Pizza on the Grill: Magic Mushroom Medley Pizza

For several years, I have entertained the idea of cooking pizzas on the grill.  I came across this cookbook, Pizza on the Grill, and it changed our lives.  Seriously.  What I thought would be intimidating was shown to be easy and the results are delicious!

Because the grilling process goes so quickly, it is essential that you prepare all of your toppings beforehand.  Once one side of the crust is grilled, you need to be ready to add your sauce and toppings immediately.

Sweet Harold had the honor of choosing our very first grilled pizza.  And he decided to go big with this Magic Mushroom Medley Pizza!  This pizza is the ultimate mushroom lover's dream.  A garlic paste crust, topped with mushrooms cooked with leeks and cognac with Camembert cheese.  Oh my goodness, this pizza was out of this world.

You can prepare your own dough or, do as I did, purchase ready made dough from your grocer.  Publix had a refrigerated case full of lovely balls of dough just waiting for me!

To prepare the dough, let it come to room temperature and preheat the gas grill by setting all the burners on high for 10 minutes.  Then reduce the heat to all burners to medium.

Sprinkle your work surface with 1/4 cup of either grits or yellow cornmeal.  Place the dough in the middle of the surface.  You can either roll out the dough with a rolling pin or stretch if with your hands.  Your end result should be a 12-inch organically shaped piece of dough about 1/4 inch thick.  No perfect circles or rectangles here.  The unique shape of the dough is part of the perfection of your grilled pizza.  

Drizzle or brush both sides of the dough with about 2 T. of oil.  This will help crisp the crust while it grills.  NOTE:  holes in the crust are perfectly fine!

Pick up the dough by the two corners closest to you and, in one motion, lay it down flat on the cooking grates from back to front.  Think putting a tablecloth on a table!  Close the lid and grill for 3 minutes exactly.  Do NOT open the grill.  Check the crust and, if needed, continue grilling a few more minutes until the bottom of the crust is well marked and nicely browned.

Use tongs to transfer the crust to a pizza peel or an unrimmed baking sheet.  

Close the lid to the grill and flip to reveal the grilled side. Isn't that pretty?

Here is the recipe for this particular pizza:

2 T. unsalted butter

4 T. olive oil, divided

pinch of kosher salt, more to taste

1 leek, washed well (!), cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds and separated into rings

10 oz. mixed wild mushrooms, such as morels, chanterelles, hen of the woods, lobster, king lobster, sliced

3  oz. cognac

1/4 cup uncooked grits, polenta, or cornmeal for rolling dough

1 ball prepared pizza dough, at room temperature

1/2 cup roasted garlic paste**

6 oz. Camembert cheese (leave rind or remove) cut into 1/4 inch strips

leaves from 4 sprigs fresh thyme or 2 t. dried

freshly ground black pepper to taste

**garlic paste can be purchased from your local grocery or you can roast whole heads of garlic and make your own.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Remove any loose papery skins from the outside of the garlic bulbs; cut off the top 1/3 of the bulb to open the cloves, drizzle with olive oil and lightly salt and pepper.  Place in a small baking dish for 45-60 minutes.  Cool and then squeeze the cloves out of the skins into a bowl.  Add the oil from the baking dish and mix well.

Preheat a large saute' pan over medium heat for 1 - 2 minutes.  Add the butter and 2 T. of olive oil. When the butter bubbles, add a pinch of salt, stir, and add the leek.  Cook for 2 - 3 minutes, then add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned on the edges about 10 minutes.  Add the cognac, let sit for 5 seconds, then light a long match to it.  YOU WILL HAVE A LARGE FLAME!  Be careful and stand back while the alcohol burns off.  The flame should burn out in about 10 seconds.  If not, put it out by placing a lid over the pan.  Remove from the heat and reserve for the topping.

After removing the half grilled dough from the grill, I spread the garlic paste over the entire surface and then added the leek/mushroom mixture.

I left the rind on the Camembert to have a little texture and contrast of colors.  Arrange the cheese slices on top.

I turned off the middle burner on the grill and carefully returned the pizza to the grill grates.  

Close the cover of the grill and grill the pizza for an additional 3 minutes or until the cheese is melted to your liking.  

Remove the pizza from the grill and sprinkle with the thyme.  Season generously with salt and pepper.  Slice and serve immediately.

The earthiness of the Camembert was the perfect cheese pairing for the mushrooms.  This was a delicious pizza, fun to make for my first attempt, and was beautiful to boot!

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