Grilled Vegan Pizza

So I had a vision, yes, an effing food vision.  It consisted of grilled pizza, topped with grilled veggies and homemade pesto made with food from my garden thats slathered with creamy cashew cheese.  And guess what?  The vision became reality and it was pure heaven.  My lame uncle Chopper even liked it and he eats lean cuisine for dinner on the regs (yuck!).  The crust was on hit.  The richness from the olive oil coupled with the slight char flavor from the grill really puts this recipe over the edge. I used Jay's Signature Pizza Crust recipe from allrecipe.com which worked great.

Beware: this recipe is not for beginner chefs.  The shit was not easy and at one point we had me, my sister and my pops trying to turn the pizza around on the grill.  Though it was difficult it was a fricken blast.  I had a great time hanging with my fam and grilling pizza.  If your gonna give this recipe a go I highly recommend doing it with a group and getting creative.  I let my sister design the second one which was just as yummy as mine.  The zuchini and basil for the pesto were both from our garden too which made the recipe even more exciting.  Yes, we have a family garden because we are that adorable.  My sister, my dad and I all have different plants in a raised bed my dad built for us.

I am now obsessed with both making pizza dough from scratch which is actually super duper easy and grilling pizza.  I highly recommend trying both.  Good for me my family is also equally excited about it:)  More pizza creations to come.

Note: You can use whatever toppings you like and store bought pesto or pizza sauce and vegan cheese.

Jay's Signature Pizza Crust

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.
3. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.

Grilled Vegetables

1 Eggplant cut into circular pieces 1/8 inch thick (to release the moisture from eggplant 30 minutes before cooking very genrously cover with salt and let sit, once 30 minutes is up rinse off eggplant)
1 bell pepper
2 zucchinis sliced 1/8 inch thick length wise
olive oil
salt and pepper

Start up grill making one side a hotter than the other for pizza making. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil and generously salt and pepper them.  Place on grill as they fit and watch closely as they begin to cook. Vegetables cooking to fast move to the cooler side and visa versa.  Grill until desired tenderness.


Pesto

2 cups loosely packed basil
1/3 cup of walnut halves
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Place all ingredients in your blender or food processor and blend until a nice sauce forms.

Cashew Cheese

1 cup raw cashews
3/4 cup water
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until a smooth cream is formed.  If your ghetto ass only has a junky blender than you will have to blend it longer (I have a vitamix and don't have to worry about that, neener neener neener).

Grilling and assembling the pizza:

Before you begin I advise getting a couple of metal spatulas and maybe some tongs, this will help with flipping the pizza.  Also have all your ingredients laid out  next to the grill so there easy to get to.

So when are your ingredients have been prepared you are actually ready to grill your pizza which goes really fast.  So roll out your pizza dough to desired shape and size.  I would recommend making them on the smaller side for easier maneauvering around the grill.  Place pizza dough you are not using aside and cover until you are ready to use it.  Brush grill with olive oil and gently and quickly lay the pizza dough on the hot side of the grill.  Watch it closely to make sure it is cooking evenly and if it is not than turn it so the uncooked parts are on the hotter spots.  Once it is evenly lightly toasted on the bottom and begins to bubble on the top it is ready to flip (2-3 minutes).  Flip it to the less hot side of the grill and quickly load your topping on the pizza for it will cook fast.   Pesto, veggies then cashew cream.  Turn in the same manner that you did for the other half to make sure it is cooked evenly and pull off the grill when lightly browned.  Cut up and serve:)  Repeat with remaining pizza dough.

Me hecka worried about my pizza

Me hecka happy my pizza came out ok

Me hecka happy to serve and devour my pizza

Me just being hecka cute