Not your typical Labor Day grilling menu

My dad wanted to fire up the grill for Labor Day and I insisted burgers and hot dogs were out -- we had them the weekend before!

Luckily, I had bought the Barbecue Bible for my dad a few years ago so I pulled out a recipe for the occasion -- Grilled Pizza.

This is not a recipe to mess with because the prep work takes more than THREE HOURS because you make your own dough. It's made out of a combination of yeast (of course), sugar, salt, olive oil, whole-wheat flour, fine white cornmeal and regular, white, all-purpose flour. You make it and knead it, form it into a disk/ball, cover it and leave it alone. About two hours later, you punch it down and then you leave it alone for another hour.

Here's where the process gets more intense. You spread the dough out on 9x13 cookie sheets, tugging and pushing and, eventually, stretching the dough out as far as you can (I never make it all the way to all four edges!).

Next for the toppings, I grilled three sliced roma tomatoes and some slices of two regular large tomatoes. Once a little charred, I diced the regular tomatoes but left the romas whole for one pizza.

With those ready, it was time to start the pizza-making process. Two-thirds of the grill need to be about medium high in heat and one side needs to be cool. It goes pretty quickly from here.

1. Pick up crust and place it on hot side of grill.

2. Wait for it to puff up, about one minute.


3. Use two spatulas to flip to cool side of grill.

4. Brush with olive oil then add topping, cheese first so it will melt (it suggests and I highly recommend using fontina because it melts so well). Then basil if you have it, then tomatoes, then pepperoni (or whatever else you want on yours).



5. Using two spatulas again, move crust over to hot side of the grill and cook until the cheese melts (about 3-5 minutes).

BEWARE, do not close the lid. That will burn the bottom of your pizza like nothing else. Trust me, I did it the first time I made this recipe.

The result was a very delicious, fresh tasting pizza that won over the critics who joined my Labor Day shindig. The crust is semi-thin but not crackery and definitely not anywhere near chewy. Charred edges just add to the flavors. Definitely a must for future occasions!

To add more grilling flavor, I charred a head of romaine lettuce for a caesar salad by cutting it down the middle, brushing the heart with a little olive oil and throwing on some minced garlic and then putting the heart size down on the grill until it got a nice little char to it. I just diced it up afterward, added some cheese and dressing and had a nice little side dish for my grilled pizza.