Saturday, February 1, 2014

Remember When? Grilled Pizzas

It's been ages since I've posted... I decided to go through my culinary adventures since June 2013 and share some of the highlights....

This was one of my favorite summer meals. I spent the summer in Utah, living up in my little slice of heaven at Alta Ski Area and working in downtown Salt Lake City on environmental remediation and compliance contracts -- my dream job.

As it was just me, I spent a lot of time cooking up fresh vegetables from my share from Liberty Heights Fresh and grilling chicken sausages or my favorite Canyon Meadows Ribeye from Caputo's. This meal was an impromptu attempt to feed myself when nature released her fury.

Flash back to July 4th. I had spent the morning hiking with friends and napping up at Cecret Lake solo. Walking home, a good friend convinced me to join him for a drink at a BBQ. Three drinks later, I rolled home and collapsed into bed... only to be woken up at 12 midnight to a rainstorm the likes of which I'd never heard.

The next morning, I awoke at 5:30 to make my way down Little Cottonwood to the gym. But, I was quickly thwarted at avalanche gate B. It was down (and there was no snow). I was so confused. The power didn't go out - what was wrong?

After calling good friends in the know, I saw the UDot announcement that we'd had rockslides and mudalanches... and the road was closed. So, no work for me. Hiking it will be! Worse, I was in desperate need of food...

Lucky for me, that night, I had frozen pizza dough and a fresh bunch of figs and arugula from a shop earlier in the week at my disposal... the rest, they say, is history.

Grilled Pizzas

1 frozen pizza crust
Brown rice flour, as needed
Cheese, for topping (I like mozzarella, tallegio, goat cheese, Brie)
Toppings of your choosing

Preheat the grill to 500 degrees F. Roll out the dough into two small rounds. Coat lightly with brown rice flour. Place on hot grill for 2-3 minutes, flip. Cook 2 minutes longer. Take the crust inside and top with your choice of sauce and toppings, first cooked side up. Place the pizza, second side down, back on grill (with the top closed) until the cheese is just melted. Let cool 1-2 minutes and serve.

Some combinations I like:
Arugula, grilled figs, pesto, proscuitto
Pesto, pignola nuts, raisins
Pesto, tomato sauce, caramelized onions, and zucchini

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