Here's a picture journey of my meal tonight.
Starts with a hot grill. I put my baking stone in there for about an hour:
Mise en place: You live and die by your prep. Get everything ready BEFORE you cook.
Anthony Bourdain is famous for perpetuating the line, "Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Piss-Poor Performance." Chop, slice, simmer, saute and shred everything before you start. Everything.
Here we have (clockwise from upper left) shredded mozzarella, granulated garlic seasoning, store-bought pepperoni, and sliced-and-sauteed (in order of sautee, using the same pan): Italian Sausage, red pepper, onions (red and yellow) and white cap mushrooms. The grease from the sausage flavors the veggies. I deglaze the pan with white wine before sauteeing the onions.
You've already made your dough, your
"mise" is done, your stone is HOT, and you've got everything ready to go. Now it's time to make pizza. Blind-bake (cook with nothing on it) your dough first:
Pull the dough off with your pizza peel after maybe two/three minutes. FLIP your dough, so you're putting your sauce/ingredients on the COOKED side:
Add your sauce:
Add all your toppings (I like the pepperoni on top to crisp up):
Now grill that bad boy until the cheese starts taking on color. Don't overcook, and DO NOT constantly open your grill to check. You'll lose heat and your cheese will never brown. Once done, pull off and let it sit for a minute:
Slice and serve. Each pizza can be made to order. It takes some practice, and you need a grill with multiple burners, but it can be done. These were fantastic.
It also helps if you have the right tools. You can get a pizza peel at most cooking supply stores. Hockenberg's in Lincoln (and there's another in Omaha on F Street, and one up in Minneapolis) sold me mine. Large cutting boards are handy, and you can get those at Sam's or at the Gretna Outlet Malls:
