Grilled Pizza...take 1

Hello there! On Friday night Matt and I attempted to grill pizza...It wasn't a complete success but it was close! There a a few kinks we need to work out...first off, I had put all the toppings out on our bar we have outside, it was a little chilly and I think they got too cold therefore, the cheese didn't melt quite enough before the bottom of the crust was done...oopsie. Second, I think we had the temperature of the grill right, it was about 400 degrees but the coals themselves were too close to the rack. But other than that the flavor of the pizza was AMAZING!

I'm not going to go into too much detail here because I want to try it again...but here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure ;)

Be sure and use Rustic Pizza Sauce which you can find here...

Oopsie...this was the first one...it didn't taste all that burnt...I'm serious!

This was the second one we made, not burned but it was thicker than we wanted...

See what I mean about the cheese?? I would have liked it to melt more and be hot, not warm...

All in all, it wasn't a complete success or failure. We will probably try it again this Friday...I will let you know how take 2 turns out :)

FINALLY...perfect night for a fire

My hubby!

That's all I've got for now! Happy Tuesday!!!!

xo

Pin It

Rustic Pizza and Bruschetta Chicken

Ok, so I know it has been almost a WHOLE week since I have posted anything!!! Can you say SLACKER??? I don't even know what I was doing...I wasn't even busy except Tuesday night...I went to see Lady Gaga in Grand Rapids with some girlfriends!!!!!!!!! And those of you that know me personally...know my obsession with Gaga! She did not disappoint....show was AH-MAZING!!!!!!!!!


Anyways...last Friday we made homemade pizza again. I know I posted about pizza recently, which you can read about here, but I wasn't 100% satisfied with how I rolled the dough so I tried it again....but this time I went out on a limb and made a rustic pizza with egg. Yes, I said egg and I gotta tell ya, I could have eaten the whole thing myself...it was THAT good! I have seen it in a few food mags and thought to myself...I MUST try that!


I wasn't exactly sure how to go about it...so I googled "pizza with egg on top" and came across this blog and the rest is history....I changed mine up a bit but the sauce is the TRICK to making this superb!


Here we go...

Rustic Pizza Sauce

10-12 roma tomatoes

1 tablespoon dried oregano
salt & pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Slice the romas lengthwise, remove seeds and roughly chop.
2. Heat olive oil in large sauce pan over high heat. Add the tomatoes, oregano, salt & pepper.
3. Using a potato masher, mash up the tomatoes and let simmer for about 30 minutes.

NOTE : This makes about 6-8 cups of sauce. You can easily cut this in half or save the leftovers for an easy weeknight meal.
Printable Recipe!

Rustic Pizza with Egg

1/2 lb pizza dough

1-2 cups rustic pizza sauce

1 cup Italian blend cheese, shredded

4-6 slices fresh mozzarella 

4 basil leaves, torn

corn meal, if using a pizza stone

flour for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. If using a pizza stone place stone in oven for 45 minutes.
2. Roll out the dough very thin, place on a pizza peel.
3. Top with the sauce, shredded mozzarella, mozzarella slices and basil.
4. Sprinkle cornmeal on the HOT stone and transfer pizza to stone. Bake for 15 minutes.
5. Pull out the pizza and crack two eggs on top, sprinkle with salt & pepper and continue baking for 10 minutes.
6. Remove the pizza from the oven and let sit for a few minutes. Slice and serve!!!

Printable Recipe!

At least the egg on the left looks perfect! 

I HIGHLY recommend a piece with the gooey yolk. 

DELISH!!!

DANGEROUSLY DELISH!!!

Great, now I'm craving pizza...

Since I had a few cups of sauce left over I put it in the fridge and figured I could make a quick dinner with it on Monday...and that I did....

Bruschetta Chicken 

1 package chicken cutlets

2 cups rustic pizza sauce

4 slices fresh mozzarella

1/2 yellow onion, sliced

3-4 basil leaves, torn

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

garlic salt & pepper, to taste

1. Heat olive over medium heat, add the onions and red pepper flakes. Cook until tender.
2. Add the sauce and basil leaves. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
3. Drizzle chicken with olive oil and coat well with garlic salt and pepper.
4. Heat grill pan over med/high heat about 3 minutes. Cook chicken approx 4 minutes on each side until no longer pink.
5. Place chicken in baking dish, top with sauce then mozzarella.
6. Broil for approx 5 minutes or until bubbly.

Printable Recipe!

Wasn't that easy???

Pin It

Pizza, Pizza...

Friday night we decided to stay in and make homemade pizza. My mother in law got me a bread machine for my birthday last year and every since I got it, I have been wanting to make pizza because it is SOOOO easy to make the dough. I don't know where the time went because here it is almost 9 months SINCE my birthday...and  I just got around to making it. Talk about procrastination!!! That may as well be my middle name sometimes!

Anyways, I decided to make a mock up of our favorite pizza from a local place, Pete's Patio, the Patio Special. It has big chunks of Italian sausage, green peppers, onions & mushrooms. So delish! I also made one with roasted peppers, spinach, bacon and goat cheese. We will just call this...the Steph Special...? It was pretty delish too but by the time it was done baking, I was full from the other. I guess it's time to invest in a second pizza stone so we can bake more than one at a time. 

For the dough using a bread machine :

I use the Oster 2lb Expressbake Breadmaker.

Recipe courtesy of Oster.

3/4 teaspoon salt

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 3/8 cup water, room temperature

3 tablespoons olive oil

Put all ingredients into the bread pan in order, beginning with the salt. Follow your machines instructions for the dough setting. When dough is ready remove from the pan and separate into two.  

If you do not have a bread machine you can find a great recipe from Giada De Laurentiis here.

For the sauce : 

1 16oz can tomato sauce

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 tablespoon dried parsley

2 teaspoons minced garlic

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

NOTE TO SELF

Do not leave small pot of sauce on high unattended or you will be cleaning up a mess like this...

OOPSIE!!!

For the PATIO Special...

1/2 lb ground pork sausage

1 teaspoon fennel seed

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, optional

1 green pepper, sliced

1/2 medium yellow onion, sliced

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

1 cup shredded mozzarella

3/4 cup prepared sauce ( more or less to your liking)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. If using a pizza stone put it in the oven while preheating.
2. Season the sausage with the fennel, parsley and red pepper and cook in a skillet over high heat until cooked through.
3. I like to cook my onions before I put them on the pizza. If you choose to do so, just saute until they become translucent.
4. Roll dough with a rolling pin to form a circle or somewhat of one ( mine never seem to come out right)!
5. Spread the sauce, sprinkle a little bit of cheese, top with the green pepper, onion, mushrooms, sausage and finish off with the rest of the cheese.
6. Transfer to the pizza stone and bake approx 20 minutes or until the crust is browned.

For the Steph Special...

1/2 cup prepared sauce

4 strips bacon, cooked & crumbled

1 cup fresh spinach, roughly chopped

1 cup roasted peppers, sliced (I used Mezzetta)

2 cups shredded Italian blend cheese

6 oz goat cheese 

• Repeat steps 1 and 4 from above.
• Spread the sauce, sprinkle 1 cup of the Italian blend cheese, top with the spinach, roasted peppers, bacon ending with the goat cheese.
• Transfer to pizza stone and bake approx 20 minutes or until the crust is browned.

Enjoy!!! 

Well with the "BLIZZARD" of 2011 under way I'm in the mood for something hot! Spicy chicken chili perhaps???

For anyone in the war path of this crazy storm, be safe and enjoy your night in and most likely, the day off from work tomorrow :)

Pin It