Grilled Pizza

Hey, South! The two weeks of autumn we get each year are here!  Get out there and fire up the grill before it drops to freezing and rains 'til February. If you're tired of the same old meat and veggies, though, give this recipe a try. I made it up, so nothing is exact, and everything is adaptable to your palate. If you have a favorite grilled pizza recipe, or this recipe inspires one, please share with me.

It starts after you have made your favorite homemade pizza dough recipe (or, if you're lucky to live in a city with frozen pizza dough in the freezer, use that).  If you don't have a favorite, Paula Deen's is great:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/basic-pizza-dough-recipe/index.html  

My recipe list is long because I used just about everything I had left over in the fridge. It would have been just fine with the spinach and marinara mixture alone. 

Ingredients:

(Whatever you need for your favorite basic pizza dough.)

About 3/4 cup bottled pizza or marinara sauce

1 package of frozen spinach, defrosted & squeezed dry

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 oz light cream cheese

1 oz  reduced-fat ricotta

1/2 cup diced ham

1/4 cup bottled, roasted red peppers

3 tbl diced black olives

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Cooking spray

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne 

1. Preheat the grill to medium-high heat.

2. Roll out pizza dough to desired size.

3.  Spray both sides of dough with cooking spray. 

4. Place dough on grill. (Trick: It's easy to transfer dough from one surface to another if you roll the dough onto your rolling pin to pick it up from the counter.)

5.  Grill 3-5 minutes on each side or until dough is firm and displays light grill marks. Remove from grill, placing on baking sheet or pizza pan. 

Here's what we put on ours, but at this point, you could add anything that inspired you:

1.  Place thawed, squeezed frozen spinach in a microwave-safe bowl.

2.  Add to the spinach one ounce of light cream cheese, about 1 ounce of reduced fat ricotta cheese, 2 minced garlic cloves, and a dash of salt, pepper, and cayenne.  

3.  Heat spinach mixture in microwave 1 to 2 minutes or until cheeses are soft. Stir well.

4.  Spread bottled pizza (or marinara) sauce onto your pizza shell. 

5.  Top marinara with spinach mixture, spreading to cover.

6.  Add diced ham, olives, and roasted red bell pepper strips. 

7.  Top with parmesan cheese.

Prepare grill for indirect heat.

 Place prepared pizza (on its baking sheet) on the grill.  

Bake 20 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the marinara sauce is warmed through.  (This last part can also be done in your oven.)