Change up pizza night

OK, die hard fast food pizza fans...

This one's not for you. Unless you also appreciate the goodness of healthy foods. Since you are reading this blog, I am going to assume you do. You also need to love thin crust pizza. Again, I am going to make assumptions since a thick crust is often accompanied by too much cheese and three varieties of mystery meat.

Still here?

Hummus Vegetable Pizza

1 cup hummus (homemade or store-bought)
1 cup creamy Ricotta cheese, divided
1 head broccoli, split into small florets and very lightly steamed
1 red pepper, ribs removed and sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced
coarse kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 lb whole wheat pizza dough (homemade or store-bought)
olive oil
flat leaf parsley

Preheat the oven to 425 F and chop the veggies.

Stretch out the pizza dough to completely cover a greased or parchment lined large cookie sheet. (The less you play with the dough, the better the texture will be play. Overworking it will result in a chewy crust.)
Combine 1 cup hummus and 1/3 cup ricotta. Spread evenly over the pizza dough and scatter onion, red pepper and broccoli over top. Sprinkle with salt and a good grind of fresh pepper. Drop the remaining ricotta by the teaspoon over the pizza. Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until crust is golden and baked through in the centre.
Garnish with roughly chopped flat leaf parsley and a little drizzle of olive oil.

Dough and the Barbie

Don't you love it when you think something through from beginning to end, your engines are ready for take off and everything goes great, until you hit the finishing line, when a little missed detail creeps up on you and everything is lost?

Well, that about sums up my first pizza barbecuing experience. Be prepared to read a lot more about this subject in the weeks to come, because I am determined to perfect it!

I was hoping for a flavour-rich pizza, packed with nutrients but also interest and having several big time ingredients coming together on one beautiful pizza pie. So far everything was going great - I made my dough starter, it was doing it's job, the tomatoes roasted perfectly at 210 F for 2 hours, my pesto was made and I had to work hard at not gobbling it up right then and there. It was fun, I tell you, fun! I love working with these ingredients, because they smell so rich while I prepare them, and I can get my hands dirty while they work their simple magic.

I honestly have done zero research on how to barbecue dough. I have watched other people do this on TV, and everyone seems to have their own way of doing. So instead of copying someone elses way, I decided I would figure it out on my own and put a bit of myself into it. I did decide, however, that putting the dough directly on the grill was far too scary, so instead I let the pizza stone heat up with the barbecue.

Just being outside to cook was invigorating, there was snow all around me - my backside froze as the front side was heated by the fire. But let the bbq season begin, I say!

I am guessing putting dough on the barbie is something that comes with practice. Or perhaps smaller size pizzas. Note to self: personal pizzas, not full sheet pans! Regardless, mine cooked through in under 10 minutes - even if the bottom was a bit charred and the top still uncolored. It smelled amazing...

When I deemed the pie to be done, inside we went to tear into it - fully expecting amazing results. But was I surprised to discover that the one little detail which should never be forgotten, was. Salt! I forgot to add salt to the dough. Sheesh.

Until next time...