Grilled Kale Goat Cheese Pizza

Have you heard of this whole grilling pizza phenomenon? Like, instead of baking you pizza in the oven like any normal person, you grill it? I know. I thought people had totally gone off the deep end with that one. But Saturday I had some Kale in my fridge from this weeks CSA and a massive craving for pizza. Problem is that I just can't bring myself to crank the oven up as high as it will go when the air conditioner is begging for a break.

So, I googled. And I found what might have been the easiest pizza grilling instructions I've ever seen. So... I tried it. And I ate it. All of it. As fast as I could shovel it in my mouth. Seriously people, grilled pizza is awesome.

Grilled Kale and Goat Cheese Pizza

Grilling Instructions found here: Serious Eats

1/2 pizza dough recipe

1/2 bunch kale, washed, leaves torn and stems removed

3 cloves garlic, minced

olive oil

4 oz goat cheese

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

You'll have to make these pizzas one at a time, unless you have a massive grill and about 8 hands. There's a lot of opportunity to burn the crust here, so keep it to one at a time so you can watch the dough as it cooks and keep it from burning.

Roll our the dough into roughly 3 personal sized pizza crusts. Set one half of your grill to medium-high heat. Turn the other side down as low as it will go. Place one dough flat right onto the grill grates on the high heat side of the grill. Close the lid, but keep a close eye on it. You want this side of the dough to get browned and the dough to start poofing. Once the dough is slightly browned remove it to a plate with the browned side up. One the cooked side of the dough, drizzle about 1 tbsp olive oil, 1/3 of the garlic, 1/3 of the kale, 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese, and 1/3 of the goat cheese. Carefully slide the pizza onto the low heat side of the grill. You want to cook this side until the cheese has melted, the kale has wilted slightly and the bottom of the crust is browned. If the crust starts to brown too much before the cheese has melted, turn the heat off on that side of the grill. Repeat with the other 2 pizzas. 

Enjoy!

Homemade Pizza Dough

Oh, how I love pizza. Especially homemade pizza. Remember that whole giant Italian dinner from Christmas (yes, I'm still thinking about it)? Well, as you might imagine, John's Mom also makes some of the best pizza on the planet. And no, I am not exaggerating this time.

You'd be shocked at how easy and delicious homemade pizza is. And I know you're probably sitting behind your computer screen shaking your head thinking, "easy?" Well trust me. It is easy. I didn't believe myself until I tried it.

Here I'm giving you the recipe for basic pizza crust. You can top it however you want, with tomato-based pizza sauce, cheese, meat, anything you want. I use a very basic pizza sauce with cheese most of the time. My newest favorite topping is to add spinach over the pizza sauce and cover with cheese. Yuuuummmmm.

Pizza Dough

This is my mother-in-law's recipe for pizza crust and it's amazing. Thanks Donna!

1 cup warm water
1 tbsp yeast
1 tbsp sugar
3 cups white bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil

Combine water, yeast and sugar and let proof for about 10 minutes.

In a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, combine salt and flour. With the processor running, add the water/yeast mixture. The dough should form a ball. If it does not, add a little more water. Add the olive oil with the processor running.

Form the dough into a ball and add to a lightly floured Ziploc bag. Press all of the air from the bag and seal. Either set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour, or let the dough rise in the refrigerator for several hours, or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven with a pizza stone set on a rack in the middle of the oven as high as it will go at least 1/2 hour before baking.

Once the dough has doubled in size, divide into two equal balls. On a lightly floured surface, stretch the dough to about a 12 inch round. Transfer to a pizza paddle and top as desired. Bake on the hot pizza stone for about 10-12 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and and the crust is a light golden brown.

Remove from oven and let sit for a couple of minutes. Slice and serve.

Enjoy!

Margherita Flatbread Pizza

Friday night I came home from work, opened the refrigerator and realized we had one tomato, a handful of cherry tomatoes and tons of basil. And that was pretty much it. That and a half-full bowl of leftover cooked penne with no sauce. Not exactly enough to feed two people. So I ran away to the gym. I really didn't want to think about the pathetically empty state of my refrigerator. But then, I had an epiphany on the elliptical: Margherita Flatbread Pizza. I will forever be grateful to whatever sent that hurtling into my brain, because it was one of the best cooking ideas I've had in a while.

It was especially great because the flatbread recipe I used doesn't use yeast. Which first of all I'm still intimidated by and secondly takes way more time than I had. Unless we were interested in eating dinner somewhere around midnight. Which we weren't.


The flatbreads on their own are one of my favorite online recipe finds to date. They take about 10 minutes to whip together but they taste like they could have taken hours. Don't tell your friends how easy they are. They will all just marvel at your culinary genius.

Margherita Flatbread Pizza
3 medium to large tomatoes (or a bunch of cherry tomatoes if that's all you have)
20-30 fresh basil leaves
2 balls fresh mozzarella
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese
Olive oil for drizzling
1 recipe flatbread

Flatbread
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, originally from Gourmet
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup olive oil + more for drizzling

Preheat oven to 450 with a baking rack in the middle of the oven.

Put the mozzarella cheese in the freezer while you prepare the flatbread and preheat the oven (only for about 15 minutes). This will make it easier to slice later.

First, prepare the flatbread. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Make a well in the center and add the water and olive oil. Stir with a wooden spoon until a dough forms. Knead on a work surface 4 or 5 times.

Divide the dough into three pieces. Roll out one piece on parchment paper into a round. Dough should be thin. The "roundness" of it doesn't matter much. Drizzle the top with olive oil and spread evenly across the surface of the dough. Sprinkle with salt.

In the preheated oven, bake the dough for about 5 minutes, just to start making it crisp. It should start to firm up, but not be completely cooked.

While dough is cooking, prepare toppings. Thinly slice tomatoes and mozzarella and roughly chop basil. Once the dough is done, remove from oven. Cover with 4-5 slices of mozzarella, keeping it away from the edge of the dough. If it gets too close, the cheese will spill over the sides when it melts. And then you will be forced to mourn the loss of your mozzarella cheese. Or eat it straight off the parchment paper. Cover the cheese with 4-5 slices of tomato. Sprinkle 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese over the pizza. You can either sprinkle fresh basil on now and bake with the pizza or add it later. I made it both ways and it turned out great each time.

Return the pizza to the oven for 5-7 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly and the edges of the flatbread are golden. Place on a flat surface to cool for 1-2 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve.

Repeat with remaining flatbreads and toppings.

Enjoy!