Outside Cooking . . .

So, for anyone who has not heard, the East is under a record-breaking heat wave right now. Which means my stove and oven are pretty much off-limits. Why? Well, we don't have central air-conditioning. So trying to keep our house bearably cool is difficult, and would be impossible if I was doing a lot of cooking. So we've had to be very creative and cook outdoors. It hasn't been too bad, it just takes a little more planning and work.

Sunday, we had company coming and did a butterflied chicken on the grill (wish I had taken a picture, it was beautiful), boiled potatoes, gravy, cauliflower, watermelon, and dutch-oven peach cobbler. Most of this we did outside, and it turned out great. And I turned out exhausted!

Tonight it was a little simpler and so so yummy. One of our all-time favorite recipes is Pizza Margherita. I haven't made it lately because it cooks in a 500 degree oven. But I decided to give it a try on the grill.

The recipe is in my older posts, a few pages back. It didn't take much to modify it for the grill. I used the same dough (which I love because you make the whole dough in the food processor, so fast and you don't have to get your hands dirty!). Once the dough had risen, I divided it into 8 pieces and rolled each thin, then placed between floured sheets of waxed paper.

I made the sauce according to the recipe.

Instead of cubing the cheese, I shredded it.

Preheat the grill and scrape the grates clean. Turn the burners to about medium-high. Toss on as many dough rounds as will fit on your grill and let them cook until starting to brown on bottom. Watch the first batch carefully to make sure they don't burn, since every grill varies in temperature. Once they are brown, flip them over and, working quickly, top with sauce (spread with a spoon) and cheese. Close the grill lid for just a minute or two.

When the cheese is melted and bottom side of pizza is lightly browned (or darker if you prefer it crunchier), remove pizzas to a tray or cookie sheet. Sprinkle with chopped basil, kosher salt, and drizzled olive oil. While you're finishing the pizzas on the tray, you should also throw more dough rounds onto the grill for the next batch. Enjoy. And enjoy your nice cool house!