Grilled Pizza

My sister Bonnie first told me about cooking pizza on the grill.  Then my husband got interested and looked up a bunch of methods on the Internet.  His first attempts were "blackened" more than "grilled" . . . which is the nice way to say that they were burnt to the point of inedibility.  Even our chickens turned up their beaks at those carbonized scraps . . .

So, I gave it a go and mine have never looked black I have never looked back.

Nothing makes me feel more like a chef than grilling pizza outside.  The best part is that it's actually really easy and super delicious.  Your pizza will have a crispy thin crust, and your cheese and toppings get a smoky, brick-oven flavor that can't be beat.  Right now we are seeing record-breaking temperatures and I have zero desire to turn on my oven, so the grill is my best friend.

I use my regular pizza crust and homemade sauce recipes for grilled pizza.  The only difference is that because you roll the crust so thin before placing it on the grill, the dough recipe actually goes a lot farther!  I usually make 5-6 twelve-inch pizzas with one dough recipe.

The main trick to grilled pizza is to be FAST.  You want to preheat your grill on it's highest temperature with the lid closed so it will simulate an oven, then you turn the burners all the way down to low before putting your dough on the grill (so it doesn't burn).  Have your toppings ready to go right by the grill.

After you make your dough, shape it into 5-6 balls and let them
rise for a half hour, then roll out each ball on cornmeal into a thin crust

Turn your preheated grill all the way down to low, then place
your thin crust DIRECTLY on the grating of your grill.  You do
not need to spray with nonstick or otherwise oil your grill---it will
not stick.  Close the lid and let one side of your dough cook for 2-3
minutes The first crusts sometimes puff up because the grill is so hot.  

Turn over crusts with tongs or pizza peel.  Now comes the most
essential part of grilled pizza: you need to quickly spread your
sauce, cheese, and toppings on the cooked side of the crust, then close
the lid so that the cheese will melt and the toppings will cook before
the bottom of the crust burns.

Sausage needs to be pre-cooked, I also saute my mushrooms or
onions so they will be pre-cooked, too.  Ham and pepperoni are
already pre-cooked and can be placed directly on the pizza.
ALWAYS use fresh mozzarella (it comes in a one-pound, shrink-
wrapped ball), it melts better and tastes a thousand times better.
I also never make any pizza without chopped, fresh, basil, and
I cannot recommend it strongly enough.

Hawaiian and pepperoni before the lid is closed . . . 

Let your cheese and toppings slowly grill for 5-7 minutes, until
cheese is melted all the way.  Use a pizza peel to slide the cooked
pizzas onto a platter or stone, then cut and serve.

Sausage and basil grilled pizza

Hawaiian is my favorite kind of pizza . . . and if you serve it with a
yummy summer salad from your own garden, you have officially
reached a state of Summer Zen.

Mini Thumbprint Jam Scones

I fell in love with this recipe when I read about the baker Alice Currah in a beautiful magazine called Where Women Cook (which was a delightful birthday gift from my BFF, Cori, whose own scrumptious recipes are sprinkled throughout this blog).

Okay, true confession . . . maybe I liked the article about Alice, but drooled like a French Mastiff when I saw the delectable photos of the scones in said magazine.  See for yourself:

I knew these would be the perfect dessert to add to my "summer harvest" spread when I hosted book club at the beginning of August.

Summer harvest book club fare . . .
I love cooking for the ladies I love!

And guess what?  Everyone liked them more than rhubarb-raspberry pie made with rhubarb and raspberries I harvested that day, more than huckleberry buckle made with HOURS OF MY LIFE that I spent picking tiny-but-precious huckleberries, and even more than the apple pie made with three types of heirloom early-ripening apples (Red Astraiken, Carroll, and Goodland) that I picked from my dad's orchard just three days before book club and peeled and cut by hand because each apple is too uniquely shaped and sized for the peeler-corer-slicer.

That's how good these scones are.

I used my mom's Nanking Cherry jam/syrup (I make jam, but add a little extra water so it's more like a really thick syrup) as the jam in these scones, and that combination of cherries and almond glaze is so heavenly (this from someone who does not like cherry ANYTHING).  But I think it would also be perfectly delectable with raspberry or strawberry jam.

The recipe said to cut the disks into fourths, but I
cut them into sixths and I think they were perfect

Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

It stopped raining just for book club!
The scones were the first dessert to disappear.
{PS- I like how you can see Brenda working
on the book club binder in the background}

I thought a cute retro fox was the perfect clipart to compliment this quintessential British confection . . .

Chicken and Zucchini Kebabs

Got zucchini?  If you live in Idaho/Utah, chances are you do.  Even if you don't have a garden, you can get zucchini anywhere . . . people are giving zucchini away like they're unwanted kittens.

When I typed "best chicken kebabs" into a google search, Jamie Oliver's recipe was the first that came up.  Winner winner, chicken kebab dinner!  If I were ever to have a real-life celebrity "crush", it would be on J-Me!

Plus, he reminds me in so many ways of my own cute husband . . .

My fabulous foody friend Erin first introduced Allen and I to Jamie Oliver back in 2003 (or 2002?) when Jamie was young and skinny and known as "The Naked Chef" in Great Britain (because he uses "naked" foods). We have followed him ever since.  If Jamie has one "shtick", it's that he uses fresh fresh FRESH ingredients for everything.  In fact, I credit Jamie with getting both my husband and I really into food.  Healthy food.  Delicious healthy food.  We have all seasons of "The Naked Chef" and "Oliver's Twist,"  we love to watch all of his new shows, we own about five or six of his cookbooks, and he is 100% the reason I own and regularly use a mortar and pestle.  Plus, listening to someone who is energetic and hilarious and passionate about food in a Mockney British accent?  Lovely-jovely, me ol' mate!

Anyway, I was excited to try what google deems the number one result for "best chicken kebabs," and Jamie delivered again!  I was confused about "courgettes," until I looked up the word and learned it meant "zucchini."  Those wacky Brits and their aubergines-instead-of-eggplants! :)

I have an endless supply of mint in my backyard--it was great
to put it to such a delicious use!  

I also love that Jamie uses words like "blitz" when talking about
a food processor.

The chicken marinated all day--it was so tender and flavorful

I didn't use rosemary skewers like Jamie does, because, though
 I do have two potted rosemary plants that I use weekly for
cooking (check out these yummy dinner muffins) I am not rich
celebrity chef who can buy bushels of rosemary skewers.  Plain
old bamboo skewers worked just fine (don't forget to soak them
in water so they don't burn in half like several of mine did!)  Since
the chicken would be missing that great rosemary flavor, I added
rosemary to the marinade recipe.

Yum.

Seriously.

This recipe is summer-entertaining-food gold.  I made them when I hosted book club at my house and they were a hit.  Allen only got two of them, so I made them again a week later, and they were just as good.  The chicken was tender and amazing, and the roasted zucchini was so delicious, too!  It's a great way to cook and serve those bushels of courgettes that your neighbors are all-too eager to share . . .

Rhubarb-Strawberry Pie

I have come a realization about my love affair with pie . . . no one is going to make it for me.  If I want pie, I have to make it myself.

Now that I have come to terms with this fact, I am not making pie mistakes in local restaurants and (shudder) grocery store bakeries--they just can't duplicate the taste I am after.  Since I have accepted the responsibility fully, I actually enjoy making it more.  2013 has been, for me at least, The Year of the Pie.  And the year isn't even halfway over!  To what pie-in-the-sky heights will I soar before the year's end?  (And to which buckle-hole will my belt be expanded?)

I have had a rhubarb plant for three years now, a transplant gift from my next-door neighbors, and have never done anything with it except enjoy it's exotic, rain forest-esque foliage every spring.  This year, I determined I would not let it go to waste, and so I scoured the Internet for a good rhubarb pie recipe.

Allrecipes has never given me a bum steer.  If a recipe has been reviewed by hundreds of people and it still has a 4.5-star rating, then it's a pretty safe bet.

Completely delicious.  I am adding this recipe to my favorites.

You can also substitute RASPBERRIES for the strawberries and
prepare the pie the same way.  I made this in November, my
favorite month to eat pie.  Oh, yummy.

The most important thing with any berry-based pie is to keep it from being runny.  The first thing you can do is allow the berry to macerate--that is, break down the fibers of the fruit you're using.  This brings out the sweet juices before you bake them, instead of during the baking time.  In addition to releasing flavor, it will help the fruit sort of "gel" as it bakes.  Macerating is simply stirring your fruit with sugar and allowing it to rest.

The second important step is to allow lots of steam to leave the pie.  Lattice crusts are pretty, but they're also almost essential to any berry pie, because the large holes all over the top crust help moisture to steam out during bake time.  I used my flakiest pie crust recipe for this one.

The third step is the hardest: you've got to let the pie cool.  You don't have wait till it's cold . . . you just can't dig right in when it comes out of the oven.  Pie Impatience often leads to burning the roof of your mouth, anyway.  I speak from experience.

Oops!  I forgot to scatter the butter over the top before I did the
lattice.  Better late than never, where butter is concerned.

I got this pie crust shield on Amazon, and I love it!  It's so much easier than using foil, and they're really reasonably priced.  Now I just need a 10-inch one . . . or you can buy these kind {Adjustable Silicone Pie Shield} that expand to fit any size pie pan.

Take the shield off for the last ten minutes of baking.  I think
that heaven must smell like a rhubarb-strawberry pie. 

My dad happened to call and say he was working in the area on the day I made this pie.  I couldn't hope for someone more deserving to share it with!  Dad has always told me  that rhubarb-raisin is one of his favorite pies.  That combination is nowhere near the top of my "must try" pies . . . but I know he was overjoyed when I told him what was in the oven.

I had also invited some friends over for late-night dessert (coincidentally, these friends were wondering that very day when I would be baking and sharing a pie next . . . faith precedes the miracle!), so I let the pie "cool" in the freezer for fifteen minutes to shorten the wait-time before everyone arrived.   I think that impatience might actually be the mother of all invention, rather than necessity.

Ahhhh . . . at last . . .

Becca's Red Potato Salad With Bacon

Potato salad + bacon = no duh.

I followed my husband's recipe protocol when coming up with this one: read all you can about one food, then cobble together your favorite ideas. I knew I wanted to use sliced (instead of chopped) red potatoes, and knew I wanted big chunks of bacon . . . the rest followed.

Sometimes I use horseradish mustard instead of Dijon--it is delectable.  The best thing about potato salad is that you can add lots of different seasonings in different amounts and it'll still be yummy.  Sometimes I sprinkle it with paprika, sometimes I add 12 hard-boiled eggs instead of six, and I usually use less mayo and sour cream than I wrote on the recipe card.  You can really experiment and not go wrong.