A Better Bag of Groceries

Cooking with My Husband: Grilled Pizza

Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 07:08 AM

Grilled Pizza is a two-person recipe in our household.  We have been making pizzas since before we were even married and there is definitely a method to our madness when making this delicious treat.  For us, having lived with the World’s Smallest Kitchen for the past 10 years, putting our pizza on the grill instead of in the oven makes things go even more smoothly.  There’s no bumping into each other in the kitchen.  Basically, I’m in the kitchen, while he is out on the deck with the grill.

When it comes to grilled pizza, my husband’s job is all about the crust and the final product.  I am Topping Girl.

So, let’s start with the crust.  I asked my husband to share his secrets.  He says, “It’s no secret.  You dust the work surface with flour, plop the store-bought dough on top of that, lightly dust the top of the dough with flour, and knead from the center out.  A rolling pin can be used to flatten the dough, but be sure to dust that with flour.  Basically, you use a lot of flour!  This prevents sticking.  After the dough is flattened to desired thickness, a wooden paddle is essential for transferring the dough to the heat source.  You should also dust the paddle with flour and drape the pizza dough over the paddle.”  These are my husbands words exactly.  I couldn’t make this up if I tried!  Can you tell he has an architecture/engineering kind of background?

Before my husband puts the dough on the grill, he sprays it with olive oil.  He also uses Cooking Spray on the grill.  I don’t know how safe that really is, by the way.  Like any guy, he likes to play with fire.  Grill the dough over medium heat and check after about 1 minute.  Then, flip it and cook for one more minute.  This lightly bakes the surface to prevent a soggy final product.  Cooking times may vary.  Remove the dough from the grill and send it inside to Topping Girl.

So now, it’s my turn.  I layer on some pizza sauce. 

There are so many pizza sauces available at the grocery store and the scores on them really vary.  Check these out:

Highest Scoring Pizza Sauces:

• Palmieri:  NuVal score of 67
• Sclafani:  NuVal score of 62
• Mama Mary’s:  NuVal score of 57
• Ragu Pizza Quick: NuVal score of 53
• Muir Glen: NuVal score of 51

Lowest Scoring Pizza Sauces:

• Chef Boyardee Pizza Sauce with Cheese:  NuVal score of 34
• Contadina Pizza Sauce with Pepperoni:  NuVal score of 25

Then I add lots of veggies and some mozzarella cheese.

After I assemble the toppings, I send the pizza back out Grill Boy.  Again, I consulted my husband here on what to do next.  He says, “Place a sheet of aluminum foil on the grill rack.  Then, place the Topping-Laden Pizza on top of the foil and close the top of the grill.  Cooking times will vary, depending on toppings.  Check frequently until pizza achieves desired done-ness.  Foil prevents the bottom of the pizza from burning while thoroughly cooking the toppings.”

So, it truly is a team effort, but our Grilled Pizza is sooooooo good.  It beats take-out anyday.

Question of the Day

What would you put on your grilled pizza?

Posted by: Melissa 9 comments

Posted in: Pizza

Tags: Grilled Pizza, Pizza, Pizza Sauce