Grilled Pizza with Beet Greens and Heirloom Tomatoes

Serves 4

I can’t believe how well this turned out. I’m still sort of gloating in my mind over how delicious it was, even if Chris did say, “too bad there was no Italian sausage to put on here…” What’s even better, it helped me use up all the beet greens from the garden that I’ve been saving while on some kind of insane beet-eating quest this week. Seriously, I’ve had beets in some form or other for lunch everyday since Monday I think. Anyway, you could do this pizza with a huge variety of different toppings, obviously. What makes it special, I think, is the pesto, the combination of feta and mozzarella, and the fact that it’s grilled rather than oven-baked (always a plus when the temps are in the 90’s).

Dough:

1 1/2 C white flour

1 1/2 C wheat flour

1 tsp dry active yeast

2 tsp kosher salt

2 Tbs olive oil

1 1/4 C water

Combine all ingredients in your food processor. Process for 30 seconds until mixture forms a ball. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times until smooth. Place in an oiled bowl and cover with a dish towel. Let rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours.

Toppings

Several cups of beet (or other) greens (mine actually included the last of some garden spinach too)

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

pesto

feta cheese

sliced tomatoes

fresh basil

Mozzarella cheese (I used an Italian blend this time, with Asiago, etc.)

Start by washing and chopping your greens, then sautéing them in a little olive oil with the garlic. After they’re good and wilted and are starting to get dry, give them a splash of balsamic vinegar, sprinkle on a little sea salt and turn off the heat.

When the crust is ready you just need to decide what your grilling system is going to be. Some advocate preheating the grill, rolling out the dough, oiling it on both sides, then placing it directly on the grate. You cook it on one side for a few minutes, flip it for another few, and THEN put your toppings on. I actually didn’t know about this technique when I started tonight, so I used the vegetable basket for our grill, and spread the dough on it (after oiling it up good) like so:

 

I spread pesto sauce on it after pressing it into the basket. Look at this glorious container of farmer’s market termaters:

 

On top of the pesto I spread the greens, topped with a little feta (I always leave cheese quantities to your discretion—we tend to go easy), and then the tomatoes.

Tear up some fresh basil and sprinkle it over the tomatoes, then top with shredded mozz or Italian cheese blend of your choice. Fresh mozz would, of course, have been out of this world, but we were plum out.

I let the grill heat to about 450 or 475 before putting the pizza in, and cooked it for about 12 minutes, which was perfect. Here she is just as I’m about to remove and slice ‘er.

So stinkin’ pretty! And what’s better than cutting up homemade pizza on your patio and taking in the evening air?

 

This is the happiest plate ever. And the happiest belly. Mama will be happier when Sawyer doesn’t insist that she cut the skin off the peaches.