Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Grilled Pizza with Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced leftover chicken
1/4 cup Original Frank’s Hot Sauce or your favorite brand
1 pound pizza dough, stretched into a 12-inch round
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons thinly slice fresh chives or scallion greens

Ingredients:
1. In a medium-size bowl, toss the chicken with the hot sauce.

2. Brush the dough with the olive oil. Either grill the pizza dough following the grilled pizza directions, then top it with the chicken, blue cheese, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper, or top the dough first and then bake it following the baking pizza directions on Serve with a sprinkling of chives or scallions.

Baked Pizza
You’ll need two tools for this oven-baking method -- a wooden pizza peel (those long-handled trays that pizza makers use to slide pizzas in and out of the oven) and a pizza stone at least 14 inches wide. Both are relatively cheap and go a long way to making great pizzas. If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can pick one up at a kitchen store. Or you can always simply set the pizza on a well-oiled baking sheet.

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Set a large pizza stone on the middle rack.
2. Set the rolled-out dough with its toppings on a lightly floured pizza peel. (Shake the peel to make sure the dough isn’t sticking.) Slide the pizza from the peel onto the pizza stone. Bake until the crust is well browned and crisp and the cheese or other toppings are browned, 10 to 12 minutes.
3. Transfer the pizza to a cutting board, let rest for a couple of minutes, then slice and serve.

Grilled Pizza
If you’ve never grilled pizza before, it’s easy. The trick is to maintain a moderate fire, which helps the pizzas cook evenly and uniformly. This is easier to do on a gas grill than it is with a charcoal fire—all you have to do is turn a knob. However, the intense heat of a charcoal fire, while hard to control, imparts a wonderful smokiness and crispness to the dough. Just make sure to build a modest fire with two clear zones—one medium heat and the other low—so you can transfer the pizzas to the cooler side if they start to burn. One other thing to note: as opposed to a baked pizza where the toppings are layered on the dough before cooking, for grilled pizza, it’s necessary to grill the dough first before topping it -- this ensures that it properly crisps and cooks through.

1. Heat a gas grill to medium-high or prepare a charcoal fire with a moderate and a low zone. To do so, set a couple of layers of charcoal on one side of the grill and a single layer of charcoal on the other side.
2. Grease a large baking sheet with olive oil and set the rolled-out pizza dough on top.
3. Carry the dough and the toppings to the grill. Brush the top of the dough lightly with 1 tablespoon oil. Slide the pizza onto the grill grates (on the hotter part of the charcoal fire). Cover and cook until the top of the pizza starts to bubble and the bottom gets nice brown grill marks (but does not burn), 2 to 3 minutes. If the dough appears to be burning, reduce the heat on the gas grill to medium or transfer the dough to the cooler part of the charcoal fire.
4. Flip the dough using tongs and a large metal spatula (one in each hand). Transfer it to the cooler part of the fire if cooking over a charcoal fire. Sprinkle with the toppings. Cook, covered, until the toppings heat through and any cheese melts, about 6 minutes.
5. Transfer the pizza to a cutting board, let rest for a couple of minutes, then slice and serve.

http://www.thenest.com/Recipes/Pizza_Easy_Fast_Party-Pleasers_Grilling_17028/detailview.aspx?id=17028&type=7&recipe_ingredients=Pizza&HPpos=1&HPdate=20090407

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