At the Water's Edge

So, I have this thing where I'm not a big fan of cooked fruit. At least, I have claimed that as my basis for not liking most pies. Now, I've come to enjoy berry pies (especially when they include fresh berries), and I've always liked blueberry muffins. But recently, I've been getting into more cooked fruit. Specifically: grilled fruit. I've made grilled pineapple several times recently, serving it on hamburgers, alongside pork, or atop tacos. I've also found it's delicious refrigerated and eaten the next day! So, I decided to branch out a bit further. Through strawberry picking, store sales and our CSA, I have a plethora of strawberries on hand. And, I had a bag of these delicious apricots, which will not stay good for very long. So, when I saw a photo on Pinterest of grilled fruit with balsamic glaze, I was in. The recipe I saw called for peaches and watermelon to go with the strawberries, but I chose what I had on hand. I skewered the fruits and grilled them alongside some chicken (ahem, sorry, Tom grilled them for me -- thanks, Tom!). Add a little balsamic glaze and some herbs and you have yourself a tasty summery dinner.

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
12 Strawberries, hulled
6 Apricots, pitted and sliced in half
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp. green onions, diced
2 Tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

Preheat grill, then add chicken and cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F (digital meat thermometers are your friend! They really help prevent over cooking).
While chicken is cooking, add strawberries and apricots to wooden skewers, alternating them.
Heat balsamic vinegar in a small sauce pan over medium heat until it begins to simmer. Watch closely and stir occasionally while it simmers and remove from heat once it has visibly begun to thicken.
Add fruit skewers to the grill and cook for a few minutes, then rotate and cook for a few more minutes.
Arrange cooked chicken and fruit on a plate. Drizzle with balsamic glaze, then sprinkle on green onions, basil and, if desired, Parmesan cheese.

I served this with a side of sauteed snow peas -- my garden is going nuts! The Parmesan didn't really seem to add that much to the dish, so I think it could easily be omitted if you want to avoid dairy. The fruits were very soft and almost made for a sort of sauce for the chicken. This was a sort of last minute idea and didn't take long to pull off. It's great for a healthful, summery meal without a lot of effort! If you try it, let me know what you think! I'm planning on using some of the leftover grilled fruit on a salad -- maybe with some leftover chicken. It was good hot, and I bet it will be good cold, too!

This is it. The one you've all been waiting for. At least, it's what I had been waiting for my whole pizza-loving life. Grilled pizza. I'd heard of it, but being a grilling novice I had put off trying it until last year. I'm glad I didn't wait any longer. Tom is normally my grill master, but I've been learning, and this recipe helped give me confidence. It took a little bit of tweaking, but I think I have mastered the art of grilled pizza. I daresay it rivals even the famed brick oven pizza. And really, it's quite simple. I took my thin crust pizza recipe and just modified the cooking technique to suit the grill...as follows.

Ingredients:
For the dough:
¾ cups water
½ tsp. yeast
2 cups flour
½ tsp. salt

For delicious crust:
1/4 cup olive oil, salt, garlic powder, and dried herbs (optional) to taste -- mixed together in a small bowl.

Toppings:
Anything is good, so whatever you like! I will typically either use a prepackaged pizza sauce or do a blend of olive oil and herbs for the "sauce" which pairs particularly well with veggie pizzas. Chicken BBQ pizza is good this way, too. Mozzarella, Italian Cheese Blend, Cheddar and Feta are all good options for the cheese.

Directions:
1. Preheat grill to medium heat, ~300-350 degrees.

2. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Combine flour and salt in a large mixing bowl; then add yeast mixture.

3. Mix until well combined, then knead until the dough is smooth.

Crust should have some nice grill marks in no time flat!

4. Divide dough in half and place each half on a piece of parchment paper. Use a rolling pin to roll out each piece of dough to about 1/4 inch thick or less (mine usually end up being long, oval shapes.

5. Brush olive oil mixture on one side of each pizza crust and place oiled side down on the grill for about 30 seconds or until the outside of the crust is no longer sticky.

6. While the first side of the crust is cooking, brush the other side with olive oil; flip over and cook the second side of the crust the same way.

7. Turn off half of the burners in your grill and move pizza crusts away from direct flame. Add sauce, toppings and cheese.

8. Close the grill and cook until cheese is melted and bubbly. You may need to turn the heat up a bit since some of the burners are off and the pizza is not directly over the heat.

I made grilled pizza again the other day and decided to try a new twist. I wanted to make chicken BBQ pizza (I had grilled some chicken and frozen it, so I already had cooked chicken on hand -- part of the 40 pounds of chicken I just got cheap from Zaycon Fresh...but that's a story for another day!). Normally, I top my chicken BBQ pizza with cilantro for an extra zip. This year, cilantro grew like a weed in my garden and threatened to take over the entire thing (also a story for another day). I harvested grocery bags full of the stuff, even after giving away a bunch at work and making a couple batches of salsa.

Garden Cilantro, bundled and given away at work. This was a tiny portion of what was growing.

So, I made chimichurri with the rest (basically just cilantro, garlic and olive oil in the food processor) -- I froze the chimichurri in ice cube trays then put the cubes in a bag. After picking all of my cilantro, there actually wasn't much left in the garden and I didn't feel like scrounging. So, out came two cubes of chimichurri and I used that instead of my normal olive oil and garlic mixture to brush on the crust. It was quite tasty!