Fabulicious!: On the Grill (7 page)

There are so many ways you can present these delicious mushrooms. Serve the mushrooms whole, warm, or at room temperature with fresh green salad as a first course. Cut them into wedges and serve with toothpicks as part of an antipasti platter. Tie a string around two of them and use as a bikini top. OK, maybe not that last one, but you can definitely finish them off with your favorite fresh herbs, alone or in a tasty combination.

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 garlic cloves, minced

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil

4 (4-inch) portobello mushroom caps

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil, oregano, or parsley, or 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme or sage,
optional

1.
Whisk the vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper together in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in the oil. Pour into a shallow glass or ceramic baking dish. Add the mushrooms and turn to coat both sides. Let stand at room temperature, turning occasionally, for about 30 minutes.

2.
Preheat the grill for direct cooking over medium heat (400°F).

3.
Remove the mushrooms from the baking dish, reserving any marinade. Place the mushrooms on the cooking grate, gill sides up, and close the grill lid. Cook until the undersides are seared with grill marks, about 3 minutes. Flip the mushrooms and continue cooking, with the lid closed until tender and juicy, 3 to 4 minutes more. Transfer the mushrooms to a serving platter. Let cool for 10 minutes.

4.
Sprinkle with the herbs and drizzle with the reserved marinade. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Quel che non ammazza, ingrassa.

Literally: “What won't kill you, will feed (fatten) you.”

What it means: “What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.”

A
long with an assortment of meats and cheeses and the special grilled antipasti dishes we always serve, one of the most popular first courses for Italians is pizza. Most people don't think you can cook a pizza on the grill, but it's really no different than cooking it on a flat rack in your oven. Perfect pizzas require a lot of heat (by oven standards, anyway), so it's only natural in a hot country to want to cook them outside. Some people, like Joe's parents, have permanent pizza ovens built in their backyards, but the rest of us manage just fine on the regular grill.

Even though we eat them as a first course, you could easily make any of these pizzas for your main entrée. And once you get the hang of the dough and the process, you can create your own signature pies by making them with your favorite toppings.

Cooking pizza on the grill is one of my family's favorite things to do. The key is to be super-organized. Have all of the toppings ready to go—sliced, shredded, and precooked, as needed. You can even partially grill the pizza dough to get it ready for the toppings.

When grilling pizza, the dough goes right on the cooking grate, so you don't need a baking stone, as you would in an oven. You will see grilling pizza stones for sale, but they don't work that well. To slide the pizza dough onto the cooking grate without ripping or squishing it, you can either use a wooden baker's peel (one of those large paddle/shovel-looking things) or just use a large rimless baking sheet (or the bottom of a turned-over regular baking sheet). We make pizza a lot, so we have a paddle. You can get one for less than fifteen dollars at your local discount supercenter.

The big secret to grilling pizza is to use “medium heat” that's about 400°F. If the heat is too high, the dough will burn. I promise you, the dough is going to brown at 400°F! You have much more control over the process if the heat isn't blasting. So start by preheating the grill to that sweet spot of 400°F.

Each ball of my Pronto Presto Pizza Dough (see
page 55
) will make a twelve-inch pizza. Here's what to do once you've made it: Spread the dough on a floured work surface and flatten it with your hands into a thick round. From this point, it is easy to roll, stretch, and/or pull the dough into a twelve-inch round. If the dough retracts, just cover it with a damp towel and let it relax for about five minutes, then proceed. Be sure that you have enough flour under the dough that it doesn't stick.

Now sprinkle and spread a couple of tablespoons of flour onto the baker's peel (or rimless or upturned baking sheet). It should be in a very thin layer. Transfer the dough round to the peel and reshape it as needed. Give the peel a gentle shake to be sure that there is enough flour under the dough that it slides easily, and add more if needed.

Bring the dough to the grill. Using long tongs, dip a wad of paper towels in olive oil and lightly but thoroughly wipe the cooking grate to grease it. (Don't let the oil drip onto the burners, or you'll have some scary flare-ups!) Slide the dough round from the peel right onto the grate. Close the grill lid. Cook until the underside of the dough round is set and browned, three to five minutes. Brush the top of the dough with a little oil. Using a wide spatula, flip the dough over. Brush off any flour from the top of the dough. At this point, quickly add your toppings.

Cover the grill again and cook until the bottom of the pizza is very toasty and the cheese on the topping is melted, three to five minutes more.

Use the baker's peel and spatula to remove the pizza from the grill. Let it stand for a minute, and then cut into wedges and serve hot. Return to the kitchen and repeat with the remaining dough and topping ingredients.

Speaking of ingredients, you can put just about anything on pizza. But, you do have to be careful not to overload the dough, or your pizza will end up looking like a boob-job gone bad—sad and saggy. Also, there are some popular ingredients that should be cooked (grilled or sautéed) in advance: pork or turkey sausage and ground meat, most vegetables (they give off juices as they cook that will make the dough wet and soggy), and bacon and pancetta. Once you get to the grilling stage, you are really just warming up the toppings on the pizza, and not actually cooking them.

When you have a crowd, it helps to have the dough partially cooked so that all you need to do is top, heat, and eat. To pre-cook the dough (or par-cook it as they say in those fancy culinary schools), roll it out, and grill until each side is just set and
barely browned, about 3 minutes per side. When you are ready to serve, return the dough to the preheated grill and cook to warm the underside, about 1 minute. Turn the dough over, add the toppings, and grill until the other side is toasted and the toppings are hot and melted, 3 to 5 minutes more.

A pizza basically has three components: the dough, the sauce, and the toppings. Toppings can be as simple as grated cheese thrown on top or as elegant as precooked sautéed gourmet meat-and-vegetable combinations. You can pretty much put anything on a pizza—just make sure the flavors go together! But you have to have a good start.

Here are my homemade recipes for pizza dough and red sauce. Both are quick, easy, inexpensive, and will convince you (hopefully!) to never buy store-bought, preservative-filled versions again.

 

Makes enough dough for 2 (12-inch) pizzas

This is super-fast and easy to make in a standing mixer, but you can also go it old school and mix it by hand. I give you directions for both.

2⅔ cups bread flour, as needed, divided

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 (¼-ounce) package instant or quick-rise yeast (2¼ teaspoons)

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup hot tap water (not hotter than 130°F)

1.
Mix 1¼ cups of flour, the oil, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a heavy-duty standing mixer. Add the hot water. Attach the bowl to the mixer and fit it with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the batter is elastic, about 4 minutes. (To make by hand, stir all of the ingredients together in a large bowl with a wooden spoon for about 100 strokes.) Cover with a towel and let stand for 10 minutes.

2.
Mix in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that cleans the sides of the bowl. Remove the paddle attachment and attach the dough hook. Knead on medium speed until the dough is smooth and supple, about 4 minutes. (To continue by hand, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that is too stiff to stir. Scrape out onto a floured work surface. Knead, adding more flour as needed, to make a soft, tacky dough, about 8 minutes.)

3.
Shape the dough into a ball. Transfer to a large bowl (no need to oil the bowl), and cover with a damp towel. Let stand in a warm, draft-free place until the dough doubles in volume, about 30 minutes.

4.
Cut the dough in half and shape each half into a ball. Use immediately. (Or, place the dough balls in a well-oiled baking dish just large enough to hold the balls. Turn the balls to coat well with oil. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Remove from the refrigerator 1 hour before using.)

 

Makes about 3½ cups

There is no need to buy store-bought all-purpose
salsa al pomodoro
when you can make it as quickly as this from scratch. The Quickie is a wonderful base not just for pizza, but also for pasta, juicy meat, or even just as a dip for bread or breadsticks. You can add other ingredients, like sausage or red pepper flakes, to this versatile sauce.

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 (28-ounce) can imported whole Italian plum tomatoes, broken up with their juices

¼ cup tomato paste

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

2 garlic cloves, minced,
optional

1 medium onion, finely chopped,
optional

1.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, adding garlic or onion, see variation below. Add the tomatoes and their juices and the tomato paste. Bring just to a boil.