Sunday, July 25, 2010

Grilled Pizza and Homemade Pesto

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In the summer heat, I decided to grill a pizza so I could have homemade pizza without having to turn on the oven. I adapted Ina Garten’s recipe and used only whole-wheat flour, yeast, warm water, and olive oil and rolled it into two pies. I followed her directions and cooked the dough on the grill first, a few minutes per side, then Alex and I each topped our own.

I think next time (and yes, there will be a next time!) I would start with the toppings on the crusts. The only drawback I can see is that it might be too difficult to transport the fully topped raw dough to the grill. The dough puffed up, and by the time I was trying to heat my toppings, the bottom was close to burning.

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I pre-cooked my toppings on the stovetop: red bell pepper, onion, and cremini mushrooms. I also made a pesto from my homegrown basil plus almonds, olive oil, roasted garlic, and salt. This was a delicious base for the pizza. Finally, I topped it with some pitted calmata olives.

This was a delicious pizza, and I think you can see in my photo how crisp the dough was. I rolled it out thinly, but I am still perfecting my circle formation. Tastes the same, though.

I’m ready to grill pizzas again, and soon! What are your favorite toppings? I think I want to do one with black beans and salsa next.

6 comments:

  1. Grilling the pizza is such a good idea, And the recipe looks so simple!! Love the toppings you chose.
    I like olives, jalapenos, onions, and broccoli on my pizzas. I think a combo I'd like to experiment with is hummus and eggplant :)

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  2. Look at all that lovely fresh Basil next to the grill! How do you keep the dough from sticking to the grates?

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  3. Wow, that looks delicious. I never thought about making a "grilled" pizza. When the weather cools down a bit, I will have to try that out. I think the pizza not being in a perfect circle gives it character. :o)

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  4. One more reason why I REALLY need to invest in an outdoor grill. Sigh.

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  5. Yes, this is going to become a recurring dinner! I rubbed the raw dough with some oil and it didn't stick at all. Instead, it got really crisp and I could even flip it with tongs. I like chewy pizza too, but I especially love a thin, crisp crust.

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  6. For serious - this looks fantastic! Grilling pizza has always been a bit scary to me, esp. since I don't own a grill - but your pizza looks fantastic! A mexican inspired/salsa/avocado/pineapple pizza I'm sure would be amazing!

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