Main Dishes
Loading
Grilled Pizzas
- Grilled pizzas are great for outdoor dinner parties, tail gaiting parties, and kids parties.
- The dough needs at least 3 hours to rise, but can be made and stored up to 2 days ahead of time. Just store covered until ready to use.
- Grill the dough on one side, let your guests and family members select their toppings and then quickly grill the other side for a fantastic custom dinner that will be sure to please everyone.
- This recipe is for 6 pizzas, but you may want to double the dough recipe because your guests will want to take some home.
Pizza Dough
Ingredients2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups water between 100 and 110 degrees 1/4 olive oil 4 cups flour 1 1/2 teaspoon salt |
Steps1. Using a thermometer to measure the water temperature, dissolve the yeast in a measuring cup of water.
2. Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl of a stand mixer, add the 1/4 oil, flour and salt. Mix with a dough hook on low speed to blend, then mix on medium speed until the dough is very smooth and stretchy, but feels tacky. 3. Cover the dough place it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and up to 2 days. 4. Cut parchment paper into 12 inch sheets equaling the number of pizzas you intend to bake and rub each with 1 teaspoon of olive oil 5. Light the grill to about 350 degrees or to where you can hold your hand over the grate at 5 inches for a few seconds. 6. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and using hands well oiled with olive oil, punch it down, then turn the dough onto a floured smooth work surface - a large cutting board works well. Knead the dough just a bit and then cut the dough into the desired number of pieces for the number of pizzas and place the dough onto the parchment. Flatten the dough and pat into rounds of 9 to 10 inches. Let the dough stand until puffy, about 15 minutes. If the dough starts to shrink back, pat back out again. 7. Flip the round of dough on the parchment onto the grill, dough side down. Peel off the parchment. cook, covered, until lthe dough has puffed and grill marks appear underneath. Transfer the rounds, grilled side up , to lined baking sheets. 8. Put the desired toppings onto the grilled side. Using a wide spatula, return to the pizzas to the grill and cook covered for about 3 minutes, or until grill marks appear on the bottom side of the pizzas and the cheese, if used, has melted. Rotate once during cooking for even baking. 9. Remove from the grill and serve. |
Pizza Sauce
Ingredients2 tablespoons olive oil
8 large tomatoes 2 tablespoons garlic 2 teaspoons sugar 1/2 teaspoon red chile pepper flakes 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano leaves |
Steps1. Heat the olive oil in a medium size frying pan over medium heat.
2. Add the garlic and saute for about one minute. Do not allow it to brown. 3. Stir in the tomatoes, sugar, chile flakes, salt and pepper. 4. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered, stirring often, until there is no liquid and the mixture is very thick - about 1 hour. 5. Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped oregano. |
Pizza Combination Ideas
Although the possiblities are endless, here are just a few ideas to get you started. Don't forget to check out the herbs and cheese recipes to maximize the percentage of your pizza that comes from food your grew and prepared.
|
Pasta Carbonara with Ricotta
Serves 2 large bowls of pasta. Find the ricotta recipe here.
Ingredients8 ounces of cherry tomatoes, quartered or Roma tomatoes chopped
1/2 tablespoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 6 slices of bacon 2 jalapeno peppers 1 shallot or a few slices of purple onion, minced 6 basil leaves 8 ounces of fresh ricotta (see cheese recipes) 6 tablesoons extra-virgin olive oil or 2 tablespoons bacon drippings and 4 tablespoons olive oil pepper 4 oz of your preferred pasta; spaghetti or penne works well |
Steps1. Toss the tomatoes, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Let stand for 15 minutes.
2. Fry the bacon, rain on a paper towel, crumble into a bowel and set aside, reserving the bacon drippings. 3. Dice the jalapenos and onions or shallots. 4. Put the jalapenos and onions or shallots into the frying pan with the bacon drippings and saute until the onions become transparent. Remove with a slotted spoon, place into a bowl and set aside. 5. Put the peppers and onions into the remaining oil and cook until just beginning to crisp. Immediately remove from the heat and place into a bowl. 6. Bring water in a medium saucepan to a boil. Add pasta and cook until desired doneness. Al dente is recommended with this recipe. 7. Shred the basil leaves into rough, large pieces. 8. Plate the dishes with the pasta at the bottom and drizzle with olive oil. Spoon the tomato mixture over the pasta, then onions and peppers, cheese, pepper to taste and garnish with the fresh basil. Serving size: 2 large bowls of pasta. |
Something unique: Ricotta pancakes
These lovely light and fluffy pancakes can be served at breakfast as a main dish or as a basis for a dessert with ice cream and/or your favorite seasonal fruit. In the summer the peaches are so sweet and tender you don't need any other sweeteners, but you can try mint if you want to add a little zest. You could also add blueberries into the batter. The recipe for ricotta can be found at this link.
Ingredients2 cups unbleached flour
1 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 eggs, separated 2 cups milk 4 ounces of drained ricotta |
Steps1. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl.
2. Preferably using a stainless steel or copper boil, use a mixer to whip the egg whites until stiff. 3. In a large bowl, beat together the egg yolks, milk and ricotta until well blended and smooth. Using a spoon, add the flour mixture and gently combine. 4. Stir a spoonful of the egg whites into the batter and then fold in the remaining whites. 5. Heat a skillet or griddle and grease with just a tiny beat of oil or butter to coat the pan. 6. Pour the batter to the size of desired pancakes onto the griddle. When bubbles form, flip and cook until underside is golden. 7. Transfer to a serving platter. |