Pizza on the Grill

We enjoyed a very lazy Sunday. The temperatures have cooled to the high 80's and the air conditioner is no longer required to survive the afternoon. I spent the first half of the World Cup final on the treadmill. 45 minutes on the treadmill is usually not a problem for me, but for some strange reason, I get a bit sea sick while watching football/soccer while running on the treadmill. Do not worry, Dear Reader, I toughed it out and jogged ever-so-slowly while absolutely NOTHING happened during the first half of the championship game.

Now that the World Cup is over, I have no idea what I will do while awake at 6 o'clock in the morning. Work? Exercise? Blog???

DT and I had a large group for Shabbat and we had an assortment of left over veggies and shredded cheeses that needed to be consumed. Pizza! But it is still too hot to use the oven... so it was time for pizza on the grill.

Use any pizza crust recipe, a store-purchased crust, or buy a ball of dough from your friendly neighborhood pizza joint.

I spread the pizza dough with a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil mixed with three (yes, I said three) smashed garlic cloves. I used three cloves of the Dorot frozen garlic available at Trader Joe's.)

Then, I cracked a wholotta freshly cracked black pepper over the crust.

Why? Because there isn't such a thing as too much freshly cracked black pepper.

Next, I topped the dough with shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese... from a bag of already-shredded cheese that I used to make mac & cheese for the kids attending our Shabbat.

Some pizza grill experts will have you place the pizza dough directly onto the grill. I am not so brave. I am sure my dough will drip down into the grill and create a huge mess. (Go with this commando method if you choose.) I am a wimp. I put a pizza stone on the grill and heated it to 450-500 degrees. Then I carefully slide the dressed pizza onto the hot stone. If you are not experienced with sliding a pizza off a wooden peel onto the grill, I suggest you roll your crust out over a sheet of parchment paper and slide the parchment and dough directly onto the stone. Easy cheater method as the paper makes moving the dough so much easier (and neater).

If you can get your grill to 500 degrees, it will be just like a wood-fired pizza oven. Your pizza will only need 10 minutes to reach perfection.

When the pizza was finished, I put a bunch of chopped basil leaves over the top.

A great combination and an easy vegetarian dinner for a hot summer day.

Assuming you like pizza, of course.

Until my next update, I remain, your "I like pizza" correspondent.