Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Grilled Pizzas

Last month, we visited Chicago for a couple of days just because it had been years since we'd spent time walking around that city in warm weather. The most important thing I learned while there is that visiting the Art Institute of Chicago on the day after Labor Day is a delight. The museum was empty since the long weekend had just ended. Unlike visiting it around the holidays when you'll be squeezing between many thick, winter coat-clad elbows in every attempt to view a major work of art, you'll have space to move about and view the art from different angles. I was thrilled to have Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte all to myself for several minutes. That was my favorite thing about our Chicago visit. The most important thing Kurt learned during our visit is that you should always go with your first instinct when choosing something from a menu. We had dinner one night at Avec, and he first thought he wanted a flatbread with speck, blue cheese, and arugula, which is a favorite combination of his, but he then changed his mind and went with the pasta. When he saw one flatbread after the next being delivered to other diners, he was green with envy. This is why when I decided to make grilled pizzas a couple of weeks ago, one of them had to include speck, blue cheese, and arugula. I also made a mushroom version and one with sauteed shishito peppers and fresh mozzarella, and I used my new Camp Chef cast iron pizza pan that was provided by CSGrills.com.

There are a couple of tricks to grilling pizza. First, you need to cook both sides of the dough since the intense heat doesn't reach the top side very well. So, the pizza dough is placed on the grill pan, in this case, and cooked for a few minutes, then it's flipped. The second trick is that you need to work quickly so the crust doesn't burn. The cheese should be added to the browned side of the dough first and then the other toppings. By the time all the toppings are in place, the pizza is probably almost done. Therefore, any vegetables that you'd like to have somewhat cooked on the pizza should be cooked before going on as a topping. I sauteed sliced mushrooms and whole shishito peppers before heading to the grill. I also grated, chopped, or sliced all the cheeses I intended to use. Everything should be prepped and in reach. For the mushroom pizza, I used grated quadrello di bufala cheese, for the speck, the cheese was chunks of smokey blue from Rogue Creamery, and the shishito pepper pizza was topped with slices of fresh mozzarella and shards of parmigiano reggiano. The dough for these was made from the recipe in the A16 book which I've made before, and it's easy to make but needs to be started in advance. By starting the dough two days before you plan to use it, and storing it in the refrigerator after mixing and then after folding and turning, it develops great flavor.

Of course, you can grill pizza directly on the grate, but having the cast iron pan made it a little easier. The dough didn't stick at all to the cast iron, and it was very easy to scoop under the crust with a peel for turning the dough and removing finished pizzas. I always love a mushroom pizza especially when it's drizzled with a little truffle oil as this one was, and Kurt was finally able to forget his menu choice regret.



24 comments:

  1. I am triple-envious of this post: Chicago, grilled pizzas and a very cool cast iron pizza pan! My favorite exhibit at the Art Institute is the Thorne Miniature Rooms. Staring into those perfectly-scaled historical rooms, I could imagine myself in them. Similarly, I can imagine myself eating a slice or two of these grilled pizzas! 8-)

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  2. Making grilled pizza is a lot of fun with tasty results. I just stick mine on the grill rack, but your pan is something I could use! Your pizza pictures look amazing-yum!
    Glad you enjoyed your trip to Chicago-it is a great city to visit.

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  3. Very tasty looking and such vivid pictures!! Mmmm! And I looooove Chicago. So fun!!

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  4. Scrummy pizzas! A great way of cooking them.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  5. Grilled pizza is indeed my favorite!

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  6. I never made grilled pizza infact I hardly made pizza so far. Love those chili .. and this pizza looks lovely.

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  7. Hard to associate Chicago with thin-crust pizza but thin-crusts is my fav. :)

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  8. Your pizza looks fantastic! And I'm glad you were able to make him happy after the fact.

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  9. Love these pizzas Lisa never made grilled pizza only at oven! sounds nice!gloria

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  10. Just one look at the shishito pepper pizza and it was official...must give that a try. Definitely the first time seeing them used this way.

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  11. Internet was out (long annoying and pointless story) so missed a few posts, Lisa. LOVE those biscuits. I'm a biscuit nut anyway. :)

    And I confess, I NEVER make pizza! Do you believe it? If my grandkids lived closer, perhaps I would. They're coming soon, so I better tuck this recipe away. It looks delish! Love that pizza pan.

    And nice article about Lisa Fain.... love it when you do those.

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  12. Those sure are some amazing Pizzas, Lisa. What I find astonishing is, dare I say, I'm not partial to pizza in general. However, I sure would be willing to sample both of your grilled pizzas especially that one with the mushrooms!!!

    I had full intentions of visiting Chicago once again this year, sigh, I didn't make it. The museum is fabulous but I would love to return for the Taste of Chicago, another {sigh}

    Thanks for sharing, Lisa...

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  13. I love making pizza on the grill because it gets that nice char on the crust. We do ours in a Big Green Egg. If you have one of those, which can get up to 600 degrees or so, you only have to cook one side of the crust. That baby is blistering hot and can cook a pizza in less than four minutes.

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  14. Slow-rise pizza dough is definitely the best for flavor and texture.

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  15. These look fab. I made grilled pizzas for a party once. I fired up the gas grill (would be fantastic over charcoal, I think) and pre-grilled a bunch of small pizzas. Then the guests added the toppings of their choice and I finished the pizzas on the grill. Easy peasy.

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  16. I've never grilled pizza before but it sounds simple enough from your instructions! And yes it's really nice to have an artwork to yourself for a few minutes! :)

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  17. They look so good! It's a great idea to grill pizzas!

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  18. yess! i love grilled pizza! made it for the first time this summer and it rocked mah worlddd!

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  19. Thanks for talking about A16, I have the cookbook but have not tried a recipe yet. This looks like my kind of pizza.

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  20. I have never made grilled pizza although I ate a couple of time and, oh boy, was so good.
    Yours look great Lisa. would make a wonderful dinner.

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  21. Great combination of ingredients on those pizzas. Appreciate all the helpful hints - I'm not one to crave pizzas, but this has me intrigued.

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  22. Kurt is a lucky man- that pizza speck pizza looks and sounds fabulous! I'm long overdue for a trip to Chicago as well. It's been years. I want to hear all about Avec- it's on my list of places to check out. I've yet to grill pizzas- in fact, we don't even own a grill. No wonder why we aren't Texans yet. I really like the idea of grilling the pizzas in a cast iron skillet. I might even give it a try on the stove top.

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  23. I love both the Art Institute and Avec! Such a lovely pizza, so glad you could make it for Kurt after he missed out!

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  24. thanks for the pointers and topping ideas--great post, lisa!

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