30 August, 2009

Grilled Alfredo Pizza

This recipe is a combination of a couple of different meal ideas we picked up this summer. We made these on our grill for the wedding party the day after our son and daughter-in-law's wedding in early July. It was a huge hit, not only because it tasted so good, but because everyone participated in the making of their own pizzas.

Using either your favorite or a standard dough recipe, roll out personal sized crusts. You can roll out larger pizzas for this, we just found it fun to have a lot of toppings in different bowls so each person can choose their own favorites. Make sure your grill is nice and warmed up, but on low. It is too easy to burn these, and the main point is to help the dough "set up" firmly to hold the toppings and not become soggy. Brown only slightly on one side then remove from grill. Note that this step takes only about a minute!

Each person can take their own pizza dough round and add their favorite sauce, either tomato or Alfredo, spreading with the back of a large wooden spoon to the browned side of the dough. Add toppings of choice, such as chopped or sliced, colorful bell peppers, shredded zucchini, baby spinach, onions, artichoke hearts, olives, pineapple chunks, meat of choice, what-have-you. Next, place pizzas back on the grill to toast the other side, warm the veggies and or meat through, and to melt your cheeses. This takes a little bit longer than the first grilling, and watch closely to prevent burning the bottoms. If you prefer, you may keep foil under your pizzas to help prevent burning.

The sauce most in demand around here is a doctored-up Alfredo sauce (recipe below). After adding the sauce of your choice, add veggies and/or meat, top it all off with either mozzarella or smoked Gouda cheese, perhaps a little of both! When the pizzas come off the grill, we also have small bowls of fresh grated Romano cheese and crushed red peppers, for those who want them.

If we have cooked chicken to add as another topping, we'll marinate it in balsamic vinegar, then pre-cook it before the party, and chop fine.



While your grill is warming up, cook up some enhanced Alfredo pizza sauce:

8 oz. of mushrooms, sliced or diced, whichever you prefer)
1/2 cup onion of choice, chopped (more if you like!)
2 T. butter or olive oil
1-2 garlic cloves, chopped fine. (If you pre-roast the garlic, it adds another amazing flavor layer to the sauce)
1 jar of basic Alfredo sauce, or make your own!

Warm your skillet well, add the
oil or butter and spread around the skillet, then saute onions and mushrooms, adding the garlic when the onion and mushrooms are softened and lightly browned. Add the jar of Alfredo sauce to the pan and warm through. Lower temp and keep warm till guests are ready to begin building their pizzas.

Gluten-Free Option:

We bought pre-made gluten free crusts for one or two of our guests the couple of times we have shared and cooked this with company. Gluten-free crust recipes can be found here . I can't vouch for those particular recipes as of yet, since I haven't personally tried them. Feel free to send your tried-and-true recipes to me, if you'd like!

Enjoy!

Javamom

5 comments:

Leslie said...

That sounds yummy and what a fun idea for a party!

I would love for you to write about how to have a vacation like the one you guys took this summer with helpful tips for for those of us on tight budgets. I really think that would be a fun adventure, but how to keep costs down?

Javamom said...

That's a good idea. I will work on that. You know, my biggest struggle with blogging and even FB is how not to come across as self-absorbed or "miss expert-in-my-own-head" kwim?

I think expressing genuine gratitude and
*uncontrived* humility helps quite a lot. But still...coming across as genuine, believable, and not narcissistic is so important to me.

KAHUNA said...

We are grilled pizza junkies and make them all the time- You hit the key- grill the topping side first- great read-thanks

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Thats good idea!!
it sounds yummy!!
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Sarah Schatz - menu planners for people with restrictred diets said...

I have seen a few grilled pizza recipes this summer and I think this is such a great idea! I am gluten-free so I like the idea of using premade ones but I'd love to try making my own crust and then grilling it. Thanks for sharing!
Sarah