Grilled Pizza

One of Christopher's friend's parents built a brick pizza oven in their back yard and invited us for a pizza party this last spring.  I kid you not, this was some of the best and most interesting pizza of my life.  They had each person stretch out their own dough and then go build the pizza that they wanted, using ingredients that were set out at the next table in cute little bowls.  It only cooked for about five minutes or so in the oven, and then everyone shared pretty much all of the pizzas, just going from table to table to get what they wanted. 

I think that this can be adapted to the regular BBQ grill if you make sure to olive oil up the grates (heavily, with a paper towel) and use fresh pizza dough, which I usually buy at either Trader Joe's, Fresh 'n Easy or even my local pizza place sells bagged dough if I ask nicely.  You have to cook the dough by itself on one side for a few minutes, get some nice char marks on it, then flip it over and cook it partially before you add toppings.  Also, make sure you use sauce sparingly when grilling your pizza or it is easy to have it turn into soggy mush.  When I do put the toppings on finally, I usually keep it on low/medium heat (indirect would probably be smart once the crust is cooked) and then close the grill cover so it is mostly just warming ingredients and melting cheese.  

It is worth mentioning that my pizza's are almost never pretty and round like these ones are.  I guess if I practiced enough they'd get better, but this is sort of a special treat so it doesn't happen too often- and I end up eating pizzas that look more like Tennessee.  That's OK, they still taste delicious!  

Here are some of the ingredients that they used and that I recommend for a fabulous pizza party.

·      The Usual Suspects
Pepperoni, Sausage, Pineapple, Black Olives, Ham, whichever standard toppings you prefer

·      Barbeque Chicken – BBQ sauce, cheddar and mozzarella cheese, roasted or grilled chopped chicken, red onions, bell peppers and cilantro

·      Apple Gorgonzola– Alfredo sauce base, Gorgonzola and Mozzarella, thinly sliced green apple, walnuts, fresh greens on top after baked - optional.

·      Baked Potato Pizza – Sour cream as sauce, cheddar cheese, chopped potato mixture (just microwave some small reds and give them a rough chop/mash, then salt and pepper lightly), fresh rosemary, chopped garlic, bacon bits (optional)

·      Pear and Gorgonzola – Pears, Gorgonzola cheese, mozzarella, caramelized onions (optional)

·      Marguerita – Red sauce, mozzarella cheese, fresh basil leaves

·      Southwestern – Sour cream base, black beans, grilled chicken, cheddar cheese, cilantro

Blackened Salmon

My friend Phuong from Pleasanton taught me how to cook salmon initially, and then she had posted some food picture that looked amazing (I'll see if I can find it for this post!) and so I begged her to share her secrets with me.  I tried it once and it was really good, but I think that like all things, practice makes perfect, so there is room for me to improve here.  Worth every minute though because salmon is so healthy and yummy and just full of things that are great for me and also the kids growing bodies.  Here we go!

Blackened Salmon
salmon filets (Costco's Kirkland frozen individually wrapped are a great start)
black pepper
onion powder
garlic powder
paprika
dill
olive oil spray

Mix up the spices so you have a rub, or you can just sprinkle it on as you go.

Thaw salmon and dry with paper towels.  Generously salt salmon and put in the fridge for an hour or more on top of paper towel.  When ready to cook, pat paper towels on salmon to dry more.  On each side, sprinkle spice mixture and spray with olive oil.

Heat pan (ridged grill pan is better) on high heat so the pan is super hot.  This allows the salmon to blacken.  Spray pan with olive oil.  Sear salmon on one side for about four minutes (until it's seared black) and then turn it over and sear for 3 minutes or so.  It should feel fairly firm and not have a lot of "squishy" give to it when it is ready.

Phuong says "the trick is to have the salmon dry by patting it dry, salting it so the water is drawn out, and giving it time in the fridge to dry it out- and of course, having the pan super hot."  Thank you, Phuong! :-)

Peanut Butter Pie (No Bake)

Made this also in LA with Kat and it was really good, kind of a nice summer-y cold dessert that feels light but still decadent. We did ours as a pie but the picture above shows bars.  If we'd waited longer, maybe ours would've looked like that too, but I don't know that we gave it the full four hours to chill.

Peanut Butter Pie (No Bake) 
Chocolate pie crust (or make your own)
4 oz. cream cheese (reduced fat is OK)
1/2 C. plain greek yogurt
1/2 C. creamy peanut butter
2/3 C. powdered sugar
1/4 C. chopped roasted peanuts, optional, but really good

Cream the greek yogurt, peanut butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar.  Pour into prepared crust and sprinkle with peanuts.  Chill for four hours and serve!

Peanut Butter Cookies (Flourless/GF)

Made these with my sister Kat on our last LA trip and they were really good.  We gobbled them all as soon as they came out of the oven, and afterwards we both regretted it because they seem like the type of cookie that would get better on day two (OK, hour two) than when they're piping hot, but even so, they were really good.  They're also so pure and simple in the ingredient list.  However, don't even think about doing the cool criss cross fork thing to them, they just fall apart.  Roll them as well as you can and then go with it.  Yum!

Peanut Butter Cookies (Flourless/GF) 

1 large egg
3/4 C. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 t. vanilla (I hear that they make a GF if you're particular about that)
1 C. creamy peanut butter (unsweetened is OK per the original recipe.)

Combine and bake at 350 for 5-7 minutes.  Enjoy!