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