Pizza Pie

While the rest of the country was posting Facebook messages and Tweets waxing poetic about their memories of 9/11, Tiff and I were celebrating 10 months together. To celebrate, I cooked a big dinner. I've been wanting to do a grilled pizza for awhile now, so this was the perfect opportunity.

Pizza is an all-encompassing dish...it effectively covers the culinary gamut from inexpensive and pedestrian to rustic and delicious.  Diners can find versions of 'za everywhere from McDonald's to Mesa Grill and everywhere in between. Seeing as this was a special occasion, I decided to try my hand at a savory chicken pesto pizza. On the side was a Mediterranean pasta.

Now I've tried to make pizza dough from scratch before and found out that I'm not very good at it. So this time, I played it smart and let the pros make it for me. I called Jim's Razorback Pizza here in Maumelle and asked them if I could buy some uncooked dough. They supplied me with two large mounds of their classic wheat crust which I took home and put in the fridge. After a quick trip to Kroger for supplies, I was ready to start. 

I prepared the pasta salad first, since it needed to be chilled before serving. I got the recipe out of my latest Food Network magazine. It's a pretty simple: cook and drain the pasta, chop vegetables, prep vinagriette, and mix. After the pasta was prepared and moved to the chill box I moved to the pizza.  I started by making the pesto and grilling up a few chicken breasts and some mushrooms I planned to use as toppings. Once they were ready I covered and set them aside. Time for the dough.

After a quick review of pizza dough how-to on Youtube, I got to work. Shaping pizza dough is a time-intensive task.  I quickly found out that my initial plan of doing one large pizza was not going to work out due to my lack of a pizza peel. I changed course and molded out two personal-sized pizzas of about 8 in. each. I wasn't brave enough to attempt the pizza spin, but they came out pretty well. I liked the rustic look that hand-forming the dough gave them. After the crust was shaped, I coated it with olive oil and transferred to the grill.

Ever wonder why those brick oven-style pizzas are so great? I'll tell you why: heat. Most brick ovens hold a temperature of around 900 degrees.  This molten-hot cooking environment results in a crispy, yet still chewy crust and perfectly melted cheese. You can somewhat mimic these results with a pizza stone and hot oven, but the grill is far better suited to high heat cooking. Therefore, the grill makes a great pizza oven. I fired my grill up on high and let it warm for 5-10 minutes before cooking the crust. I precooked the crust for about 2 minutes on each side, then added the toppings and cooked for another 4 minutes to melt the cheese. The pizzas came out with a great rustic look. I really liked the pesto as a sauce. It didn't look or taste anything like your run-of-the-mill Domino's variety. And that was a good thing.

Ingredients:

Mediterranean pasta (courtesty Food Network):

• Kosher salt
• 1 pound tricolor pasta, such as bow tie or fusilli
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 to 3 teaspoons dijon mustard
• Freshly ground pepper
• 2/3 to 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, julienned
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 2 large pickled pepperoncini peppers, diced
• 3 tablespoons halved black olives
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
• 1 1/2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 1/2 tablespoons grated romano cheese 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente; drain, then rinse with cold water to cool.

Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette: Whisk the vinegar, mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in enough of the oil to make a smooth dressing; season with salt and pepper.

Combine the sun-dried tomatoes, basil, onion, pepperoncini, olives and oregano in a bowl. Add the cooked pasta, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Add the vinaigrette and both cheeses and toss. Chill until ready to serve.

Joe's Chicken Pesto Pizza

• Pizza dough
• 2 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• white mushrooms
• 1 red onion
• mozzerella cheese
• olive oil, for coating
•  basil pesto

Coat chicken and mushrooms with oil, salt, and pepper, and grill until cooked. Cover and set aside. Punch down dough to remove air bubbles and hand form into pizza crust. Coat crust with olive oil and lightly season with salt and pepper. Transfer to hot grill and cook 1-2 minutes per side.  Slice chicken, onions, and mushrooms. Top crust with basil pesto, mushrooms, onions, chicken, and cheese, and grill until cheese is melted, about 4 minutes. Allow to set for 3 minutes before serving.