Winner, winner pizza dinner

There is no dinner in the summer that I love more then homemade pizzas on the grill.  It's relaxed, it's casual and it gives you the creativity to come up with different toppings with whatever you have in your fridge at any given moment because really who wants to constantly run to the grocery store for one specific item.  It is a fabulous way to entertain because you can go simple with the apps and dessert and then be right there with your guests the entire time instead of couped up in a hot, sweaty kitchen while everyone else is out back enjoying drinks.  Last week, I had a bunch of veggies from the CSA in the fridge and a full evening ahead of me with nothing else scheduled so I could make a nice leisurely dinner that I wasn't up against the clock to get on the table so pizzas on the grill it was.  I always like to make a few varieties so I could try out new and different combinations and that way we all could have the sampler pack of the pizzas.  Here is the rundown:

 Remember the meatballs with the Swiss chard and tomato sauce that we had last week.  Well no meatballs were left but we had some of the nice chunky tomato sauce with the greens that I didn't want to throw out so here it went on a pizza with fresh mozzarella.

This one is sauteed eggplant with fresh ricotta on top.  The credit for this idea has to go to my friend Carmina (here is your blog debut!) who would serve a form of this type of pizza at her house growing up a lot when we would come over in high school and as a lover of eggplant any way, shape or form I was totally in love with this.  It's actually very easy on how to make the eggplant this way and can be also served as a bruschetta topping as well. 

-You want to have 2 good size eggplants for a 12 inch pizza to have enough (I know you're probably asking yourself "Did she really say 2 eggplants?" but just keep reading...).  Peel the skin off and either using a mandeline or a knife, slice the eggplant into very thin pieces.  Throw all of the eggplant into a large colander and toss a good amount of salt onto the slices, making sure they all get coated.  Now let it sit for a good 15-20 minutes so the salt can bring out the moisture in the eggplant because it is one of those vegetables that retains a lot of liquid.  This is one of those times when the longer it sits, the better.  Don't freak out if the eggplant starts to turn brown in the colander, it's going to happen and once you cook it, the worries can go away.

-Once you are ready to cook with the eggplant, take small handfuls of it and give the pieces of eggplant a good squeeze to get the rest of the water out.  You are not going to believe how much water comes out and how little the eggplant shrinks down to (hence needing 2 eggplants).  I usually do this process twice to make sure that all of the excess water is gone.

-Heat a large saute pan with a few good gulgs of olive oil.  Toss in half of a chopped up onion and a good handful of chopped garlic cloves.  Once the onions and garlic are soft, toss in the eggplant and let saute all together with salt and pepper until the eggplant is soft and cooked through about 15-20 minutes.  

-Carmima makes her pizza with calamata olives which gives her pizza a nice salty taste on top of the mellow eggplant but it is still good without them.  

-Finish the pizza off with scattered teaspoons of fresh ricotta and a thin dusting of Parmesan cheese. 

This pizza had arugula pesto, farm fresh grape tomatoes (which I have to tell you, it was a borderline miracle that they even made it on since I was starting to get very hungry as I was cooking and they were popping very easily into my mouth because they were so delicious!), chopped up shrimp and fresh mozzarella.  Pesto is one of those pantry staples that I always try to have in the fridge because it's so versatile to cook with whether you're using it as a spread on a sandwich, a marinade for chicken or vegetables or just a spoonful goes a long way in finishing off a pasta dish on the right note.    When making pesto whether it be a classic basil version or a different one with spinach or arugula, you can use these ratios and it is always going to come out good. 
-3 cups of packed leaves (in this case it was baby arugula)
-2 garlic cloves
-1/3 cup of nuts (I don't always have pignoli nuts in the house so you can substitute what  you have in the pantry.  In this case I used pecans but I have also used pistachios or walnuts in the past and they work well)
-1/3 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
-salt and pepper

Give all of these ingredients a few pulses in the food processor until they are chopped pretty finely.  At this point, start to drizzle in:
-1/2 - 3/4 cup of olive oil (I tend to like my pestos a little bit thicker because they are usually becoming another ingredient in a dish that I'm making but just eye ball the amount until you get to a consistency of your liking).

I pulled this idea for a fried green tomato and caramelized onion pizzazucchini  from their blog because it's hysterical).  I used to have major issues whenever I caramelized onions because they were never the sweet, jammy consistency that they would look like in a picture or how they would taste in a restaurant until I came across this article over the winter by Mark Bittman in the New York Times Magazine that has literally revolutionized my cooking skills of the caramelized onion.  I don't like to play favorites when it comes to the grilled pizza dinners because honestly they are all good but I think this one took the award today because it was just so different then a usual pizza.

Let me leave you with a few "trouble-shooting" tips to ensure pizza making success for all parties:

-Roll your pizza dough out before hand in the kitchen and have it arranged on parchment lined cookie sheets to it can be ready to go when you are at the point for it to go on the grill. 

-I like to have all of my ingredients arranged on a cookie sheet or tray right next to the grill so they are in close proximity and easy to grab because once the pizza is on the grill you don't have a lot of of lag time in between. 

-You only want to do one flip of the pizza dough on the grill so it doesn't get too charred in places.  Put the dough on the grill, give the side up a drizzle of olive oil and then let it cook for 2-3 minutes until it is ready to be flipped.  Once you do the flip you are ready to put your toppings on and then let it cook for a few minutes with the grill cover closed so all of the ingredients cook up nicely.

-I like to use my oven as warming or finishing stage in the pizza making process so that way everything comes out together at once and you as the host get to sit down and enjoy the meal with everyone instead of feeling like a short order cook.  I have been to large parties where the pizzas do come out gradually which works well for that scenario but if it is a everyday dinner, they can all come out at once.