Grilled Pizza Goodness

Poor pizza is misunderstood. Yes, even bad pizza is almost undeniably delicious, but it's always lumped into the junk food category with greasy french fries and poultry rendered unrecognizable as nuggets. The most delicious pizza need not be an indulgence. In fact, it can practically be a health food. Give this pizza a try and you can make pizza night a weekly event (we do!), while patting yourself on the back for being such a healthy eater.

Friday night is pizza night at our home. Seeing as how our New York apartment lacks a stone hearth and our pint size oven mocks us with erratic temperatures and unpredictable results when we crank it up high, we had to take our pizza making outside. Every time we consider moving from our apartment, we quickly come to our senses when we think about our cozy backyard and it's most frequently used feature: our grill. Maybe it's because I will always be a California girl at heart, but we grill everything all year round. Sometimes this is out of laziness on my part (grilled vegetables mean one less cookie sheet to wash than roasted veggies), but in the case of pizza, it's a matter of necessity. Only the grill gives our crust the crunch it needs to withstand the mountain of vegetables I pile upon it.

One goal of our pizza night is to make room in the fridge for our weekend farmer's market trip, which means our toppings are purely a function of what we have on hand. Below are last week's creations, but don't feel limited by our leftover produce. Your pizza deserves your favorite toppings.

Ratatouille Pizza: spicy tomato sauce, with grilled eggplant, zucchini, peppers, and onions, topped with fresh mozzarella

Grilled Pizza

Ingredients:
- Whole grain pizza dough (You can buy this from your favorite pizza place for about $3/lb or pick it up at a grocery store like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. If you would rather make it yourself, try this recipe)
- Some sort of sauce (we've been known to use tomato sauce, pesto, white bean puree, ricotta, or just plain olive oil)
- Toppings (we're veggie people, but you can go crazy with meat if that's your preference)
- Cheese (mozzarella, goat cheese, blobs of ricotta, or even homemade cashew cheese can all be delicious)

Supplies:
Can you grill pizza without a pizza stone or peel? Yes, but we have found that those two supplies both simplify the experience and improve the result. You can find the pizza peel we use on Amazon and our pizza stone at Sur La Table. If you think grilled pizza may become a regular feature in your life, these two products are well worth the initial investment.

Technique:
Place your pizza stone on the grill and begin to preheat about 45 minutes before you expect to grill your pizza. Make sure all your toppings are ready for assembly. In most cases, this will mean grilling veggies, caramelizing onions, or slicing/shredding cheese.

Give your pizza peel a liberal dusting of flour and cornmeal. Toss or roll your dough to the desired thickness (we've experimented with both paper thin and slightly thicker crusts and both consistently turn out great) and place on the pizza peel. Start moving quickly at this point, so your pizza doesn't stick. Spread your sauce and arrange toppings and cheese to your satisfaction.

Make sure the temperature on your grill is hovering around 500 degrees (your pizza stone retains a massive amount of heat, so this temperature is sufficient). Open your grill cover and slide your pizza from the peel onto the stone with a quick backward motion. This may take a couple tries to perfect, but your pizza will still taste good even if you have to pile on some mangled toppings during your early attempts. Close the grill cover immediately and resist all urges to "check" your crust. After about 4 and a half minutes, open your grill cover and remove the pizza with your peel. The crust should be golden and your cheese should be melted.

If you're grilling multiple pizzas (and I highly recommend that you do since you palate deserves a little variety), close the grill cover immediately after removing your pizza. Ideally, you will wait a couple minutes before preparing your next pizza to give the grill time to reheat. Your first pizza can be kept warm on a cookie sheet in the oven while your next pizza cooks without compromising texture or flavor.

The other product of last week's pizza night: grilled plums, walnuts, and caramelized onions

Topped with arugula and shaved manchego cheese after the pizza was removed from the grill

Enjoy!