Gas grill pizzeria

Greetings from the tropical wonderland that is Central Minnesota! We have been experiencing May in March. Last year the temperature on St.Paddy's day was low 30's with 9 inches of snow, this year? 72 and mostly sunny.

So what? Well it means grilling, golfing, and flip flops. We will concentrate on the grilling by turning the gas grill into a brick pizza oven. Here's what you need- a gas grill(if there is a rotisserie burner on yours that's even better), enough firebrick to cover your grill surface( I bought 2 boxes at Home Depot for about 16 bucks), a large spatula, and some thin, flat bread crusts. That's it!!

Place the firebrick on the grill, turn the burners on, and shut the lid.

Ok so the grill is heating, it will take about 10 - 15 to get the bricks hot, the longer the better.

Now is the time to assemble your pizza.

Here is a list of ingredients that we had for our pizza night:
Crusts- we used the Flatout brand flatbreads from the deli area of our market
Sauces- we used a jarred Alfredo, some garlic oil( 2 cloves of garlic, chopped and drowned in olive oil), and a can of tomato sauce with a little basil and oregano
Cheeses- fresh mozzarella, shredded mozzarella, a wedge of pecorino Romano, a wedge of parmegano reggiano, and feta.
**helpful cheese hint - a lot of deli sections in supermarkets will have small wedges of cheese in a basket, these are usually pieces off the wheel that were too small to sell for full price so they wrap them up as " tasters" and sell them for 3 to 5 dollars. They are a great way to try a new cheese without spending a big chunk of change on something you might not like.
Toppings- ours included grilled chicken, some leftover Spanish chorizo, olives, tomatoes, basil, spinach, artichokes, onions, mushrooms, zucchini, extra virgin olive oil, and sliced sweet peppers.



Method- spread about a Tbsp of sauce on the crust, add a little garlic oil, spread a little mozzarella over the sauce, add your toppings, grate a little Pecorino and Parm over the top, and drizzle a little oil over the whole shebang and its ready for cooking.

Now is the time to turn on the rotisserie heat, if you have one. Place the pizzas on the bricks with one edge close to the rotisserie heater.
Close the lid and let them cook for about 2 minutes, turn them so another edge is by the rotisserie, and repeat until the pizza is crisp and cooked. If you don't have the rotisserie burner , I would still move them around to keep from burning.




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For extra flavor drizzle a little good olive oil on top, maybe a few red pepper flakes, enjoy.

Great ! Another entry into the famous chef blog-o-sphere.

Well sparky I fooled you,. While I am a chef, and I have had fleeting moments of local notoriety, I am not famous, will probably never be famous, and really have no desire to be famous(rich on the other hand.....). I am just another guy that has worked in the food/hospitality/restaurant business for a long time and needs to share, vent, educate, learn and spout off about food and cooking.
I am currently the Executive Chef for a hospital, employed by a mega management company and as you can probably guess there is not a lot of creativity involved in such a position so I try to find ways of releasing my creative steam, this blog being the latest. I also contribute recipes to a local women's lifestyle magazine (CHICKS - check it out on line, pick up a free copy anywhere in central Minnesota or better yet get a subscription), and occasionally I teach skill building classes to cooks that work in schools.
Ok, enough about me - and onto the my plans for the blog.
If you read my "about me " section you know that the best time for me are cooking for family and friends on the deck with a bottle of wine ( or a pitcher of mojitos - my friends and family are not really picky). so the recipes  I plan on sharing on these pages will relect that whole easy living, wine country, outdoor cooking "lifestyle". I will also try to share a few videos of tricks of the trade, and maybe a couple recommendations of wines that I picked up, oh and I am sure there will be few obscure movie quotes also. So come along for the ride it should be fun.
CHEAPO WINE RECOMMENDATION ---- Apothic red - a blend of Zinfandel, Syrah, Cabernet and Merlot about 12 bucks but we picked up on sale for 8. goes great with red sauced pasta and grilled meats.