Grilling Pizza

Awhile ago I bookmarked this grilled pizza dough from Chow and we finally got around to making a batch this past week. We got six discs out of one batch of dough, similar to the Neo-Neapolitan (from The Bread Baker's Apprentice) we usually stick with. Three discs were placed in the fridge overnight while the other three were frozen for a later date.

Round One

This was definitely the test day. I ended up stretching the dough far too thin and it was difficult to get the rounds onto the grill. That said, there was sure some exciting (and possibly dangerous) tossing action...

Success! Dough on the grill.

In the end we didn't find grilling added much flavour. The plus, however, was that we avoided heating up our entire apartment with the 500° oven necessary for pizza stone utilization. Toppings were Prosciutto from Valbella (they have quite the selection at the Lendrum Sunterra), onion, yellow peppers and bocconcini on a tomato base.

Round Two

With a little experience our most recent grilled pizza attempt went much better. The pizzas were smaller and easier to handle, and I made sure to keep the dough at about a 1/2" thickness. A little more thought also went into the topping situation this time round. We rode over to Sunterra Sunday afternoon and ended up with hickory-bourbon BBQ sauce and venison smokies (again from Valbella). I caramelized some onions and after discovering a block of cheddar gone bad, we utilized a wedge of the 'Drunken Goat Cheese' from Smoky Valley Goat Cheese (which is amazing, btw).

The combination of a little more heat control and the use of canola versus olive oil made this version far more enjoyable than our first attempt (and there was no scary throwing of pizza dough). Though I still don't think the grilling adds much flavour versus the pizza stone, we both agreed the chewy texture of the dough was a nice change. And I'll certainly trade the positives of the pizza stone for a cool-ish apartment over the next couple months.

P.S. Happy Canada Day, everyone!

Meal Planning Saga: Week Thirteen

Well, I'm not sure what to say. The meal planning isn't really lasting through 'essay season'. Though we managed to get a few recipes in last week, this week has started badly - we're both tired, my nose is permanently in a book or in front of the computer and Charles' boss is away this week making for long days.

At any rate, I'm hoping to get things back on track as I enter exams, which I don't find nearly as involved time wise as papers. Fingers crossed of course...

On to the previous week (aka. Week Thirteen)!

Sunday - After spending the day in the library, I met Charles at Sugarbowl. I did the jerk chicken and avocado burger with Edelweiss whilst Charles did steak frites and Anchor Steam.

Sugarbowl on a Sunday with a tired Charles

Monday - Charles made mushroom soup from Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything. This was a great way to utilize the pound of mushrooms Charles grabbed at the market Saturday, though we both agreed it would have been extra great as a cream soup, which Bittman notes just below is easy enough to create.

Tuesday - Pulled Pork Sandwiches. We put a pork shoulder in the crock pot Monday night and let it go for about 8 hours. Charles stopped on the way home from work and grabbed some bbq sauce to throw in, along with buns and a few salads from the PO deli.

This sauce had a great salty-sweet flavour, though it wasn't nearly thick enough for pulled pork. Next time, molasses based, and hopefully, made at home.

Planet Organic deli salads - the yam salad was by far the best, with pecans throughout.

Charles also stopped and grabbed four cupcakes from Crave. The red velvet versions had cream cheese icing on them, which for some reason wasn't working for me. The chocolate, however, was excellent.

Wednesday - Leftover pulled pork sandwiches.

Thursday - Charles had grabbed some cod from Ocean Odyssey on Saturday, and pan fried it along with some steamed spinach for a late evening meal.

Friday - Steak with caramelized mushrooms and onions and leftover PO salads. I think I've sort-of mastered the steak grilling situation, which is great news for this summer!

Saturday - Charles was off to do some volunteering for a friend's work benefit, while I went to my parents, munched on a couple pieces of their Royal Pizza and worked on a paper.

As a small note, my application for graduation was approved today! Just nine more weeks and goodbye undergrad!

Enjoy the week everyone!