Grilled Pizza and MANual Labor

A long time ago, I figured out that the best food in the world is the food cooked by somebody else. At nearly the same time, I figured out that the best way to get the man of the house to do the cookin' is to grill out. So, in the name of getting out of my share of the cooking, I've figured out how to grill almost everything. Especially pizza. Now my husband makes pretty much the best pizza on the planet. I mean look at the oozy, crisp goodness up there in the picture. He's been experimenting for years and really has the technique down pat.

I had to laugh a little bit, when one of my newfound LA friends mentioned that he has a pizza oven in his back yard. Don't get me wrong, pizza ovens are FABULOUS! They are also like elebendy hundred dollars. Nope, our high-tech pizza grilling gear includes a glass of water, an old cutting board, and a dilapidated Weber grill. We from the Midwest tend to channel our inner MacGyver a little more often before we invest in a lot of expensive gear.

So chalk this juicy little beauty up in the "cheep thrills" category for sure.

Here's the recipe:

The Fat Chick's Grilled Margarita Man Pizza

1 bag Plain pizza dough from Trader Joes
3-4 very ripe tomatoes sliced into discs
1 cup basil leaves torn into small pieces
2T olive oil
1.5 cups shredded parmesano reggiano cheese
Flour for dusting

Yield, 2 medium sized pizzas. Start your charcoal grill. It needs to be VERY hot in order to work properly. Take the dough out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for about 20 minutes. Remove the dough from the plastic bag and turn it out onto a lightly floured board. Cut the dough into two pieces. Roll or stretch out each piece of the dough until you have created a thin circle roughly 14-inches in diameter. Put each piece of dough on a separate, floured cutting board or pizza board. Now, before you begin, make sure that all of your other ingredients are right next to the grill and ready to go. You'll need to move quickly (believe me.) When your grill is roaring hot, take each of the rolled out crusts and gently slide them onto the grill next to each other but not touching. Now slam the lid of the Weber down and let the pizza grill for a minute or two (you'll know it's right when the upper surface of the dough bubbles up with some pretty big air bubbles). Now this is the tricky bit, before it gets really too black on the bottom, flip those pizza crusts over and QUICKLY throw on the toppings. You've literally got less than a minute to get this done. Lay down a little olive oil (we find that a pouring bottle with a very small spout works best), lay down those tomato slices, sprinkle the basil over and the cheese on top of that. Now slam down the lid again and cook for another 4-6 minutes or so. To get a really crisp and chewy authentic crust, throw about 2 cups of cold water on the fire for the last 1-2 minutes of cooking. CAUTION, this is the dangerous part--don't burn yourself on the steam, don't dump the water ON the pizza and don't drop the glass. You're looking for golden brown here. But the difference between golden brown and very black is a very short period indeed. Take it out and enjoy. Or throw it out and call the pizza boy. (It WILL take a few tries before you get it right.)

Let me know how it goes.

Love,
TFC