Oven Grilled Pizza

Being Friday, the end of a long week, with a busy weekend ahead and recovering from a Thursday night full of running into people I haven't seen since in a long time, all I wanted to do was come home and sleep. And figuring dinner in there somewhere, I prepared the pizza dough before my nap and when I woke up an hour later it was ready to go. Then while I was getting out my pizza pan, I spotted my somewhat neglected stove top grill and thought, what the hey, why not right? My sister, owner of both a deck and a grill, has been going on and on about grilled pizza and while I knew I couldn't capture the smokiness, I could at least pick up some lovely grill marks. And even better that I had both smoked mozzarella and smoked ricotta on hand to assist in the process.

So how did it turn out? It was fun scraping it off the grill and having the outside be extra crispy, but the inside still soft. And the smoked cheese really did add a nice flavor, as did the combination of onions, slow roasted tomatoes and eggplant. But it was basically a pizza. One of these days I would like to actually try a true grilled pizza to see exactly what it's like, but if you have a stove top grill, give this a whirl sometimes. At the very least it's a fun concept.

Oven Grilled Pizza
Pizza dough- I did my usual with 1/2 AP, 1/2 whole wheat and threw in a Tbl of flaxseed meal
1 small eggplant, sliced into very thin rounds
1/2 onion, sliced thin
1/2 c. slow roasted tomatoes- thought I was out but found these bad boys in the back of the fridge
1 c. smoked mozzarella
2 Tbl. smoked ricotta
Sprinkle of maldon or sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 475. Oil the grill pan and spread out the dough. Begin to layer the ingredients- I did tomatoes, then eggplant, cheese and then onions.

2. Put in oven and make sure there is either a pan beneath or foil below to catch any drippings, as the grill pan was very shallow. Bake for 20-25 until cheese is browned and bubbling. Sprinkle sea salt over.