Grilled Pizza with Apple & Cheddar

August 7 - The boy smoked sausages and I made ceviche
August 8 - dinner out with friends
August 9 - leftover smoked sausages on pizza, like the tasty one below

So last night I had my first serious meal screw-up in a really long time.  I've had meals that weren't hits, but were edible and turned out how they were supposed to, but last night it was a serious fail.  Like a blackened pizza fail.

This summer I've become a master of the grill, I grill on it and even bake all kinds of things on it, pies, cakes, enchiladas, eggplant parm.  I've gotten to know our grill quite well or so I thought.  


Last night I ran in the door hen I got home from work, turned the grill on to heat and got to prepping my pizza sauce and toppings.  The grill had been on for a good 15 minutes before I went out with my first crust to get it working. I noticed that the heat was much lower than it should have been, but figured I had just rushed and kept going.  But as I cooked, the heat never went above 350F and I had it set to high. The boy check the gas, but there was plenty, so kept cooking.  My quick pizza turned into a much longer affair, but I was tired and cranky and really couldn't be bothered to try too hard to figure out the problem.

I finished the first pizza and got the second one started, the apple & cheddar.  Again it too 3 times as long as it should and by now it was dark.  Impatient me guessed when it was done, turned off the grill and brought the pizza inside, to see that it was so not done.  So I run back out fire up the grill, put the pizza back on and run back inside.  Based on my previous cooking times and whatever was going on with my grill I figured it would need another 10 minutes.  Too bad I was wrong, when I went out to check it 10 minutes later, the smell of burnt pizza was everywhere!  I apparently hadn't turned the gas on all the way the first time I started the grill but I so did the second time.  At this point it was 9:30 and I wanted to just throw in the towel, I was fin with the one pizza we had already had, but the Boy was still hungry and I had enough ingredients to give it another go.  So I did and the second one went much more smoothly and was actually quite tasty.  The moral of this story is even if you are rushing home from work take a minute before you start dinner or your quick 30-40 minute meal can easily turn into an almost 2 hour fiasco!

I was conservative with my use of the smoked gouda since I was using a smoked sausage, but I think you could definitely up it if you were just using a grilled or sauteed sausage.  The apples taste quite savory on this pie and the slight sweetness of the sauce really complemented it all.

Grilled Pizza with Apple & Cheddar
makes 1 pizza

3/4 lb - 1 lb ball of pizza dough - my go to is ABin5 Olive Oil Dough
1/2 cup easy peasy pizza sauce - recipe below
1 apple sausage (pork or chicken) - smoked or grilled and sliced
1/2 green apple - thinly sliced
1/2 cup old cheddar
1/4 cup smoked gouda
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt & black pepper

1. Heat your grill over medium to medium high heat, you want the temperature to be around 450F to 500F.
2.  On  lightly floured surface roll your ball of dough into a very thin round, or as close a round as you can get it.  Place all of you ingredients on a plate, and bring everything out to your grill, including the sauce
3.  Lightly oil your grill grates and transfer the dough onto the grill.  Close the grill cover and let cook for 3-7 minutes, depending on how hot your grill is. When there are nice brown grill marks. carefully flip the dough.
4.  Working quickly spread the sauce all over the dough, sprinkle with cheese and arrange the apples and sausage.  Close the grill and let cook for about 5 more minutes.  Until the bottom is nice and crispy and the cheese has melted.
5.  Remove to a cutting board.  Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper.  Let sit for 5 minites before cutting and serving.

Easy Peasy Pizza Sauce
makes enough for 2-3 pizzas

1 small can tomato paste
1/4-1/3 cup warm water
1 Tbsps honey
1 clove garlic - finely minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp onion powder
healthy pinch of hot red pepper flake
sea salt & black pepper

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes, or as long as it takes to heat the grill and start your pizza.