This is a photo of my 1st pizza grilling adventure. For this, I used a recipe for pizza dough found in the July/August 2010 Everyday Food magazine. I also used the sausage and olive topping suggested in that magazine.
Today, I decided to create my own recipe (!) I hardly ever do this. There is a very good reason that there are no photos of tonight's dinner. It's because it was really, really ugly. :) I mean, seriously ugly. My pizza, in particular, was shaped kind of like a foot. Ha!
This was mostly due to the fact that the meat took a lot longer than I thought it would to cook. This is a shame because my pizza dough was actually rolled into circles. I've spent, like, 5 years trying to roll ANYTHING into a circle (pie crust, pizza dough, whatever). Unfortunately, it had to sit too long before I threw it on the grill and it got too soft. Oh well. It still tasted good!
I will try to write the recipe here. Let's see if I can do this. Like I said, it's not very often that I create my own recipes!
Smoked Duck, Caramelized Onion, and Brie Grilled Pizza
Ingredients (serves 2)
1 duck leg quarter
hickory chips for smoking on the grill
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil + more for pan
1 sprig rosemary
1 clove garlic
1/2 large vidalia onion (or 1 small)
brie (no, I didn't measure how much brie. I used part of a wedge)
salt and pepper
Soak hickory chips in water for at least 30 minutes. Preheat grill to about 400 degrees. Add smoker box with hickory chips. When chips are smoking, place duck leg quarter in grill on a rack above a drip pan lined with aluminum foil. Cook (lid down) for about 10-15 minutes per side (or until a thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers at least 165 degrees). Let rest about 10 minutes. Remove skin. Remove meat from bones and shred or cut into small pieces.
Meanwhile, in a small pot on stove or on the grill, add 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 sprig rosemary (bruised - that is, rub it in between your fingers first to release oils), and 1 garlic clove, smashed. Heat until simmering and let simmer for about 2 minutes to infuse oil.
Also, while waiting for duck to cook, thinly slice onion. Put about 2 teaspoons olive oil into skillet and add onion. Cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring often, to caramelize onion. Onion should turn a medium caramel color, but not too dark.
Thinly slice brie.
Once duck is off the grill, roll or stretch pizza dough into 2 small rounds or 1 large round. Brush top of dough with rosemary garlic-infused olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place onto grill with lid up. Let dough cook for 3-5 minutes, or until grill marks appear and dough starts to firm up. Flip dough with tongs, brush with more of the oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and let cook for another few minutes on that side. When dough is almost fully cooked, add toppings: shredded duck, brie, and caramelized onion. Close grill and reduce heat so toppings can melt / warm through.
I served the pizza with an arugula and heirloom tomato salad with blue cheese dressing. (No, I didn't make the dressing. No, it wasn't my first choice to go with the pizza. Yes, I went with it because it's Ben's favorite.) :)
Besides creating a new recipe tonight, today was rather uneventful! Did a lot of laundry, did some reading, ran 6 miles on the treadmill at the gym because it was so hot and humid out. Plus, I wanted to keep a steady speed while pushing myself to get faster at the end of the run. Treadmills definitely help me stay steady!
Tomorrow: going to the gym twice... crazy, I know! Weight lifting with my dad for a bit in the morning (he invited me to come along, and I'm free, so why not?) and Zumba in the evening.
Oh, also today - I agreed to play a gig in July! I'll be playing in the pit for Sound of Music. 2 rehearsals (well, there are 3 but I can't make it to the first one), and 9 shows. Yay pit orchestra!! :)
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