Monday, July 11, 2011

Grilled Fingerling Potato Pizza

Farm fresh potatoes are such a delight; we created this grilled fingerling potato pizza using potatoes found at the farmer's market, home-grown rosemary, salt, pepper, olive oil, and Gruyere cheese. I love how the various colors of the potatoes delight the eye, and the flavor is unbelievably good.  We have also made this pizza with diced pancetta which makes the pizza taste almost like a morning breakfast...in Italy.



Here's how to make it.  First, boil your potatoes until they are just done.  They should be firm, not too mushy.  You want the potatoes to hold their shape.  If you don't have fingerling potatoes, small new potatoes work well too.  Cut the potatoes into thin slices.  For the dough, we used dough from our restaurant, Mia's Pizza and Eats; you can of course make your own, buy from your grocer, or head to your favorite pizzeria and ask to buy a small dough ball.  Drizzle the dough with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper, layer on the potatoes and the rosemary, add the pancetta (first fry it in a pan to crisp it), and top with shredded Gruyere; if you don't have Gruyere, a Swiss cheese or even a sharp cheddar would work well here too.   Cook on a pizza stone on your grill for about four minutes; check the pizza often and give it a 3/4 turn each minute.  You will love this combination!


Monday, July 4, 2011

Black and Bleu Pizza



Black and Bleu Pizza
  • pizza dough
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • thinly sliced steak, cooked rare
  • bleu cheese crumbles
  • fresh thyme
  • caramelized onions or fresh red onions
  • portabella mushrooms (optional)
  • fresh cilantro or parsley

The traditional Black and Bleu combination found in steakhouses just works, and it works like magic on pizza.  When making the pizza, we used olive oil and salt and pepper as our base.  Then we added rarely cooked flank steak that had been sliced thin.  You can use any leftover steak you have; I highly suggest that it not be cooked well before using it on this dish because it can dry out quickly.  Next we added the bleu cheese crumbles.  We also add fresh thyme and red onions.  We have also used caramelized red onions which add another level of flavor here, and I highly suggest taking the time to caramelize your onions (just saute in olive oil (don't skimp, use a fare amount) with salt and pepper until golden and brown (takes about 15 minutes) -- I also add a little brown sugar to quicken the process and develop the sweetness).  We have also added portabella mushrooms to the pizza which only adds to the depth of flavors, but they aren't needed.  I highly suggest that you finish the pizza by adding fresh cilantro or parsley to the pizza after it has cooked; this provides a note of freshness to the palate.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Pizza on the Grill, Simple Tweaks That Make a Difference

Hot.  Devil hot.  Hell hot.  Hotlanta.  Hot, hot, hot.  The cicada's electric song gives the heat its voice, enveloping the mind in waves of sound that only intensifies the heavy blanket of ninety-degree weather.  We light the grill, as if hypnotized, controlled by some wild and carnal need to add to this fiery intensity.  It is fitting that we begin our journey into grilling pizza on a day that feels like what it must feel like inside a wood-fired oven.


Grilling pizza is addictive:  it's fun, it's flavorful, it's easy.  The first thing to understand about grilling pizza is the heat.  Your grill can get very hot, which is a good thing because pizza cooks best at high temperatures, but the heat can scorch the bottom of the pie before the top of the pie cooks through.  There are things to do to regulate the heat.  First, I think a good pizza stone is in order.  There are lots on the market.  We use an All Clad stone that we have owned for years; the important thing is that the stone is thick and able to withstand high temperatures; some stones can crack due to the heat, so it's important to use a good stone.  When we cooked the pizza on the stone only, it scorched the bottom of the pizza very quickly, and the toppings were nowhere near done. 



To create space between the pie and the heat, we used a flower pot base which helped enormously.  The final thing we did to help regulate the heat was to wrap the inside of the grill lid in aluminum foil, and we added a smaller grill stone to the lid by attaching it with copper wire.  The smaller stone was donated by a neighbor -- I am unsure of the brand, but it is thinner than our All Clad.  It serves its purpose well, which is to bring heat above the pie as well as below.  Once we modified the grill in this way, we were able to cook pies that came out perfectly each time. 
It takes roughly 3-4 minutes to cook a pizza fully on the grill.  Grilling enhances the flavor of the dough, which is why many of the pizzas we have grilled so far haven't been traditional ones with red sauce.  Grilling pizza opens the imagination, and the pizza dough becomes the muse.  I will do many posts about the various types of pizzas we have made on the grill.  We hope to inspire you through pizza.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Carne Asada Pizza


I promised a second blog on holiday leftovers, and here it is, finally.  I know it is way too late to use your Christmas leftovers, but this pizza is worth the wait. 

For Christmas dinner this year, we served beef tenderloin.  I am now a convert, no more turkey or ham for me.  I think I shall always serve beef tenderloin from this Christmas forth. Delicious doesn't seem appropriate enough a word to describe it.  Heaven-on-a-plate, maybe works.  There must be a beautiful Italian or Spanish word that fits.  Celestiale?  Paradisíaco? The fact that there were any leftovers is only because I thought ahead and made more than the family could eat. 

I have to give credit for this pizza to the manager of our favorite Mexican restaurant in Alpharetta, El Azteca.  One night, over a year ago, on a rare date with my husband, Norma  suggested that we try making a  carne asada pizza at Mia's.  I had imagined such a pizza for a while, so I figured what better way to use up that leftover beef tenderloin than to make a carne asada pie?

To begin with, I had to make a sauce.  I didn't want to use a traditional red sauce, so I got out the food processor and threw in some onion, cilantro, and tomatoes.  I also added some ground almonds to give it a little texture -- almost creating a cilantro pesto.  With the addition of some salt and pepper, it turned out to be a great backdrop for the other ingredients.  We used sliced red onions, beef tenderloin, freshly grated parm, and fresh cilantro as the toppings.  When making pizza in your home oven, I suggest a 450 degree temperature, and if you can get your hands on one, use a pizza stone.  Be sure to allow the pizza stone to preheat with your oven because it can't work its magic if it is cold.  Bake your pizza until the dough is a nice, golden color and until the cheese is bubbly.  This pizza was divine.  Truly one of the best pizzas I have ever had.