The Dinner Winner

Meatless food for all!

Featured

3 Dinner

Vegetarian Bibimbap

Serves 4
30 – 45 minutes, including prep time

This is Silvia’s first recipe on the blog!

I recently fell in love with Asian food, so I started to make it more often. I am putting bibimbap in this food blog, because I think it is delicious. It’s easy to make, and also a perfect meal for a cold day. If you are not familiar with bibimbap, it is a Korean dish, usually make with Rice, kimchi, beef, greens, and topped with an egg. This version is made with tofu instead of beef. You do not have to just put those particular ingredients in this dish, you can mix and match with any vegetables that you want!

– Silvia

Ingredients

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp + 1 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp spicy gochujang (optional)
2 lb tofu
1 tsp cornstarch 
1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
3 cups water
2 carrots
1/8 tsp + 1/8 tsp salt
6oz baby spinach
Kimchi (Optional)
Toasted sesame seeds, for serving 
4 eggs

Method

  1. Prepare tofu. Cut each block of tofu into four long slabs, as pictured above. Use paper towels or a kitchen towel to gently press as much water out as you can. Stack the tofu slabs on top of one another, and gut into 3/4″ cubes.
  2. Whisk soy sauce, garlic powder, ground ginger, brown sugar, and 1 Tbsp sesame oil in a medium bowl. 
  3. Transfer 3 Tbsp of the mixture into a small bowl. Whisk in gochujang (if using), Then set aside. Use remaining mixture as a marinade. 
  4. Add tofu and cornstarch to marinade in a medium bowl. Stir well, then set aside.
  5. Add rice and water to a medium, pot. Bring to boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to a low, cover, and cook 20 minutes. When done cooking, fluff with a fork. Meanwhile, continue to prepare toppings. 
  6. Grate carrots on large holes of a box grater. Add to a small bowl with 1 tsp sesame oil and 1/8 tsp salt. Set aside.
  7. Heat skillet on medium-high. Add spinach, 1 tsp sesame oil, and 1/8 tsp salt. Cover, cook 2 min, then stir until wilted. Transfer to small bowl and set aside.
  8. Add tofu and marinade to the same skilled you used for the spinach on medium-high. Cook until beginning to brown, 7-10 minutes. Resist the urge to stir too often, or nothing will brown.
  9. Assemble the four bowls. Add rice, then top with tofu, carrots, spinach, and kimchi (if using). Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
  10. Heat a clean skillet over medium-low. Coat with oil. Crack one egg into a small bowl, then add to skillet. If you prefer your eggs more firmly set, cover the skillet. Repeat with the remaining eggs. 
  11. Cover and cook the eggs until whites are firm and yolks jiggle slightly 2-3 minuets.
  12. Use a spatula to move one egg on top of each bowl. Drizzle with sauce. 

5 Dinner

Cauliflower Parmesan Bake


This is plant based comfort food at its best. Stick to your ribs goodness that will warm your belly and nourish your soul on a cold night. Best of all, it comes together very quickly and is almost entirely hands off. It’s basically throw everything in a dish and walk away. What could be better? This meal was so good, my family couldn’t even wait for me to snap a pic before they dove in.

Yield:8 servings

Recipe

For the Cauliflower and Farro

  • 2 pounds cauliflower (about 1 medium cauliflower head), florets and tender stems cut into large bite-sized pieces
  • 1¾ cups semi-pearled or pearled farro (about 12 ounces)
  • 1(40-ounce) jar good-quality marinara sauce
  • 1 2/3 cup water
  • ¼cup olive oil
  • ½cup pitted kalamata or black olives, roughly chopped (optional)
  • 6 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
  • 3 ounces grated Parmesan (about ¾ cup finely grated)
  • 1½teaspoons granulated sugar
  • 1½teaspoons dried oregano
  • ½teaspoon red-pepper flakes, or to taste (optional)
  • 1½teaspoons kosher salt
  • Black pepper

For the Topping

  • 1 cup panko or homemade breadcrumbs
  • 2 ounces grated Parmesan (about ½ cup finely grated)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced into rounds

Method

Step 1
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. In a 9-by-13-inch pan, combine the cauliflower, farro, marinara sauce, olive oil, olives (if using), garlic, Parmesan, sugar, oregano, and red-pepper flakes. Season with the salt and a generous amount of black pepper. Pour in 1⅔ cups water and stir everything well to combine. If your 9-by-13 does not have high sides, you might have to mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, then transfer to the pan. Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake in the oven for 40 minutes.

Step 2
Uncover the pan, stir, and continue baking uncovered until the farro is tender-chewy and the sauce is thick, about 15 minutes more. (If the farro has already soaked up all the sauce and the pan is looking dry, stir in ½ to ¾ cup water, just to make sure the farro has enough liquid to become tender and saucy.)

Step 3
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, make the topping: Stir together the panko, Parmesan, salt, and olive oil.

Step 4
Turn on the broiler. Evenly cover the top of the farro with the panko topping. Top with the sliced mozzarella. Broil on the top rack, about 6 inches from the heat source, for 2 minutes, rotating the pan once and watching carefully for burning, until the panko topping is deeply browned and the mozzarella has melted.

If your oven, like mine has a very powerful broiler, use the convection fan instead of the broiler. Keep the oven on 425, turn on the fan, and cook until the mozzarella is a bit browned and bubbling, usually about 5 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

This recipe is adapted from Sarah DiGregorio’s Farro and Cauliflower.

0 Announcements

Dinner Winner Reboot

A lot has happened since the Dinner Winner was regularly updated. I’ll spare you all the details and skip to the exciting part! Starting today, I’m rebooting the site as a joint project with my 11 year old daughter, Silvia. She absolutely loves to cook, and not just in a making brownies from a box way. She is a competent, and adventurous cook, albeit somewhat messy.

We’ll both show off some of our favorite recipes, and I’ll share some of the ways we ended up raising three kids that are incredible eaters. As a refresher, all three of my kids are vegetarians, and before you ask if they are getting enough protein, they are all in the 95th percentile for height.

So check back regularly for what’s happening in our kitchen. Here’s Silvia’s first recipe, the best salad dressing you’ll ever make.

2 Dinner

The Salad Dressing

The Salad Dressing

This dressing is a vinaigrette. It is garlicky, salty, and goes amazingly well on all sorts of things. Use it on savory salads, on top of roasted potatoes, to dip carrot sticks in, on top of grilled protein, or as a marinade. Once you get the hang of making this recipe, you’ll be able to easily make it with no recipe at all. This is Silvia’s favorite salad dressing by far. Believe it or not, she will whip this up in the morning to put over a salad for her school lunch.

To make the dressing, you should ideally have a mortar and pestle. We use this set, made by Le Cruset, but anything should work.

The Salad Dressing

Ingredients

1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp capers
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tablespoon plus 1 tsp white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method

  1. Place the garlic clove and salt in the mortar and pestle. Mash to a paste. Add the capers and mash to a paste.
  2. Add the dijon mustard and white wine vinegar. Mix until totally combined.
  3. While mixing continuously, stream in the olive oil. Keep mixing vigorously until the dressing forms an emulsion and everything is well mixed.
  4. Taste the dressing and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
  5. Pour over your favorite salad, roasted potatoes, grilled chicken or tofu, or anything else you can think of.

Notes

This is a very simple recipe, but incredibly delicious. The capers replace anchovies in the original, and I think they do a great job of adding a nice briny saltiness to the dressing while keeping everything vegetarian. Silvia likes to keep the caper bits somewhat chunky, I like them more mashed up. There is no wrong answer. The dijon mustard serves as an emulsifier; it makes it easier for all of the ingredients to stay combined. Even with the mustard, this will separate after it sits for a while. No worried, just mix it up some more and it will come back together. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, just push the garlic through a garlic press and mince the capers as fine as possible. Just make the recipe in a small bowl and it will be great.

This dressing is adapted from David Tanis’ French Potato and Green Bean Salad.

28 Dinner

Marcella Hazan’s Smothered Cabbage and Rice

It’s been a while since I posted a recipe, and a lot has happened. Global pandemic, I moved, I finished a masters degree that has nothing to do with music (or food), and all the while, I was cooking. Now that I have a bit of time to stick my head above the water, I’ll share some of what has kept me and my family going through the pandemic.

Smothered Cabbage and Rice
Marcella Hazan’s Smothered Cabbage and Rice – comfort in a bowl

I first learned of this recipe while listening to Marcella Hazan’s excellent autobiography. In it, she describes this dish as the most satisfying possible way to combine simple ingredients into a fantastic meal. I could not agree more. It is also worth noting that this may be one of the most budget friendly ways to feed a family dinner that I know of. A head of cabbage usually goes for less than $1. The entirety of the ingredients could easily come in under $3 and feed a family of 4.

This meal gets its tremendous depth of flavor through long, slow cooking. You essentially caramelize the cabbage until is melts in your mouth and its sweetness combines with that of the onions and the earthy depth of the parmesan. Leave yourself at least 2 hours to make this dish, but know that nearly all of that 2 hours the dish can be left unattended. Do not rush this; it won’t be all that great and you’ll wonder what you did wrong.

Recipe

Time: 2 hours, mostly unattended
Feeds: 4-6

INGREDIENTS

1 head green cabbage, outer leaves discarded
1/2 cup olive oil (don’t skimp)
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 medium cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp white or red wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper
3 cups vegetable broth or water
2/3 cup white rice (preferably arborio)
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

METHOD

  1. Quarter and core the cabbage, then finely shred it. You can do this by hand with a knife, or in a food processor. I usually do it in a food processor because it is much quicker.
  2. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large (8 quart or so) Dutch oven or wide pot. Add the onion and cook slowly for 8-10 minutes until the onion is noticeably beginning to darken in color. If it looks like the edges are getting crisp, lower the heat.
  3. Add the garlic to the pot and swirl around for 20 seconds or so.
  4. Add the cabbage, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Turn the cabbage over a few times to coat it in the oil, reduce heat to low and cover. If your stove goes super low, you might want to aim for medium low. You still want this to cook, but not burn.
  5. Cook over low heat, turning occasionally for at least 90 minutes.
  6. Once the cabbage is caramelized, add the broth or water and taste for saltiness. If you used water, or your broth is not very salty, adjust the seasoning. Add the rice to the pot and stir to mix. Cover the pot and cook for 15-20 minutes more, or until the rice is done.
  7. Once the rice is tender, add the butter and cheese, stir to combine and serve. The final consistency should be fairly thick, not soupy. A little bit of broth is fine, but you don’t really want soup in the traditional sense.

5 Dinner

Weeknight Baked Eggplant Parmesan

Weeknight Baked Eggplant Parmesan

We have all had tons of time at home over the last few months. For all of us that means more cooking, which is a great thing. For those of us with two working parents and kids in the house, it does not necessarily mean more time to cook. I came up with this dead simple version of baked eggplant parmesan because I was really craving it, but I wanted a faster way. Roasting the eggplant makes everything much easier than individually frying each piece. It also probably makes it lower in fat, but that was not my main goal in making the recipe. 

I chose to throw together a quick and simple tomato sauce for this. If you are really crunched for time, feel free to use a good quality jarred sauce. I like Victoria’s and Rao’s, but use whatever you like. Throwing together a red sauce is dead simple, so give it a try. 

Feeds 3-4. This recipe is easily doubled
Time 45 minutes, somewhat unattended

Ingredients

1 large eggplant (1.5 – 2 lbs)
1/2 cup olive oil (for brushing)
Salt
1/2 lb fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
1 recipe dead simple tomato sauce
Fresh basil for serving

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Slice the eggplant crosswise into 1/2 inch thick slices. Arrange the slices on a large baking sheet.
  3. Generously paint the eggplant on one side with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt. A pastry brush works well for this. Flip the eggplant slices and paint and salt the opposite side. This is a great step to let a child do. It’s very simple and not too messy.
  4. Roast the eggplant in the oven for 15 minutes. Flip and roast for 15 minutes longer. The eggplant should be nicely browned. If it is not, leave it in a bit longer. Remove when the eggplant is browned. Leave the oven on.
  5. While the eggplant is in the oven, make the sauce. 
  6. Now it is time to assemble the dish. Spread 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom of a 9 inch square, or oval baking dish.
  7. Place one layer of eggplant down, trying to cover the entire surface of the dish. 
  8. Cover the eggplant with a layer of tomato sauce, then cover with slices of the mozzarella. Repeat until you run out of eggplant. In the dish I used, this worked out to be two layers of eggplant. 
  9. Bake the dish, uncovered for 15-20 minutes. The cheese should be melted, maybe slightly browned and the sauce should be bubbling. 
  10. Make a chiffonade of the basil and sprinkle it on top of the eggplant. Serve with pasta and the remaining sauce.
Eggplant before baking
Eggplant before baking, brushed with oil
Roasted eggplant
Eggplant after roasting
Baked eggplant Parmesan
Baked eggplant Parmesan, right out of the oven

3 Dinner

Six Minute Broccoli

Six Minute Broccoli
Six minute broccoli, ready to eat.

It has been far too long since I have posted to this blog. I started the dinner winner when I ostensibly had some time on my hands, while on paternity leave for a few weeks. My newborn son Charlie was sleeping most of the day, and my girls were in school. It seemed like a great idea. Fast forward 20 months and Charlie is now running around like a madman, and I’m not only back at work, but decided to pursue another master’s degree, this one in strategic design from Parsons. So, needless to say, this blog has been quite neglected. 

This does not mean that I have not been cooking all the time. I have found a new stable of recipes that I can whip up quickly, with children running around my legs, hanging on to my ankles, and asking for cutting board scraps while I cook. These are all recipes that my kids like, and that I like. The first is Six Minute Broccoli, adapted from Madame S.T. Ting Wong’s Long Life Chinese Cookbook, which has been out of print for some time. If you ever see one in a second hand book store, grab it. It is fantastic. You can also usually find it on Amazon. This recipe makes a fantastic simple meal when paired with the simplest grilled (or broiled) tofu, and some rice.  

Six Minute Broccoli

Six Minute Broccoli Recipe

1 1/2 lbs broccoli 
3 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup water
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

  1. Prepare the broccoli. If the broccoli has a long stem, remove it and set it aside. Now cut the broccoli heads into bite size florets. 
  2. For the stem, if you intend to use it, (and why wouldn’t you), cut off and discard the thickest part. Next, peel the stem with a vegetable peeler. Cut the stem into bite size pieces, a bit smaller than the florets, so they cook at the same rate.
  3. Heat the oil in a wok, or large skillet over high heat. 
  4. Dump in the broccoli and stir-fry it for 1 minute.
  5. Add sugar, salt, and water. Cover the pan and cook for 3 minutes.
  6. Remove the cover, stir fry the broccoli for 1-2 minutes more, until it looks done to you. Don’t over think this. 
  7. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. 
Six Minute Broccoli
Six Minute Broccoli

92 Dinner

Italian Cauliflower Soup

After a long and very hot summer, soup season is finally here! It’s the time of year when something delicious is seemingly always bubbling away merrily on the stove or in the oven. One of my favorite soups to make is this rustic Italian cauliflower soup. It is simple, versatile and absolutely delicious. It’s a recipe I came across years ago on a long defunct Mario Batali cooking app. Over the years, I have made this a million times and in a bunch of different ways. The one consistent thing about the soup is how it warms the soul on a cold day, and how much my girls love it. When I made it for dinner earlier in the week, I actually got “yay, cauliflower soup!” from my six year old.

Growing up, my father’s side of the family was Italian, and my mother’s Jewish. Food was important on both sides of the family, and holidays were really just an excuse for a really good meal. I remember visiting my Italian grandmother in New Jersey around holidays, almost always for thanksgiving. Of course the thanksgiving meal was a highlight, but I also remember the whole week being an amazing parade of dishes, one after another. I remember incredible pizza rustica, steak a la pizzaiola, and all sorts of other staples of the Italian grandmother repertoire. I don’t recall her ever making an Italian cauliflower soup, but if she did, it would have been like this.

This Italian cauliflower soup is 100% Italian grandmother food. It will fill your whole house with savory smells for days. You’ll be slurping up every drop of soup and looking for excuses to make it again. It is also extremely versatile. To make it heartier, I usually add some pasta to the soup. But, you can keep it light if you wish and add nothing, or add farro or barley if you want a whole grain instead of pasta. If you add no grain or pasta, reduce the volume of water by two cups. Pro tip: if you use wagon wheel pasta, your kids will eat this no questions asked.

Parmesan rind

Most importantly of all, you must add the secret ingredient that takes this soup from a simple cauliflower soup recipe into the sublime; a Parmesan rind. If you’ve been throwing out the end of your Parmesan cheese blocks when you are done with them, stop immediately! Tossing a Parmesan rind into soup results in zillions of little tiny ribbons of Parmesan melted throughout the soup and gives the dish a really earthy, rustic flavor. You can do this with all sorts of stuff, which is why I always have a little Ziploc bag full of the rind from old Parmesan cheese wedges, and you should too.

You can round this out with a simple kale salad, but the soup is filling enough to make a meal on its own.

Italian Cauliflower Soup

Italian Cauliflower Soup
Save RecipeSave Recipe
Print Recipe

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 red onion, diced
  • 2 celery ribs, chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 large cauliflower
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 14 oz can of whole tomatoes with juice, crushed between your fingers in a bowl
  • 8 cups vegetable broth
  • Salt to taste, usually about 1.5 teaspoons depending on how salty your broth is
  • Fresh ground black pepper to taste, usually about a teaspoon
  • 1 3" to 4" Parmesan rind
  • 8 ounces short pasta

METHOD

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Cook the onion, celery, and carrot for 4-6 minutes, until the onion is translucent. While the savory vegetables are cooking, separate the cauliflower into florets, and chop the softer part of the stem.
  2. Add the garlic to the pot and stir. Cook for one minute more. After a minute or so, add the cauliflower and stir and cook for another minute.
  3. Add the tomatoes, broth, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and Parmesan rind. Bring to a boil, stir once, reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes. You should have enough broth to cover the cauliflower. If you don't add more.
  4. After 15 minutes, check that the vegetables are done. Add the pasta and cook for what the package says to cook the pasta for. Don't let it simmer away, it will get mushy.
  5. Taste for salt and pepper one last time, and serve.
7.8.1.2
14

https://thedinnerwinner.com/italian-cauliflower-soup/

Nutrition

Calories

961 cal

Fat

58 g

Carbs

104 g

Protein

13 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

5 Dinner

Simple Kale Salad

Farmer's market kale

I have made a lot of kale salads over the years, and done quite a bit of searching around the interwebs to find new ways to make a simple kale salad. There are tons of great recipes out there, but most of them are extravagant, and not something that I’m going to throw together in 10 minutes while the pasta is boiling. So, here is a recipe for a simple kale salad that i make regularly. It is so easy, and so good, that my daughters regularly request it, and can nearly make it by themselves.

Simple Kale Salad

Backstory

A couple of years ago, we visited my in-laws for Christmas. They live in the mountains of northwest North Carolina, right in the corner where North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia all meet. So close in fact that you can walk to either state fairly easily. It is a beautiful, very rural place, and the mountains are surprisingly steep. These are not the rolling Catskills or the gentle Poconos. The valley where they live is dotted with small farms with a few head of cattle or some chickens, along with some vegetable gardens here and there as well. They are close to the headwaters of the New River, and the water literally flows right through their front yard. There are also Christmas tree farms everywhere. Ashe County, NC calls itself the Christmas tree capital of the world.

While in theory, it should be warmer in North Carolina than in New Jersey, this is almost never the case at their house since the elevation is about 3,000’ or so. They get significant snows just like we do in the northeast without the benefit of armies of road crews clearing the stuff around the clock. This particular Christmas was another story. It was in the mid 60s for most of the time we were there. In fact, it was so warm that my father in law rarely fired up the great wood cook-stove in the kitchen that keeps the house so warm and cozy. It was also warm enough that the kale in their magnificent garden was still growing, even at the end of December. Seemingly every day, my mother in law would take my daughter Silvia out to the garden to gather a massive bowl of Kale to turn into this or that, and maybe pull a few last carrots, or whatever else still was left in the garden.

Garlic

One of the dishes my mother in law made was a simple kale salad with this beautiful, organic, just harvested, baby kale. I don’t know what it is about greens that have just been plucked from the ground, but they tase so amazing, like they are somehow quivering with life. It really was a magnificent salad. Silvia nearly polished off an entire batch of the stuff herself one night, placing the blame for nobody getting enough salad on me for supposedly eating it all, then running out for the evening to go see a movie with my father in law. Little did everyone suspect that my four year old daughter was the culprit!

The best simple kale salad

This simple kale salad has become a year round staple in our house. Both of my daughters request it, help make it, and devour it almost weekly. So much so, that you seriously have to make sure they don’t eat it all before you get to it. The dressing is simple, light, and vibrant, and you can use it on other salads too. Just maybe don’t massage your romaine lettuce. If you want to have your kids cook this with you, have them help separate the leaves from the stems, and also help massage the kale with the dressing. I love it when my girls really get their hands into the food we are making. This salad won’s make too much of a mess when they dive in with two hands.

Simple Kale Salad

On kale…

You can use any kind of kale you like, but I prefer it with lacinato kale. The texture fits the preparation very well. Baby kale works nicely as well, and you don’t have to massage it much. If you use curly kale, make sure you really mush it well, and it doesn’t hurt to let it stand for ten minutes before you serve it. Also, make sure you zest the lemon before you juice it, unless you enjoy being annoyed, then definitely juice it first. If you want to pair this simple kale salad with something, how about a grilled pizza? And, a pro tip for any greens, if you find your greens have a lot of grit or dirt on them, separate the leaves and fill your sink with water to wash them. Swish all the greens around with your hands and let the dirt settle to the bottom of the sink before you take the greens out.

kale being washed in the sink

Fill the sink with water at least 4″ deep to wash dirty greens

 

Simple Kale Salad
Save RecipeSave Recipe
Print Recipe

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 bunch lacinato kale, (also known as dino kale)
  • 1 small clove garlic
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • zest of half a lemon
  • Juice of one lemon. If it’s a huge lemon, use half of it for the juice
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
  • Pepper to taste

METHOD

  1. Using your hands, separate the kale leaves from the ribs. You can usually just rip it all off in one quick motion. Roughly chop the kale into 1 inch wide strips and wash and dry the kale. Put the kale in a large serving bowl.
  2. Finely mince the garlic, and dump on top of the kale along with the salt, lemon zest, lemon juice, and olive oil.
  3. Using your clean hands, squeeze and mix the kale for a minute or two. The leaves will become more tender, and the volume will seem to reduce. There might be some extra liquid in the bottom of the bowl. Don’t worry about it.
  4. Add the Pecorino Romano and the pepper, usually about 1/2 tsp. Mix well again and serve.
7.8.1.2
11

https://thedinnerwinner.com/simple-kale-salad/

Nutrition

Calories

565 cal

Fat

54 g

Carbs

6 g

Protein

18 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

 

This site is supported in part by affiliate links. If you like the site, consider buying something.

4 baking

Grilled Pizza with Summer Vegetables

Grilled Pizza with SUmmer VegetablesI’m pretty sure I have had a lifelong love affair with pizza. Who hasn’t really, but it still holds a special place in my heart. I came to grilled pizza later, but we’ll get to that… I grew up in Richmond, VA, before it was the hipster mecca it seems to be now. Down the street from our house was this classic 80s pizza joint called Italian Delight. It was one of those places that doesn’t really exist these days, with tons of cushy red vinyl booths, a jukebox, brown formica tables, really large red translucent plastic cups, and soda that came by the pitcher. We would frequent this place after a swim meet, or on a Friday after a busy week, and my brother and I thought it was heaven. It was made even better by the fact that there was an arcade next door, so you could play Street FIghter while your pizza baked.

For a pizza joint in the south in the 80s, it was pretty damn good. They didn’t have any fancy grilled pizza or anything, no pizza topped with arugula, figs, and burrata. But what they did have was solid and tasty. Now that I live outside of NYC, pizza is ubiquitous; it is at every child’s birthday we go to, and is the default for ordering in or takeout for seemingly everyone. There are fifteen pizza places in my town alone, which is a little under six square miles in area, though if you want a grilled pizza, you have to do it yourself.

If you have read some of my earlier posts, you know that I’m not a huge fan of turning on the oven in the summer, certainly not to 500 degrees to make a pizza. So, why not make a grilled pizza? You can absolutely use your BBQ grill like an oven, and you can even work some nice wood smoke flavors into the pizza if you want to.

The pizza stone on the grill.

The pizza stone on the grill.

You can do this on either a gas or charcoal grill.I have a three burner Weber Spirit grill that is pretty great. I have owned and used other gas grills in the past, and the Weber heats much more evenly and is better constructed than all of them. You’ll also need a decent pizza stone. I have gone through several of these over the years, and finally bought a really nice Emile Henry pizza stone that is grill safe. It has been excellent both in the oven and on the grill.

On  Making Pizza Dough…

The pizza dough before rising.

The pizza dough before rising.

To make a grilled pizza, the first thing you need to do is make a pizza dough. I have tried dozens of recipes over the years, and consistently go back to my variation of Mark Bittman’s basic pizza dough. He calls for using instant yeast, which is far more convenient than the packaged kind you must hydrate before you use. With instant yeast, you just add it to the rest of the dry ingredients, and it does all the yeasty magic all on its own. Bittman also calls for making the dough in the food processor. I have made dough by hand, the hard way, with a lot of kneading. I have made it in the KitchenAid stand mixer, and in the food processor. You can get a great pizza dough with any of the methods. The food processor is the fastest, so if I stand any chance of making a pizza dough from scratch on a weeknight, it’s going to be in the food processor. If you are in the market for a good food processor, this is the updated version of what I have and it is great.

I like to vary Monsieur Bittman’s recipe a bit, and use half all purpose flour, and half white whole wheat. This means using a bit more water to get the dough to come together, but makes for a more nutritious dough. Here is a link to my pizza dough recipe.

The pizza dough after rising.

The pizza dough after rising.

Spring Onions and Red Pepper

Chopped Spring Onions

The unbaked pizza topped with pesto sauce.

The unbaked pizza topped with pesto sauce.

Grilled pizza

Grilled Pizza with Summer Vegetables
Save RecipeSave Recipe
Print Recipe

INGREDIENTS

  • Ingredients
  • 1 recipe Dinner Winner Pizza Dough
  • ½ pound mozzarella, grated (use fresh or not fresh, either one will be delicious)
  • ½ red bell pepper, cut into strips
  • 2 spring onions, chopped
  • 2 ounces prepared pesto sauce (I had some frozen. If you don’t, the Costco pesto sauce is really good. Use that if you can)
  • Grated parmigiano reggiano (for serving)

METHOD

  1. Preheat the grill - After the dough has risen you’ll need to preheat your grill. I like to add a little wood smoke flavor to the pizza. This is 100% optional. The pizza will only be on the grill for a few minutes, so we are not talking about an 18 hour smoke or anything here. I have a lovely oak tree in my backyard that is constantly dropping sticks. I will usually take a couple of sticks and break them into about 8” lengths. Wrap the sticks in aluminum foil and using a knife or fork, poke a couple dozen holes in the foil. There is no need to soak the sticks because there will not be enough airflow for them to actually catch fire. Use whatever wood you like, but don’t use anything with sap, so no pine trees.
  2. If you have a gas grill, turn it to medium high and using tongs, nestle the foil packet of wood down near the flames. Replace the grill grates, and place your pizza stone directly on the grill grates. If you have a charcoal grill, preheat the coals, then arrange them for indirect heat. I like the Ring of Fire method that Weber describes. Replace the grill grate, and place your pizza stone on top of the grate. Now, off to assemble the pizza.
  3. Roll out the pizza dough - Once the dough has risen, flour a work surface, and turn the dough onto it. Divide in half and form two balls. Put one of the balls back into the bowl it just came from and loosely cover again. Press or roll the dough until it's as thin as you can make it, but not bigger than your pizza peel; let it rest a bit if it becomes too elastic. (Patience is your friend here.) Dust your pizza peel with cornmeal and transfer the rolled out dough to the peel. Don’t skimp on the cornmeal, it will help you get the pizza onto the stone a little later.
  4. Add the toppings to the pizza - Once the dough is on the peel, use a large spoon to plop the sauce in the middle of the pizza. Working out from the center in concentric circles, spread the sauce around nearly to the edge of the dough. Once the pesto is spread evenly, sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the dough. Next, evenly spread the onions and red peppers. The pizza is ready to go onto the grill.
  5. Grill the pizza - Go and check your grill. You should see wood smoke, and a temperature of at least 400 degrees. The grill can be as hot as 550 without having to worry. Any hotter, reduce the cooking time by 2 minutes. Getting the pizza from the peel onto the stone can be a little intimidating if you have never done it before. First, shake the peel back and forth a bit to loosen the pizza on the stone. Once it is moving on the stone, place the peel at the top of the pizza stone and, using a quick back and forth flick , transfer it onto the stone. If a few veggies, or a little cheese falls off, no big deal, it’s your grill, not your oven.
  6. Close the lid, and don’t open it for 10 minutes. If the cheese looks bubbly, and a bit browned after 10 minutes, you are good to go, if not, wait another two minutes or so. To get the pizza off of the stone use your peel like a giant spatula. Sometimes, it helps to have an actual spatula handy, in case the pizza is sticking and you need to help get it started.
  7. After you have the pizza off of the stone, slide it onto a large cutting board and wait for a minute or two for the cheese to set a little bit. Serve, top with Parmesan cheese if you want, and enjoy with a cold Italian white, or a Peroni if you are feeling authentic.

Tags

Cuisines
Italian
Cooking
Grilling
Diet
vegetarian
lacto vegetarian
pescetarian
Allergy
egg free
soy free
peanut free
seafood free
treenut free
sesame free
mustard free

7.8.1.2
9

https://thedinnerwinner.com/grilled-pizza-with-summer-vegetables/

Nutrition

Calories

1774 cal

Fat

34 g

Carbs

303 g

Protein

61 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

 

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.