The Ultimate Grilled Pizza:

Part 2: The Crust and Pizza

The next most important part of the pizza is the crust. For me the perfect pizza crust has those big air bubbles in it that are slightly blackened / burned. Yet the inside is still a bit chewy. That comes from cooking the pizza fast and at the highest heat you can reasonably achieve. And no, I don't mean throw it into a campfire. I'm talking about grilling them.

Next comes the toppings. If you take my advise on anything in this post, listen to this little tidbit of knowledge: When it comes to toppings, you MUST exercise restraint. Restraint is one of the hardest lessons I've ever learned in my years as a cook both at home and professionally. One of the biggest mistakes new chefs / cooks make is this: "Well if a little is good, a lot simply has to be better". Nope. Nope. Nope. I over did it with salt, with garlic, chile peppers, you name it. And I over did it with toppings. The first several times I made pizza, I piled everything on it. I mean these things were a solid 2-3 inches thick. A little cheese is awesome. But a ton of it is gonna blow my mind, Right?......(again) Nope. It won't. You'll end up with something that can't be described as anything other than a hot mess. A hot, soggy, raw in many parts, overcooked in others, inedible mess. 

The issue here was touched on in my last post. It boils down to heat. If you have a commercial pizza oven at home, you might able to pull off a thick pizza like in my early attempts. But if you're like me and you just have a gas grill, keep it simple. Don't expect the world from equipment that can't provide it. My rule of thumb is to keep it to three or four toppings. Of course, this is not including cheese or sauce. And again, exercise restraint in the amount of those ingredients. If you do, you will be rewarded with a simple and very delicious pie. 

Now I'm a traditionalist when it comes to pizza. At my house, we keep it old school. My favorite combo: Bell peppers, red onion, mushrooms, and sliced black olives. My wife? Pineapple. That's it. This is where the crust and the sauce shine. You can put whatever you want on yours. That's the beauty of it all. It's yours and only yours. Just keep it as I described above and you'll emerge victorious. 

As far as I'm concerned, the only way to cook a pizza at home is on a grill. As such, it's the medium of choice for this post. Can you make pizza one in your oven? Sure you can. And they come pretty good too. But I've always gotten much better results from the grill versus the oven. The reason is because I can get my grill much hotter than I can get my oven in the house which only reaches 500º F. I can get my gas grill between 600º and 650º F, which for me, is the perfect cooking temperature. 

For the actual grilling of the pizza, obviously you can't put your pizza directly on the grill. You'll need a pizza stone. I definitely recommend getting one made for grilling. Personally, I use the cast iron stone made by Lodge. It holds heat very well an will last a lifetime if you take care of it. I've used the ceramic ones in the past. Busted three of them on the grill so far. They snapped right in half. I just don't think the ceramic can handle the heat the grill puts out. And at $25 bucks a pop, it's just not worth it. So I invested a tad bit more, around $38.00, on the cast iron one and have not been happier. In fact, I think I'm gonna get another one so I can grill two pizzas at once. My wife's birthday is coming up in a few months......hmmmmmm. Two birds, one stone. Get it? As in one pizza stone. Ha! I'm funny. But I'd be willing to bet she won't think so. 

I feel I need to address the challenge of transferring the pizza from the peel to the stone. If not done correctly, your pizza will stick to the peel and good luck getting it to slide onto the stone. There are two ways of resolving this issue. The first way is to avoid the peel altogether. That would mean you'd want to heat the grill and stone as hot as you can get it, about 600 to 650º F. Then, once the grill and stone are up to temp, you would open the lid and build your pizza directly onto the stone. If you choose to do this, keep in mind you'll lose a substantial amount of grill heat and you likely won't achieve that balance of crisp crust and just melted cheese / just cooked toppings. 

I prefer the peel. For those not familiar with the term, it's that giant spatula looking thing that's they use to slide the pizza on the cooking surface and to subsequently remove it. The way to succeed in the transfer is done by doing two things. Thing number one is the ensure the stretched dough is not still sticky. Simply dust it with a light coating of flour so that it won't absorb the dusting on your peel. 

The next thing is the peel. It needs to be dusted to stop your pizza from sticking to it when you are trying to slide the pizza from the peel onto the stone. You can use flour or you can use corn meal. 

This pizza dough recipe I found in Bon Appétit magazine. It's an 18 hour dough that is "no knead". It's super simple to make. The only real thought behind it is the timing, which doesn't have to that precise, just a ballpark timing. There was no knead to change it (ha!, I'm on a roll). It's a fantastic recipe that I could not approve upon so I didn't bother to try. 

Tip: Start with a clean grill. Because you are heating your grill to high temps, you don't want to end up with a grease fire from residual grease or food drippings from previous uses. 

Tip: The biggest challenge I find is transferring my pizza from the peel to the stone. The best way to make sure your pizza doesn't stick to the peel is the make sure your dough is dusted with flour, making sure there are no sticky parts on the dough. Next, dust your peel with a little corn meal. I use corn masa like you'd use to make corn tortillas and it works very well too.

Tip: This dough can be made up to three days ahead. If you do, wrap each portioned dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate. When you're ready to use the dough, unwrap each portion and let them rest on a floured work surface or cookie sheet, covered with plastic wrap for 2-3 hours. 

Tip: When my pizzas are done, I pull them from the grill and slide them onto a kitchen towel. I then drag  the towel out from under the pizza, using the towel to rub the bottom of the pizza as much as possible. Why would I do such a silly thing? I find the cornmeal gives the under part of the dough a cornmeal flavor that I don't prefer on my pizza. Using my patented "towel slide" technique, this removes the corm meal so you don't get that flavor. Don't check with the US Patent Office. I didn't really patent that. 

Tip: Relax. You first few pizzas might be a bust. That's okay. I ruined a few too. My only real challenge was the peel-to-stone transfer. But once you get the hang of it. you're good to go. Enjoy. 

Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

• 7 1/2 (1000 grams) cups all-purpose flour + more for shaping. If you can weigh out the grams, do it. You'll get a better measure
• 4 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 3 cups water

Preparation: 

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and yeast. 

2. Using a wooden spoon, gradually stir in the water until it mostly mixed. Gently finish off with your hands to bring the mixture together into a rough ball. 

3. Place the dough ball into a large clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature (about 72ºF) in a draft free area until tiny air bubbles cover the surface and the dough doubles in size. This should take about 18 hours. This time may vary depending on the temperature of the room.

4. Once risen, transfer your dough to a floured work surface and gently shape into a rough rectangle. Divide the dough into 6 even portions. Working with each portion, gently fold the side under to form a nice round ball. Dust the ball with flour and set onto a baking sheet or floured work surface. 

5. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest for one hour until the dough is soft and pliable.

To Make The Pizzas:

Ingredients:

• 3-4 cups of shredded mozzarella
• toppings of choice: we use mushrooms, bell peppers, red onions, sliced black olives, basil leaves, pineapple. But this is just our preference. Use whatever you like. 
• pizza sauce (use this recipe)

1. Prep your toppings. Shred your cheese. Get your sauce ready to be spooned onto the dough. Make sure they are all ready to go so that when you start to make your pizzas, you don't have to stop to prep anything. Once you start making your pizzas, you want the assembly to go quickly. 

2.  Place your pizza stone on the grill and heat your grill on high with the lid down until your temperature gauge reads at least 550ºF but no more than 650ºF. Chances are, your grill won't really go much higher than that anyway so you don't have to worry too much about over heating. I usually throw my pizzas on at 600ºF. If you don't have a gauge, turn your grill on high with the lid down for about 20 minutes.  

3. Prepare your pizza peel. Make sure the peel is clean and dry. Dust the peel generously with the corn meal, corn flour, or corn masa, which ever you prefer. Set aside.

4. On a floured work surface, shape your pizza dough into a round making sure the dough is dusted enough so that there are no sticky parts of the dough. Now place the shaped dough gently onto the peel. Quickly spread your sauce on the dough, then toppings and cheese. 

5. Slide your pizza from the peel onto the stone and close the grill lid. If your grill is at 600ºF, you pizza should be done in about 9 minutes. Don't be a looky-loo. Keep your lid shut or you'll lose your heat. If you must look, lift the lid just enough to peek in make sure all is well, but don't do it unless you must. 

6. Remove pizza from grill, slice and serve. 

Makes 6 personal sized pizzas.  

The Ultimate Grilled Pizza:

Part 1: The Sauce

One of my fondest memories comes from eating one of the worst pizzas ever made. I remember as a child, my parents use to take me the drive-in movies. I'd get my blanket, my pillow, put on my jammies and off we'd go. I guess the idea was that, since it was going to be a late night, I could just crash in the back seat whenever I got tired. But it never worked out that way. I was always wide awake through both movies. In between movies, we'd play on the swings and the monkey bars. Then we'd run to the snack bar and get sodas and a pizza. Paper thin, greasy, floppy, cardboard tasting pizza. It was exquisite. This was back before those little plastic three pronged things were invented (patented in 1985, in case you were wondering) that they now put in the center of the pizza to keep the cardboard lid from sagging into the pizza cheese, thereby lifting half the cheese off the pizza when you opened the box. 

Pizza in my house is a two day project. Let me tell you, I take this stuff very seriously. A pizza pie is very simple in nature, but man, it's easy to crap it up. And, dammit, I don't do crappy.....well at least I try not to. So if it's gonna take two days, so be it. I usually make my sauce and get the dough started on day one. Then, on day two, it's just a matter prepping the toppings and baking it. And really, I make it sound like a huge endeavor but it isn't.   

We usually make pizzas when we have people over for an actual pizza party, so I like to get as much done the day before so I'm not spending too much time in the kitchen when everyone shows up. The dough recipe (next week's post) will make six personal sized pizzas, about 10" in diameter. But that's just a guess-timation because ours never turn out round. They're usually oblong, kidney shaped, or triangular and that's okay though because I think those odd shapes give the pizza character. And when it's time to start making the pizzas, I can get the guests involved in the process. Everyone has a different idea of their perfect pizza and this way they can pick exactly what they want on it. 

This sauce is a bit on the thicker side. It's not too thick but it's not runny either. I like it better that way because it doesn't run on your pizza and it helps to keep your crust crispy. You have to keep in mind that homemade pizzas don't cook quite the same way as pizzeria pizzas for the simple fact that your oven or grill can't really achieve the high temperature it takes to properly cook the pizza. But fret not, we're gonna get as close as we can with what we have. In the next post, we'll make the crust dough and finish the pizzas off. 

This recipe was inspired by this here. 

Pizza Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup white onion, 1/4 inch dice
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
• 1 6 oz can tomato paste
• 2 Tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp celery salt
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 bay leaves

Preparation: 

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over a medium high heat. Once shimmering, add the onion and saute for about two minutes. Now add the garlic and continue to saute for about 1 more minute until the onions are translucent and the garlic just begins to brown. Remove from heat 

2. In a medium sauce pan add the remaining ingredients. Place over a medium heat and add the onion and garlic mixture

3. Bring the sauce to a simmer and lower the heat to low. Cover and continue to simmer for about 20 minutes. Stir every few minutes or so make sure the sauce doesn't scorch at the bottom.

Serves 6-8

Spaghetti Sauce:

Not Sketti Sauce

A good while back I watched an episode of Honey Boo Boo (don't judge) where the family made a rather interesting version of spaghetti sauce, affectionately referred to as "sketti". Based on what I was able to gather, the sauce is roughly 50% margarine and 50% ketchup. Any seasonings? Nope. Margarine and ketchup, only. Was it at least slowly simmered over a low heat to somehow hopefully and magically deepen or develop the flavors of the ketchup and margarine? Nope. Microwaved.   

(I'm not going to show you good people how to make sketti. So don't fret and stick with me here.)

Out of purely morbid curiosity, I made it. I know, I know, it's gross but I just had to find out. I knew it would be awful....but sometimes in life you just gotta make that call for yourself. It's like when your wife pulls some unidentified Tupperware container from the way, way back of the fridge with some leftover whatever, hailing from days of yore, and smells it. She recoils in disgust and says: "Ew!!! Gross!!! Here, smell this!!!". And you do. You know it's bad but you still smell it anyway. Why didn't you just learn vicariously from her obviously bad experience? After all, you did just witness her recoiling in disgust. Wasn't that enough? Apparently not.

So I made the sketti. Surprisingly, it wasn't what I was expecting at all, really. In fact, I was actually somewhat familiar with it. And it was exactly as it should be. It was surprisingly, yet logically, sweet and tangy. The richness of the margarine tones down the tang of ketchup and adds a certain undeniable balance that.......oh shut up, Justin! Nutshell? It reminds me of SpaghettiO's. Does it taste exactly like SpaghettiO's? No, but the first thought that came to my mind when I tasted it was that of those beloved little round O's from my childhood. I guess you could say it was "SpaghettiO-esque". That being said, there's a reason why I don't eat O's anymore: they taste like sketti. Learn vicariously my friends, don't try this at home.

What I have for you today is my own version of spaghetti sauce. Or pasta sauce, if you will. I know that's kind of a generic term that can mean a million things. But for me, growing up, spaghetti sauce was always synonymous with marinara. It was something that was always in the "mix" for an easy weekly dinner. And this goes back to before I can remember. For me, it's one of those comfort-type foods that is easy to make and it will usually please pretty much anyone.

I prefer my sauce kinda chunky. So I leave the veggies a little bit larger so they provide something to bite into when you get a taste. Not huge chunks but significant enough to create an identifiable bite. I love to bite down on that odd piece of bell pepper mixed in the sauce and think to myself: Damn! That bell pepper is amazing.

Hint: We put this over stuffed cheese manicotti tonight and it rocked.    

Vegetarian Spaghetti Sauce


Ingredients:

• 3 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
• 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained 
• 2/3 small can of tomato paste
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp dried basil leaves
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 large bell pepper, diced
• 1/3 large onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves

Preparation:

1. In a large dutch oven or pot, over a medium high heat, combine the first 10 ingredients (up to and including the bay leaves). Bring ingredients to a simmer, then reduce heat to low to maintain simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

2. In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over a medium high heat. Add in the bell peppers and saute for 2-3 minutes. Then add the onions and continue to saute for about 2 more minutes. Finally, add the garlic and saute for another 2 minutes. 

3. Now add your sauteed veggies to the pot with the sauce. At this point taste and adjust your salt and pepper if necessary.  Let simmer for an additional 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

4. Serve over pasta of your choice.

Servings: 6

Penne Alla Vodka

Penne Alla Vodka:

You Won't Get Drunk, Don't Worry

Honestly, the thought of pouring vodka over noodles has always sounded kinda gross. Okay, okay, I know you don't actually pour it over the noodles. And I know you're supposed to cook the sauce first. I also know the alcohol "cooks off" but I still always thought there would be a freaky vodka-like grossness to the remaining dish. As much as I know inside that I "know" about cooking, I also realize I don't know the first thing about cooking. That's what is so cool about it: There is ALWAYS something new to learn. Always.

It reminds me of the old critically acclaimed film Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (circa 1989) where they quoted Socrates. Funny how you learn cool stuff through stupid stuff. Or am I just stupid? Jury's out on that one. Anywho, the quote is as follows: "The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing". And if you KNOW that, you will learn everything you possibly can.
  

So a few years back, we were in an a local Italian restaurant for dinner before heading out to a blues show we had tickets for. My wife ordered the pasta with vodka sauce. I figured I could order my choice off the menu and then try her dish to see if I liked it. If I did great but if I didn't, I could say "Haha, mines is good, yours is gross". Then I could eat mine slowly with my eyes shut, all the while going "Mmmm, this is so tasty. Bet you wish you ordered this. What did you get again? Oh yeah vodka sauce. Ewww. Bet it's gross." 

I wouldn't have really done that. 

But as it turns out, the dish was actually very good. In fact, I kinda loved it. And bless her heart because she didn't close her eyes and tell me how much better hers was than mine. Note to self: Grow up Justin.

Since then, I've grown to love the dish. I've had it on several occasions since and thought it was about time I figured this thing out. My findings were rather cool. This dish is actually super easy to make and the results are equally as good. 

My wife (for the purposes of this blog, let's just call her Kris, mostly because at birth, her parents named her Kris) has a huge problem with me when we entertain. I have this uncontrollable urge to make the best food ever for my guests. Unreasonable?  No. However, the downfall to it is that I tend to spend too much time in the kitchen cooking for my guests instead of hanging out with them on the patio or in the pool like a good host should. Amateur? Probably. But I'm a perfectionist and would rather have them enjoy my "artistic capabilities" rather than my mediocre company. The fact is, I run my dinner parties like a restaurant. She's front of the house, I'm back of the house. She the hostess, I'm the chef.  But as usual, she's right. I should make stuff like Penne Alla Vodka that's quick and delicious and call it good.

That being said, this is perfect for guests because it doesn't require much cook time or prep. A small amount of mise en place is usually in order but, again, this one doesn't require much.

This recipe was inspired by The Pioneer Woman's version of this dish. 

 

Penne Alla Vodka

Ingredients:

• 1 pound box of penne pasta
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup vodka
• One 14 oz can of tomato puree (see hint below)
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp salt, or to taste
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
• 2-3 Tbsp basil, cut chiffonade
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 

Preparation: 

1. Cook pasta per box directions. Do not overcook making sure to leave pasta al dente. Once done, reserve one cup of the cooking water then drain the noodles. 

2. Heat butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and shallots and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. 

3. Add vodka to skillet and cook to reduce for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently.

4. Add tomato puree and mix until completely combined. Then reduce heat to low.

5. Add the cream and stir to combine.

6. Then stir in the red pepper flakes, salt, black pepper, and basil.

7. Finally, add the noodles and Parmesan and toss to combine all. 

Serves 4

Hint: The first two ingredients listed on most tomato puree cans are: Tomato paste, water.
If you can't find the tomato puree, buy a 14 oz can of tomato paste and add water to it until you reach a consistency somewhere between tomato paste and tomato sauce. The plus side to this? Tomato paste is half the cost of puree. Why would a product that's twice as concentrated cost half the price of the diluted version? Somebody is seeing someone coming from a mile away. Shhhh. Save yourself some money and stick it to the man! 

Vegetarian Lasagne:

Layered With Love

Layered with love? How cheesy is that title? Well let me tell you friends and neighbors, it's real cheesy. Three kinds of cheesy to be exact. Hehe, stepped into that one, didn't you?

In my humble opinion, lasagne is the quintessential comfort food. It's oozing with melty cheeses, it's got thick noodles that are as filling as all get out, and it's packed full of flavor. Lash that together with a hunk of warm garlic bread, a glass of Sangiovese and you are in Heaven.

Now, you can go many different directions with lasagne. And there are three quarters of a million different recipes out there. Trust me. I counted them. All of them. Me? I like the kind with the red sauce as opposed to the cream sauce types. I'm not saying I don't like both, just that if you put them both in front of me, I'd naturally gravitate toward the red sauce lasagne. And of course, since this is a vegetarian blog site, it's gonna have to be, well, vegetarian. 

My aim, when making these dishes, is to please not only myself, but of course, my wife as well. We don't disagree on too many things. That's one of the things that has made our marriage last for so many years. But when it comes to mushrooms, it's like Peter Griffin vs. the chicken, Spy vs. Spy, Wile E. Coyote vs. The Roadrunner. I love mushrooms and will demand that I'm buried with some. She, on the other hand, thinks they're slimy and therefore gross. The compromise? I leave them in large enough chunks so she can easily pick them out...... Smily face. Or as she would say, slimy face.   

While I was doing my research for this recipe, I came across a very interesting tidbit of info. This may already be common knowledge, but it's a new one on me. I always spelled lasagne with an "e" at the end. However, when I searched for it, the suggestion was to to spell it with an "a" at the end. Both look right to me but I always just used the "e" when I wrote it. As it turns out, both are correct. Lasagna is the correct spelling for one noodle, whereas lasagne would be the plural. It would stand to reason, at least from my perspective, that lasagne would be the correct spelling for the dish as well since the dish calls for several noodles. But I suppose that's up for debate.  

This particular recipe is adapted from a number of different recipes. However, its’ greatest influence came from a recipe written by an Allrecipes contributor by the name of John Chandler. This was originally a meat sauce lasagne recipe but I have made the appropriate changes to make it vegetarian. Yes, there seems to be a lot of ingredients here but I'd be willing to bet that you already have many of them in your pantry. And the extra effort you put into this dish will be well rewarded. 

Ingredients: 

1 (28 oz) can of crushed tomatoes
1 (15 oz) can of tomato sauce
2 (6 oz) cans of tomato paste
1/2 cup of water (you can use veggie broth if you have it on hand)
2 Tbsp white sugar
1 1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
1 tsp fennel seeds (do not leave this out!!!)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 Tbsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley, divided
1/2 cup minced white or yellow onion
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small eggplant, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1/2 a medium zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1/2 chopped green bell pepper
1/2 pound baby portabella mushrooms, sliced (you can use crimini if you want) 
12 lasagna noodles
16 oz ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1 pound mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation: 

In a Dutch oven, combine crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley.

Now add the onion, garlic, eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, and mushrooms. Bring to a simmer over a medium high heat. Once simmering, lower heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally (about every 10 minutes or so).

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. You want them fully cooked but you want them al dente. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

To assemble, spread 2 cups of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 2 cups sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil.  To prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.