive, gut driven mastication take over.

Dough, Melty, Bits and Pieces

Shopping List:
Pre-made pizza dough
Something saucy
Something melty
Bits and Pieces … go with it, you know what to do and if you don’t

Dough:
The quick and easy way to do pizza is to lean on your local yuppie marts, your Trader Joes, your Metropolitan WankMarts … whatever, they’re out there even in Kansas (I love you Kansas, don’t get me wrong). There you will find pre-made pizza dough. It’s like under two bucks. You can let the dough get to room temperature and massage it with a little flour as to avoid a sticky ball. Trader Joe’s dough tends to be sticky. Rachel brought frozen dough, but with a little microwavic coercion, it was cold but malleable and still got its pizza on. Rachel picked up dough from Delaurnti. This is an Italian yum yum wet dream. They have everything you’d ever need; even cute, little jars of Nutella. Located in Seattle where they throw the fish.

Charcoal lighting Warm

Grilling Pizza:
First, fluff your grill. Get it nice and hot.

Roll out or toss the dough. Rachel was a roller, she tried tossing dough, but giggled uncontrollably.

Tossing Dough Tossing dough is a no go

Rolling the dough

Have your pizza toppings, sauce and the rest ready and near. Then …

Rachel forgets toppings, quick!!!

(Rachel runs to get the toppings. Silly Rachel)

Place the dough on the grill and cover. Don’t walk away, this bit is quick. After a quick conversation about how you really need to get that new Britney album because sure she’s having some moments, but she still has amazing producers, give it a peak. At brown and an apparent crispness, give it a flip.

Dress your pizza. Cover and wait for the melting to happen.

That’s it. Ah yeah, that’s it. Serious.

Put it right on the grill, no fear, just like burning your bra Peaky peaky Dressy dressy

Playing with coals:
Rachel played around with direct and indirect heat.

1. Charcoal in a nice pile in the middle for both sides.
Result: a bit burnt on the second side
2. Charcoal in the middle for the first side. Then scooting the charcoal to the side for the second side.
Result: yummy crunch, dare I say perfect?
3. Indirect heat for both sides. That is, charcoal scooted to one part of the grill for both pizza sides.
Result: okay, but took longer. With our girl Rachel, this was a bad technique as she kept opening the lid to check if it’s done yet. Is it done yet? How about now? With her lovely Oxford accent and snapping tongs. Oh yes, smart and sassy this one is.

Chewy ooey yum

Three pizzas were made and three pizzas were eaten lickety split. There is no going back. The fling of pizza and the hot grill is the kind of magic only elves are capable of.

Fig, cheeses, fancy ham and more