On a chilly Saturday night last winter Phoenix and I were tuckered out from a day of playing yet still wanting to cook up some savory meal. Low and behold after we dashed off to the grocery store we gathered up the ingredients to make a delightful Grilled Veggie Pizza.
The house was buzzing with excitement and uncontrollable energy!
Me whispering, “Pssst Phoenix, start buzzing with excitement…” Darn kid…
I’m definitely anal retentive about lining up all of my ingredients on the counter like cast members ahead of time. Yes, Parsley was still stalking me at the time as you may remember from The Morning My Hot English Lover And I Had Our Party Crashed story. She’s not even a part of this recipe the psycho leafy hoser beast!
I got started with some extra virgin olive oil that I buy in the big ol’ containers. That is the expected expiration date written across the front of it since it was not on bottle.
I chopped up some fresh garlic…
Then the same to some bright, fragrant pine nuts…
They all got tossed into a food processor with basil (I LOVE fresh basil and will use it every chance I get), parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. This is the best focused picture of the shaft spindle instead of the ingredients EVER! Pin it ladies! And David Lebowitz eat your heart out.
Phoenix to you guys, “Gawd, I hope this is the part where Daddy forgets to put the lid on it again like last time. Oh please, please forget…it’s soooo funny…” Ahh, the good ol’ Supervisor had awoken from the tile entryway…
Ha! Focused after blending…who’s your Daddy?! Homemade pesto sauce.
I decided it needed to be a bit thicker to my liking so I added a few more basil leaves and pine nuts after this.
I then went through the painstaking task of making a pizza dough from scratch…
Phoenix, “Liar!! It’s Boboli!!”
…from scratching and tearing the plastic wrapping off of the Boboli Pizza.
Me, gritting my teeth at my wonderful bus driver yet again, “I greatly appreciate your input Phoenix…”
Him, “No problem Daddy!”
I then did NOT go outside in the 20 degree night and grill the yellow and red peppers on a bbq grill that I do NOT own. But, I did improvise and use the electric burner and it worked great. First time I had ever done that!
Phoenix, “And the Fire Department only responded once!!”
I sliced up some zucchini and squash and sautéed them in butter and olive oil…
Doing my best Edward Scissorhands impression I accidentally knocked one of them onto floor with the knife and my Golden Retriever Patriot Missile Intercept System was all over it. And promptly spit it out.
I spread the pesto and some additional olive oil across the Boboli…
A generous sprinkling of goat cheese…
I know you think some of those zucchini may look overdone. I did too until I took a bite of one and said, “Oh my gawd that’s good!” The bite melted in my mouth literally with a buttery flavor to it. I didn’t hesitate to put them on the pizza.
Generous Obscene slabs of Mozzarella…
After I had added a wheel spoke of the grilled and sliced red and yellow peppers and let bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 450 degrees I had a very colorful, delectably delicious cheeses Grilled Veggie Pizza. I was kicking myself for not taking a picture of it from directly above…
Phoenix, “It was his third pint.” Nobody likes him! *wink*
I sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top and sliced that sucker up…
While this was by far not my best cooking/photo journey despite how easy the recipe was it turned out really delicious. I was just having an off the The mozzarella and goat cheeses were melted perfectly and every bite had a fresh, bright vegetable lightly soft crunch to it. The fresh pesto sauce on the toasted but light airy on the inside crust kept it all married together perfectly.
This post we are sending a big thanks to our friend Mette at Italian Notes, whose blog I discovered last year. She and Henrik write about their adventures, travels and food delights in Italy! Her home cooking and pictures are out of this world and I love her history insight to the various places they visit. She always includes a map in her posts and being a map freak I absolutely love that! Thank you so much for always supporting Phoenix and I, Mette! Please click on over the Italian Notes and see what I mean!
The original recipe and cooking directions can be seen at Tasty Kitchen right here. Learn more about various types of fast foods, on this website: www.resepnastar.com