Grilled Pizza

A few years ago, my mother got a brand-new double oven with a pizza stone in the bottom unit. The purchase prompted a winter-long foray into the delights of homemade pizza, with seasonal ingredients for toppings, and pizza dough that was always made from scratch (and a variety of health-conscious flours). My father and mother would call me in New York to relish in their latest pizza discoveries, including ingredients like parma prociutto, fresh herbs, winter squash, Piave cheese, smoked mozzarella, and even tofu. The era of the Boboli pizza was thankfully over, but with the coming of summer heat, my mother forbid anyone from turning on the oven, and my family's obsession with artisianal pizza was halted.

That is, until Italian cuisine guru Mario Batali introduced me (not personally, though I have seen him scooting around the West Village on his sea foam green Vespa and bright orange Crocs) to the wonders of grilled pizza with his recipe for Grilled Marghertia and Olive-Fontina Pizza.

With a cool, oven-heat-free house, my family's faith in and appetite for pizza was restored. We quickly mastered the grilled pizza, with help from a few friends. When I went home for Memorial Day weekend this year, we kicked off our summer with an old grilled favorite: Grilled Pizza with Grilled Onions, Arugula, and Goat cheese. This combination was shown to me by a friend during the summer of the grilled pizza, but it originally came from a well-known SoHo brunch staple, Jane. This restaurant's version of the pizza is called a "Goat Cheese Flatbread," and the onions are sauteed in butter and sugar. My recipe calls for the onions to be grilled, lending a rich, smoky flavor that is not as overpowering as the buttery sweetness of the onions at Jane. My recipe also uses a quick dough that doesn't require hours of rising time, but still retains a fluffy, doughy quality that crisps nicely when grilled.


GRILLED PIZZA WITH ONION, ARUGULA AND GOAT CHEESE


For the dough:

2 c. whole wheat flour
1 pkg. or 1 tbsp. active dry yeast
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. warm water
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. honey

For toppings:

1 Vidalia or Spanish onion
1 handful of fresh baby Arugula
1/4 cup of Goat Cheese
Olive oil
Minced herbs
Salt & Pepper


Heat grill on high and cover to retain heat.

Pour flour into a large mixing bowl or electric mixer. Add yeast and salt, and mix well (on slow speed if using mixer). Add water, oil and honey, and mix well to incorporate into a dough. Whole wheat sometimes needs more water than white flour, so if dough seems dry, add a bit more water. Knead the dough a few times into a ball. Cover with a moist cloth and place in a warm spot for 10 minutes to rise.

Cut onion in half, cutting east-west, to reveal circular onion ring. Remove skin. Slice onion into 1/2-inch circles. Brush with olive oil or spray with cooking spray and set on grill on low heat, monitoring them carefully so that they become soft and turn brown, but not char or burn. Separate rings in a pile onto a plate.

For a delicious olive-oil pizza base, put minced herbs in a small bowl with a pinch of salt and a pepper. Add enough oil so that the mixture is 1/4 herbs and 3/4 oil. Set aside. Crumble goat cheese onto a small dish and set aside. Measure out enough arugula to cover pizza and set aside on a small dish. Put all prepared ingredients (this is called the mise en place) on a tray to take outside, where you will put the pizza together on the grill.

Before heading outside to the grill, pound and knead out dough into desired circular shape, about 1/2-inch thick. The amounts of this recipe can make two smaller, manageably-sized pizzas. Place on a board to take outside.

Take all ingredients outside to the grill, with a brush for the olive oil and a large grilling spatula to flip pizza.

Brush one side of the pizzas with olive oil and herb concoction, and place the olive oil side directly on the grill on medium heat. Brush the other side of the raw dough with oil. After about 7-10mins, or when browned and grill marks show, and flip to other side carefully. After about 5mins, brush grilled top with olive oil again. Carefully put arugula on grilled top, followed by crumbles of cheese, and then the onions, to weigh down. Close cover on grill, and let cook for another 5-7mins, or until toppings are cooked and bottom of crust is browned.

Remove pizzas and arrange on board. Cut pizza into small wedges or rectangular strips. Serve as an appetizer or as a main course with salad.

This particular pizza goes well with a light, summer wine. We had a nice Sancerre, whose melon, citrus, and mineral tones were a refreshing complement to the rich, grilled flavor of the pizza.

Buon appetito!

Jane Restaurant
100 West Houston Street
New York, New York
212.254.7000
http://janerestaurant.com/index.asp