The Power of Pizza

If you've been on the East Coast recently, you may have heard about the hideousness that was Hurricane Irene. The flooding, the destruction of roads, homes, and trees, and the loss of power - in our case, for more than four days. Not a pretty sight.

Pizza, sans oven? = Love.

But fear not. Even with zero electricity, you can still cook up that singularly satisfying food that I'd personally want with me if I were ever to find myself stuck on a desert island: pizza. All you need is a grill and a grocery store nearby with power, where you can stop in for a handful of supplies.

Grilled pizza not only has a really great flavor, it cooks quickly and just plain looks cool, with its extra bubbles and lovely-looking char marks from the grill.

Here's the simplest version:

- A bag of pizza dough (You can find this at Stop & Shop and Whole Foods, often in plain, whole wheat, or multigrain variety.)

- Mozzarella cheese (Fresh, shredded, whatevs. It's all good.)

- Fresh tomatoes and fresh basil (Our tomatoes came from the fabulous Shundahai Farm in Storrs, Conn., where we have a CSA, and the basil from our deck.)
- Couple of pinches of sea salt

You can really throw all kinds of veggies on there (mushrooms, peppers, etc.), or pesto. You just want to try to keep it relatively simple, so that you're not losing all sorts of toppings between the slats of the grill.



Irene be damned, we are having pizza.



1. Spread a bit of cornmeal onto a large cookie sheet. Heat up the grill.



2. Roll or stretch out the pizza dough, with a bit of flour on your hands to prevent the dough from sticking to you. No worries if it's not a perfect circle - when you taste it, it's so not going to matter. Throw it on the cookie sheet.

3. Brush some olive oil on the grill, then slide the dough onto the grill. (You might need a partner here to hold the cookie sheet whilst you move the dough over onto the hot grill.)



4. Cook one side of the dough for a few minutes, then flip to the other side for a few additional minutes. (No need to cook either side for too long or you'll burn.)

5. Flip one last time, throw on your toppings, let them get hot and melty, and voila!

Enjoy with wine, like we did. So there, Irene.